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Joint physical custody (JPC) is an increasingly common care arrangement in which children live about equally with their parents after separation or divorce. This study examined the association between JPC and mothers’ life satisfaction in Belgium, Finland, and Germany. The objective was to determine whether mothers with (asymmetric or symmetric) JPC differed in terms of life satisfaction from mothers with sole physical custody (SPC) and whether there were country-specific differences. Using data from the studies Divorce in Flanders, Survey among Separated Families in Finland, and Family Models in Germany, we estimated OLS regression models for resident mothers in SPC and JPC families with minor children. Results showed significant differences between countries. Mothers in Belgium did not differ in terms of life satisfaction depending on their child’s physical custody arrangement. However, mothers with symmetric JPC had higher life satisfaction than their counterparts with SPC in the Finnish sample, while both asymmetric and symmetric JPC mothers reported higher life satisfaction than SPC mothers in Germany. These differences, however, disappeared after introducing control variables to the regression models. Findings suggest that selection into different physical custody arrangements may explain the positive link between JPC and mothers’ life satisfaction; a finding with far-reaching implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joint physical custody (JPC) is an emerging post-separation care arrangement in which children spend considerable periods of time with both of their parents. Although there is some research on JPC that has focused on children's well-being, little is known about how this physical custody arrangement affects fathers' well-being. Therefore, this study investigated the well-being of fathers with symmetric JPC and of non-resident fathers whose children live either mostly or exclusively with their mother. The statistical analysis draws on longitudinal data from waves 4–12 of the German Family Panel (pairfam). Random- and fixed-effects regression models were estimated for 1,372 observations of 389 fathers. The results of the bivariate random-effects models showed that fathers with symmetric JPC reported higher life satisfaction than other fathers. However, the fixed-effects model indicated that these differences were due to positive selection into symmetric JPC. Moreover, the results of the multivariate random- and fixed-effects models showed no statistically significant relationship between physical custody arrangements and fathers' stress, depressiveness, life satisfaction, and general health. Taken together, this study suggests that physical custody arrangements are unrelated to fathers' post-separation well-being while hinting at the relevance of selection processes among post-separation families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide prevalence of mental health problems has increased noticeably over the last three decades, with approximately 20 percent of adolescents suffering from either mental health or behavioural problems. As it is well known that positive and negative emotions are major influences on mental health, psychological well-being is a particularly crucial component of mental health. The present study investigates the role of intergenerational transmission in the development of psychological well-being in adolescents. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), OLS linear regression models were estimated for 2,794 adolescents and their parents, while taking into account whether the assumed relation depends on the gender constellations of parents and their children. The results of the statistical analysis provided moderate evidence for the intergenerational transmission of psychological well-being, especially with respect to parents' and adolescents' negative affect. However, no significant differences between same-sex and opposite-sex parent-child dyads could be found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]