The Structure and Prediction of Classes of Divorce Settlements Involving Dependent Children in a National Sample

Abstract

The structure of divorce settlements involving children reflects complex decisions made by parents and the legal environment in which these decisions are made. With data from the National Survey of Families and Households, a latent class analysis of five settlement outcomes (physical custody, legal custody, visitation, child support and alimony) was used to assess five theoretical expectations about the structure of settlements. We identified four classes of settlements (traditional-mother custody, high-transfer mother custody, disengaged spouses, and joint custody)and found support for several of our theoretical expectations. Next, a multinomial logistic regression model of predictors of membership in the classes was estimated to test seven theoretical expectations derived from an integration of the conceptual frameworks of prior research that have focused on economic and legal dimensions of bargaining, gender, equity, and family structure. Several of these expectations are supported, but the model itself is not powerful.