Overnight Stays and Children's Relationships with Resident and Nonresident Parents after Divorce

Abstract:     
This study focuses on adolescents' overnight contact with their non-resident parents. Sixty young people ages 12 to 19 and their resident parents were interviewed as part of a nationally representative study in Australia. The likelihood of overnight stays was lower when there was conflict and lack of trust between the parents. Adolescents who stayed overnight with their non-resident parents reported greater closeness and better quality relationships with their nonresident parents than did those who had daytime-only contact, an association that remained significant after taking account of the overall frequency of contact and the level of conflict between the parents (as reported by the resident parent and the child). The findings suggest that overnight stays may both reflect and change the nature of the relationship between children and their nonresident parents, with no apparent downside in this regard for the relationship between children and their resident parent.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 44

Keywords: parental separation, overnight stays, parent-child relationships, non-resident parents

JEL Classification: K10, K30

Accepted Paper Series