Divorce, Custody and Child Well-being: A Psychology research review.

Abstract

Child custody evaluation in the context of parental divorce constitutes the main area of intervention within Legal Psychology. The numerous factors that contribute to the child well-being –which is Justice’s main reference in those cases– should be individually analyzed, but such an analysis must be solidly based on previous empirical research literature. This work reviews the available empirical data on the differential effects between shared and sole custody. A majority of researchers found that, other factors being equal, shared custody provides more benefits for the child well-being than sole custody, with a direct effect on the child behavior and emotions and also with an indirect effect through the reduction of parental conflict. Notwithstanding, a number of studies have not found any difference between both types of custody.

CITE AS:

Tejeiro Salguero, R. & Gómez Vallecillo, J. (2011). Divorcio, custodia y bienestar del menor: una revisión de las investigaciones en Psicología. Apuntes de Psicología, 29, 425-434.