THE EFFECTS OF DUAL RESIDENCE CUSTODY ON CHILDREN

Kim Thalhuber, Ph.D., Human Development and Family Studies
College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia

Dual residence is a type of joint physical custody in which the child spends equal amounts of time living in each parent's home. For example, a child may live at mom's house for two weeks or a month, then dad's house for two weeks or a month. Dual residence arrangements can work well for some families, but may be very difficult for others. A recent study that compared the results of 33 studies of custody arrangements found that, in general, children in joint custody arrangements are better adjusted (better emotional adjustment, family relationships, self-esteem, behavior, and adjustment to the divorce) than children in sole-custody. The joint custody children in this study didn't necessarily spend equal time living in both parents' homes, but most spent at least 25% of their time with each parent and spent substantial time living with each parent. However, other research has found that if there is a lot of conflict between parents, then joint custody may not be a good arrang!
ement for children.

Some issues to consider in deciding whether or not to pursue a dual residence arrangement are:
1. The level of conflict between parents. An equal time arrangement may not be optimal if there is a lot of conflict between parents. Parents need to be able to communicate and cooperate with each other for this type of arrangement to work well.
2. The child's level of adaptability to change. Equal time arrangements work best for children with a flexible, adaptable temperament.