4.5 Article

Early childhood social determinants and family relationships predict parental separation and living arrangements thereafter

Journal

ACTA PAEDIATRICA
Volume 110, Issue 1, Pages 247-254

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/apa.15322

Keywords

child; divorce; joint physical custody; social determinants; socioeconomic

Categories

Funding

  1. Danish National Research Foundation
  2. Pharmacy Foundation
  3. Egmont Foundation
  4. March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation
  5. Augustinus Foundation
  6. Health Foundation
  7. Danish Medical Research Council
  8. Lundbeck Foundation
  9. Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

Ask authors/readers for more resources

This study found that socioeconomic conditions, parents' psychiatric disorders, and family relationships in infancy can predict parental separation. For children with separated parents, family income level and parental education level are the main factors determining whether they will live in joint physical custody.
Aim Parental separation has been associated with poor mental health in children with better outcomes in children living in joint physical custody compared with those living with one parent after the separation. In this study, we investigated socioeconomic and relational predictors in early childhood of later parental separation and family arrangements thereafter. Methods This study included 34 768 children from the Danish National Birth Cohort, who were living with both parents at the 6 months' data collection and followed up in 2010-2014 at age 11 years. Questionnaire data from the two data collections were linked with population registers in Statistics Denmark about parental income, education and psychiatric care and analysed in logistic regression models. Results Socioeconomic indicators of the family and parental psychiatric disorders before birth of the child and family relationships in infancy predicted parental separation at age 11 year. For children with separated parents, a high family income and a high parental educational level were the main predictors of living in joint physical custody at the 11-year follow-up. Conclusion Socioeconomic living conditions predict parental separation as well as living arrangements thereafter. Studies of consequences of living arrangements after parental separation should account for family factors preceding the separation.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available