With whom will the children live? Division of parental time following union dissolution
For a long time, most children who witnessed their parents’ separation went to live with their mother. However, an increasing proportion of separated parents share parental responsibilities more equitably, including through shared or joint physical custody (or dual residence). In order to identify the characteristics of families that influence how former spouses and partners share parental time at union dissolution, we used data from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD). In this representative cohort of children born in the province of Quebec in 1997-1998, we found that the establishment of dual residence for children was strongly associated with the labour force participation of mothers and the level of education of fathers. The climate surrounding separation and fathers’ sense of parental effectiveness also played an important role.