Publications & Studies

Research

Reviewing 60 comparative research studies on shared parenting, Nielsen found that in 34 of the studies, the children with a shared parenting arrangement had better outcomes on all of the measured variables for well-being, compared with children living in a sole custody arrangement. In 14 of the studies, shared parenting children had either better or equal outcomes on all measures; in six of the studies, all very small, they had equal outcomes on all measures; and in another six studies, they had worse outcomes on one measure and equal or better outcomes on the remaining measures. The results were similar for the subset of studies that adjusted for socio-economic variables and the level of conflict between parents. The variables for which shared parenting provided the biggest advantage were family relationships, physical health, adolescent behavior and mental health, in that order. The variable with the smallest difference was academic achievement, for which only 3 out 10 studies showed an advantage for shared parenting.^[5]

Based on her own research and the research of others, Nielsen has concluded that absent situations in which children needed protection from an abusive or negligent parent even before their parents separated—children in shared-parenting families had better outcomes than children in sole physical custody families and that maintaining strong relationships with both parents by living in shared parenting families appears to offset the damage of high parental conflict and poor co-parenting.^[6]

Father–Daughter Relationship

Nielsen has conducted extensive research on the importance of father–daughter relationships both during childhood on subsequent adult life, with a special emphasis on the relationship between daughters and divorced fathers.^[7][8]