Before Separation and After: the Link Between Family Characteristics and Custody Arrangements

Heather Juby, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (CIED)
Celine Le Bourdais, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (CIED)
Nicole Marcil-Gratton, Université de Montréal

Until recently, most analyses of fathers’ involvement with children after separation drew on characteristics of already separated mothers or fathers to explain observed variations. Panel data from consecutive cycles of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth make it possible to take a new approach, exploring how the characteristics of couples in “intact” families influence decisions made about custody and visiting arrangements when they separate. Using multinomial logistic regression techniques, and the sample of families that experience parental separation between two survey cycles, we test how pre-separation income, parents’ labor-force involvement and other characteristics (including education, union type, number, age and sex of children) influence how separating parents organize their children’s living arrangements. Findings indicate that the way in which couples share parenting and income-earning roles while living together has a strong influence on how they divide responsibilities when they separate.