title: Overnight Custody Arrangements, Attachment, and Adjustment Among Very Young Children.
abstract: Large numbers of infants and toddlers have parents who live apart due to separation, divorce, or nonmarital/noncohabiting child-bearing, yet this important topic, especially the controversial issue of frequent overnights with nonresidential parents, is understudied. The authors analyzed data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal investigation of children born to primarily low-income, racial/ethnic minority parents that is representative of 20 U.S. cities with populations over 200,000. Among young children whose parents lived apart, 6.9% of infants (birth to age 1) and 5.3% of toddlers (ages 1 to 3) spent an average of at least 1 overnight per week with their nonresident parent. An additional 6.8% of toddlers spent 35% - 70% of overnights with nonresident parents. Frequent overnights were significantly associated with attachment insecurity among infants, but the relationship was less clear for toddlers. Attachment insecurity predicted adjustment problems at ages 3 and 5, but frequent overnights were not directly linked with adjustment problems at older ages.
authors: University of Virginia.
authors: Samantha L
authors: SL
authors: Tornello
authors: University of Virginia.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Emery
authors: University of Virginia.
authors: Jenna
authors: J
authors: Rowen
authors: American Institutes for Research.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Potter
authors: University of Virginia *
authors: Bailey
authors: B
authors: Ocker
authors: University of Virginia *
authors: Yishan
authors: Y
authors: Xu
keywords: Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study; attachment; child custody; child outcomes; divorce; nonresidential parents
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