Is shared residence for children practiced by new groups of parents?

Shared residence for children has increased significantly in the 2000s among parents living apart in Norway. In 2012, about one in four children with parents living apart had shared residence, compared to 10 percent in 2004 and 8 percent in 2002. In the same period the share of children with mother sole custody decreased, while father sole custody remained at a low and fairly stable level. Similar patterns have been observed in many other counties as well, implying that shared residence is now increasingly practiced by parents with less socioeconomic resources and big conflicts.

In this report we examine to what extent shared residence and father sole custody is now chosen by other groups of parents than previously in Norway. The analyses are based on three surveys on parents living apart, from 2002, 2004 and 2012. Both parents were interviewed, i.e. both the one who was registered at the same address as the child and the one who was not registered living with the child. Both groups include fathers as well as mothers. We analyse the fathers’ and the mothers’ answers separately. The information on the child’s residence applies to the parents’ youngest child.

Fathers more often report that the child has shared residence than the mothers do. According to both parents, the distance between their homes is fairly short. Most parents also report that they are very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the current shared-residence arrangement.

Shared residence has increased among most groups of parents. For instance, both less educated parents and highly educated parents more often practice shared residence than previously, and the same is true for parents with high and low income, younger and older parents, those with severe conflicts and those with no conflicts, those who were formally married to the child’s other parent as well as those who were cohabiting. Shared residence is also practiced more often among those who lived together for a short time and those who spent many years together and those with younger and those with older children.

We also find similar patterns in 2004 and 2012 when it comes to what groups of parents that are particularly likely to opt for shared residence. For instance, the analyses based on the fathers’ answers showed that in both years, high-income fathers more often practiced shared residence than low-income fathers, and shared residence was less common among parents with severe conflicts than among those with little conflicts. However, shared residence increased somewhat more among fathers below 35 years of age and among fathers who had been married to the child’s mother compared with older fathers and those who cohabited.

The analyses based on the mothers’ answers revealed that both in 2004 and 2012 highly educated mothers practiced shared residence more often than the less educated and that shared residence was more common among those with few conflicts with the child’s father than among those with severe conflicts. There was no significant association between the mother’s income and shared residence.

Shared residence is defined somewhat differently in the Norwegian surveys than in many other countries. Whereas juridical criteria are used in Norway, researchers in other countries often define shared residence as an arrangement where both parents spend at least one third of the time with the child. In Norway, the percentage who report that the non-resident parent spends at least ten days per month with the child is significantly higher than the percentage who report that they have shared residence according to the juridical definition. Also when using this broader measure of shared residence we observe a significant increase in the 2000s.

Even though the percentage who report that they practice father sole custody varies little across the three Norwegian surveys, multivariate analyses based on the fathers’ answers demonstrate that there has been a slight increase in the propensity to have father sole custody when changes in the composition of the sample are controlled.