Decisions about Child Custody: A Comparison of Traditional and Nontraditional Outcome

Little research has examined the process by which parents decide about the custody of their children during divorce. Data were obtained from divorcing couples with minor children: 40 couples had decided that sole custody would go to the mother (traditional); 7 couples had decided on joint custody, and 1 couple had decided on split custody (nontraditional). Subjects participated in structured interviews and completed questionnaires regarding the nature and importance of the criteria that had influenced their custody decisions. Demographic information about the couples submitted to a one-way analysis of variance by custody type revealed no significant differences between the groups in age, education, number of children, and income while married. More often in nontraditional custody decisions, the wife was more interested in obtaining the divorce than the husband and the post-divorce financial resources were greater. The results on decision-making suggested that couples choosing different custody arrangements used slightly different criteria. Parents who decided on traditional mother custody were most concerned about parental responsibility, the quality of the parent-child relationship, the emotional stability of the parent, the parent's desire for custody, and parenting skills. Parents who decided on nontraditional custody arrangements gave less emphasis to responsibility functions and more emphasis to the importance of parent's values and lifestyle being suited to childrearing. (NRB)