Physical custody arrangements and fathers’ post-separation well-being

Abstract

ABSTRACT Joint physical custody (JPC) is an emerging post-separation care arrangement in which children spend considerable periods of time with both of their parents. Although there is some research on JPC that has focused on children’s well-being, little is known about how this physical custody arrangement affects fathers’ well-being. Therefore, this study investigated the well-being of fathers with symmetric JPC and of non-resident fathers whose children live either mostly or exclusively with their mother. The statistical analysis draws on longitudinal data from waves 4–12 of the German Family Panel (pairfam). Random- and fixed-effects regression models were estimated for 1,372 observations of 389 fathers. The results of the bivariate random-effects models showed that fathers with symmetric JPC reported higher life satisfaction than other fathers. However, the fixed-effects model indicated that these differences were due to positive selection into symmetric JPC. Moreover, the results of the multivariate random- and fixed-effects models showed no statistically significant relationship between physical custody arrangements and fathers’ stress, depressiveness, life satisfaction, and general health. Taken together, this study suggests that physical custody arrangements are unrelated to fathers’ post-separation well-being while hinting at the relevance of selection processes among post-separation families.