Study says joint custody better for kids development

A story published today by the USA Today reports that according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association, children in divorced families tend to do better in joint custody than those who live and interact with just one parent.

The report in the March issue of the Journal of Family Psychology says that children in joint-custody settings have fewer behavioral and emotional problems, have higher self-esteem, better family relations and better school performance than children in sole custody.

That does not mean that those in sole custody are "clinically maladjusted or need some kind of therapy," says researcher and psychologist Robert Bauserman of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "It just means they don't do as well on average."

Bauserman examined 33 studies that looked at 1,846 sole-custody and 814 joint-custody children, as well as kids in 251 intact families.

He found that the bulk of the studies show that children in joint-custody arrangements are virtually as well adjusted as those in the intact families, "probably because joint custody provides the child with an opportunity to have ongoing contact with both parents."

These findings contradict experts who believe that joint custody disrupts the stability of a child's life, shifting back and forth between parents, or that it exposes the child to two parents who endlessly bicker.

To the contrary, Bauserman speculates that parents who contain their anger at the time of the divorce may self-select into joint custody.

They are quite capable of continuing to parent together without a lot of rancor, Bauserman says. It is the sole-custody parents who report continued high levels of conflict over parenting decisions with ex-partners.

Almost all states offer a joint-custody option, Bauserman says, although many judges still favor maternal custody and oppose joint physical custody.

Alan Booth, a sociologist and researcher at Pennsylvania State University, says Bauserman's research is solid. "This is very consistent with the things we find. If couples are able to cooperate in joint custody, we would expect the children to do better," Booth says.