Studies find shared custody best for child

When Ilinois parents decide divorce is the best option, determining child custody arrangements can be complex, and at times emotional. Since parents want what is best for their children, new studies encourage them to split custody whenever possible in order to seek the best outcome for the kids involved.

According to Science Daily, a study of more than 3,600 preschool-aged children in Sweden found that even very young children benefitted from sharing time between both of their parents. Parents and teachers of the children participants completed the “Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire” to assess any issues a child may have with their behavior or psychologically. Across the board, children who lived either mostly or only with one of their parents had more issues reported by both their teachers and their parents. Children who split their time between parents were no more likely than children whose parents still lived together to have any issues reported by a parent, although teachers reported the least number of issues for children who had parents who lived together.

As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports a study out of Wake Forest University had similar findings. After reviewing 44 previously published studies, a researcher found that as long as there was no violence or abuse, a child was always best off when they were given time to form a strong relationship with both parents. This trumped all other factors in the studies about conflict on children of divorce, and they found that even when parents did a poor job of working together to parent their child or had high conflict amongst themselves, the children did not suffer adverse effects if they were given ample time with both parents.