Does the Parenting of Divorced Mothers and Fathers

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Nov 30, 2013 - fathers and mothers are equally important to the well-being of children .... father custody are children who are living with their father for 67 % of ...
Does the Parenting of Divorced Mothers and Fathers Affect Children’s Well-Being in the Same Way? Kim Bastaits & Dimitri Mortelmans

Child Indicators Research The official Journal of the International Society for Child Indicators ISSN 1874-897X Volume 7 Number 2 Child Ind Res (2014) 7:351-367 DOI 10.1007/s12187-013-9228-0

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Author's personal copy Child Ind Res (2014) 7:351–367 DOI 10.1007/s12187-013-9228-0

Does the Parenting of Divorced Mothers and Fathers Affect Children’s Well-Being in the Same Way? Kim Bastaits & Dimitri Mortelmans

Accepted: 21 November 2013 / Published online: 30 November 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Abstract This study is embedded within a recent theoretical shift emphasising the importance of fathers as equal co-parents. Nevertheless, research examining whether fathers and mothers are equally important to the well-being of children remains underdeveloped. For this reason, we investigate first whether the impact of maternal and paternal parenting is equally important to the well-being of children after divorce. Second, we examine whether maternal and paternal parenting is equally important for children’s well-being in different custodial arrangements. Using constraint-moderated structural equation models, we analyse a subsample of the ‘Divorce in Flanders’ dataset, which contains information on 363 children and their divorced parents. Results reveal that the impact of maternal and paternal parenting is equally important to the well-being of children. This remains the same for both children in joint custody and in families with non-residential fathers. Parental support has a particularly strong effect in improving the well-being of children. The parenting of divorced fathers is therefore just as important to the well-being of children as is the parenting of divorced mothers. Keywords Children’s well-being . Maternal & paternal parenting . Divorce . Equal co-parents

Nowadays, divorced fathers (as well as other types of fathers) are considered as equal co-parents (Pleck and Pleck 1997; Pleck 2010). On the one hand, this is due to a shift in fatherhood theory. Until recently, the father role was considered to be a breadwinner role, representing fathers merely as economic providers and mothers as the involved parent. Currently, fathers are expected to be as involved with their children as mothers (Lamb 2000). On the other hand, this is due to a change in values related to the equality in rights between both parents, which is expressed in new divorce legislation K. Bastaits (*) : D. Mortelmans Research Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (CELLO), University of Antwerp, Sint-Jacobsstraat 2, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium e-mail: [email protected]

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introducing joint custody (Fabricus et al. 2010). This new type of custody and the corresponding norm of equal parenting are intended to be in the best interest of the child, and they are expected to have a positive impact on the well-being of children (Fabricus et al. 2010; Van Krieken 2005). Previous research on parenting and the wellbeing of children after divorce has focused primarily on mothers, largely neglecting the paternal role (Benson et al. 2008; Lengua et al. 2000; Wood et al. 2004). Although recent divorce studies have addressed the paternal role, most are limited to nonresidential fathers (Booth et al. 2010; Flouri 2006; King and Sobolewski 2006; Stewart 2003). To our knowledge, the question of whether the parenting of divorced mothers and that of fathers are equally important to the well-being of children has yet to be investigated. This study therefore examines whether the impact of maternal and paternal parenting after divorce is equally important to the well-being of children, within the theoretical framework of equal parenting in the best interest of the child.

1 Theory and Literature Baumrind’s (1991) model of parenting is the most accepted model within parenting research. In this model, parenting is defined as an emotional climate in which children are raised. This parenting construct comprises two dimensions: support (referring to the amount of affection and responsiveness) and control (referring to the extent to which parents supervise their children). Mothers and fathers can differ in parenting, employing different levels of support and control. According to role theory, mothers have traditionally been characterised as caregivers and fathers as providers and disciplinarians, thus offering an explanation for possible differences in parenting between mothers and fathers (Hosely and Montemayor 1997). Women are socialised to be warm and supportive, while men are socialised to be controlling and disciplinary. Previous research has endorsed this theory, demonstrating that fathers are indeed more controlling and that mothers are indeed more supportive (Chambers et al. 2001; McKinney and Renk 2008; McKinney et al. 2011; Winsler et al. 2005). Despite possible differences between mothers and fathers with regard to parenting, the theoretical framework of equal parenting considers both parents as having shared parental responsibility and as being of equal importance to the well-being of children (Pleck and Pleck 1997; Pleck 2010). In the past, fathers have been seen as breadwinners and patriarchs, although they are now looked upon as having equal responsibility for and involvement with their children. This is consistent with the idea that “the parental couple should survive the conjugal couple” (Villeneuve-Gokalp 2000, p.124). In line with the theoretical framework of equal parenting, divorce legislation in many countries has established joint custody as a new form of custody (Sodermans et al. 2013), allowing both parents the opportunity to spend equal amounts of time with their children. This arrangement is intended to be in the best interest of the child (Van Krieken 2005). A study by Videon (2005) supports the equal-parenting framework, indicating that the father-child relationship is just as important to the psychological well-being of adolescents as is the mother-child relationship. This research did not address divorced parents as it focussed on intact families, however, nor did it focus on parenting. Contrary to these findings, psychoanalytical theory asserts that mothers are the primary attachment figures for their children, while fathers are more distant, thus

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implying that maternal parenting is more important to the well-being of children than is paternal parenting (Ainsworth and Bowlby 1991; Hosely and Montemayor 1997). In an overview of the literature on the difference between father-adolescent and motheradolescent relationships, Hosely and Montemayor (1997) identify more evidence for the latter theory. Mothers appear to be more important than fathers are to the outcomes of adolescents. This could be because fathers have fewer conversations with their children and spend less time with them. Nevertheless, the literature also shows that fathers play an important role in the outcomes of adolescents. It is important to note, however, that this overview concentrates on married parents. The importance of maternal and paternal parenting to the well-being of children of divorced parents might be related to the custodial arrangement. Social capital theory (Coleman 1988; Furstenberg and Hughes 1995) uses the concept of social capital to explain the link between parenting and the well-being of children. According to Coleman (1988), social capital is defined by its function, namely maintaining social structures and facilitating actions of social actors. Social capital refers to the values, skills, norms and knowledge needed to develop within a certain social structure (e.g. family, western culture, …). Children learn these values et al. of their parents through socialization. As noted by Furstenberg and Hughes (1995), this social capital can be measured in terms of quantity (e.g. contact) as well as in terms of quality (e.g. parenting). Although previous research has established that quality (e.g. parenting) is important to the well-being of children (e.g. Baumrind 1991; King and Sobolewski 2006), the quantity of parent–child contact is a necessary condition for the transfer of social capital. When divorced parents become less accessible to their children due to a decrease in contact, this has negative consequences for the transfer of social capital through parenting which might in turn lead to a decline in children’s well-being. Decreasing parent–child contact means less time for parents to teach children the necessary values, skills, norms and knowledge (social capital) needed to mature into well-functioning social actors. The decrease in parent–child contact after a parental divorce depends on the custodial arrangement. Three main custodial arrangements are joint custody, sole mother custody and sole father custody. Children in joint custody share a more or less equal amount of time between their parents. According to Melli (1999), the threshold for joint custody is between 30 % and 35 % of the nights. Sodermans et al. (2013) set the threshold for joint custody at 33 % of the time and for sole custody at 67 % or more. So, children living at least 33 % and at most 66 % with either parent are defined as children in joint custody. Children in sole mother custody are children who live with their mother for 67 % of the time and more, so their mother is considered the residential parent whereas their father is considered the non-residential parent. Children in sole father custody are children who are living with their father for 67 % of the time or more, so their father is considered the residential parent whereas their mother is considered the non-residential parent. Previous literature has indeed indicated that more frequent contact between father and child has led fathers to be more involved in parenting (Bastaits et al. 2012; King 2006; King, and Sobolewski 2006; Peters, and Ehrenberg 2008). A decline in contact may have negative consequences for the well-being of the child, as the parenting of non-residential mothers or fathers might be less important than the parenting of mothers and fathers in joint-custody arrangements. For this reason, attention should be paid to parenting and the well-being of children in various custodial arrangements.

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Previous research concentrating on parenting and the well-being of children has focused largely on the investigation of risk and problem behaviour, whether internalising or externalising (Carlson 2006; Flouri 2006; King and Sobolewski 2006; Stewart 2003). In contrast, a more recent argument focuses on positive outcomes for child well-being, given that the absence of problem behaviour does not function as a proxy for happiness, growth and success (Ben-Arieh 2000). These studies place more emphasis on positive indicators of children’s well-being in general, as well as on their subjective well-being (Ben-Arieh and Frønes 2011; Huebner et al. 1998). This has brought increasing attention to self-esteem, as an affective component of subjective well-being, and satisfaction with life, as a cognitive component of subjective wellbeing (Diener and Diener 1995; Huebner et al. 1998). Self-esteem refers to a person’s feelings of self-acceptance and self-worth (Rosenberg 1965), while satisfaction with life involves an overall evaluation of a person’s life (Diener and Diener 1995). With regard to self-esteem, the literature contains an ongoing debate concerning whether self-esteem should be studied as a latent concept or as the pursuit of self-esteem and its costs (Crocker and Park 2004; DuBois and Flay 2004). As a latent concept, however, self-esteem can be considered an important indicator of subjective well-being, as previous research has consistently indicated that high levels of self-esteem and the avoidance of low self-esteem are important to people’s well-being (DuBois and Flay 2004). In addition, as indicated in a study by Huebner et al. (1998), children in secondary school are able to distinguish between self-esteem and satisfaction with life. With regard to parenting and these positive indicators of the subjective well-being of children, previous research has demonstrated that high support and high control are positively related to high self-esteem and high satisfaction with life (Campana et al. 2008; Milevsky et al. 2007; Zakeri and Karimpour 2011). Self-esteem and satisfaction with life are thus appropriate indicators to address when investigating parenting and the subjective well-being of children after divorce.

2 Current Study This study has two aims. First, we examine whether the parenting of divorced mothers and fathers is equally important to the well-being of children. Based on the recent equal parenting framework (Pleck and Pleck 1997; Pleck 2010), we hypothesize that, overall, the parenting of divorced mothers and fathers is equally important for children’s wellbeing (H1). Second, we investigate if differences can be found between different custody arrangements. We hypothesize that the parenting of mothers and fathers in joint custody arrangements is equally important to the well-being of children (H2), as both parents spend similar amounts of time with their children (Coleman 1988; Furstenberg and Hughes 1995). For children in families with non-residential fathers we expect that the impact of maternal and paternal parenting on the well-being of children differs (H3), as these fathers spend less time with their children than residential mothers do, thus possibly leading fathers to transfer less social capital (Coleman 1988; Furstenberg and Hughes 1995). Proceeding from the well-being of children, we concentrate on the subjective wellbeing of children, using the two positive indicators mentioned above: self-esteem and satisfaction with life. Each hypothesis is thus tested twice, once for children’s self-

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esteem and once for children’s satisfaction with life. In this study, children provided information on their own self-esteem and satisfaction with life, as they could be considered as key informants on their own lives, including their own subjective wellbeing (Ben-Arieh 2005; Casas 2011).

3 Method 3.1 Data Our analyses are based on the ‘Divorce in Flanders – DiF’ dataset (Flanders is the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). This database can be distinguished from others due to its use of a multi-actor design to survey children aged 10 years or older, as well as their parents, grandparents and stepparents. Parents (1/3 whom were still married and 2/ 3 of whom were divorced) were contacted, after random selection from the National Register. These parents provided information for contacting other actors. The analytic subsample contained information on residential children between the ages of 10 and 18 years (following the example of McLeod et al. 2007) and divorced parents, collected between October 2009 and December 2010. The responding parent (in all cases, the biological or adoptive parent) was either the mother or the father. In case of multiple, suitable children, one child was selected at random. The survey was conducted using face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI). Children reported about their well-being and parenting, while parents reported about background characteristics and custodial arrangements. Several restrictions were made for the inclusion of cases in our subsample. Children who did not have contact with one of their parents were excluded, as this study focuses on the parenting of both parents. Children for whom information on the custodial arrangement was missing (n=32) or incorrect (n=14) were also excluded. Finally, children with residential fathers (n=31) or with two nonresidential parents (n=10) were also excluded, due to the low number of cases. These criteria yielded a subsample of 363 children and divorced parents. 3.2 Analytic Strategy To test the three hypotheses, we used structural equation models (SEM), relying on the dyadic data-organisation technique proposed by Kenny et al. (2006). Following their method procedure, raw data from our subsample were structured as dyads, with each data line containing information on the child and the parent. Preliminary tests suggested that our subsample deviated from the normality assumption (Mardia Multivariate Kurtosis=174.97). For this reason, all SEM models were estimated using MLR, an estimator that has proven robust for non-normal data (Brown 2006). Missing data on the dependent variables were treated with full-information maximum likelihood (FIML). Missing data on independent variables were treated using listwise deletion. Due to single-parent report, 13.50 % of the information on new partners of the fathers and 9.92 % of the information on new partners of the mothers was missing. After imputing the information on the new partner of the father or the new partner of the mother (using information from the other parent, if possible), missing data were rare (less than 3 %) for all background variables.

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Statistical analyses were carried out in Mplus 6 (Muthén and Muthén 2010), thus allowing us to estimate all paths simultaneously and to generate nested models. First, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on all multi-item scales, in order to establish the adequate measurement of the latent constructs. Second, we used a measurement model to investigate the relationships between all latent constructs. Finally, we constructed nested structural equation models in order to examine whether the impact of paternal and maternal parenting differed for the subjective well-being of the children. Regarding our first hypothesis, overall structural equation models are generated. In a first step, a fully constrained model was identified in which all paths of parenting were set as equal between mothers and fathers (baseline model H1). In a second step, the paths of parenting were unconstrained and therefore not equal between mothers and fathers. In order to test our first hypothesis, we conducted a statistical comparison between the baseline model and the second model. For this comparison, we used the chi-square difference test adapted for the MLR estimation (Muthén and Muthén 2005), given that constraining one or more paths to be equal generates an increase in the degrees of freedom. A non-significant change indicated that the fully constrained baseline model is the preferable model. Regarding our second and third hypothesis, moderated structural equation models are generated, with custodial arrangement as moderator. In a first step, all paths of parenting were set as equal between mothers and fathers, for children in joint custody as well as for children with nonresidential fathers (baseline model H2 & H3). In a second step, the paths of parenting in joint custody were unconstrained. In a third step, the paths of parenting in families with non-residential fathers were unconstrained. To test our second and third hypotheses, we conducted a statistical comparison between the baseline model of H2 and H3 and the second and third models, again using the chi-square difference test adapted for the MLR estimation (Muthén and Muthén 2005). The conceptual model is presented in Fig. 1. 3.3 Measures Children’s Well-Being To measure self-esteem, the Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale was used, with children rating ten indicators along a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Consistent with the procedure developed by Marsh (1996), confirmatory factor analysis revealed a single factor (factor loadings: 0.46 – 0.74). To improve the model, error covariance was freed overall model

Parenting father

= or

Well-being child

Parenting mother

children in joint custody

children with non-residential fathers

Parenting father

Parenting father

=

Well-being child

Parenting mother

Fig. 1 Conceptual model of the structural equation analyses

Well-being child Parenting mother

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between two indicators that were worded very similarly in Dutch, leading to an adequate fit (χ 2(34) = 121.39, RMSEA = 0.08, CFI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.05). The composite reliability of this scale was 0.82. To measure satisfaction with life, one indicator (‘All things considered, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with life as a whole nowadays’) was rated by children along an 11-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (extremely dissatisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied). Parenting: Two subscales of the Parenting Style Inventory II (Darling and Toyokawa 1997) were used to measure parental support and control for mothers and fathers separately (consistent with Carlo et al. 2007; Nijhof and Engels 2007). Children rated five indicators of each subscale along a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The following are examples of items from the support subscale: ‘I can count on my mother/father to help me out if I have a problem’ and ‘My mother/father and I do things that are fun together’. The following are examples of items from the control subscale: ‘If I don’t behave myself, my mother/father will punish me’, and ‘My mother/father points out ways I could do better’. Confirmatory factor analyses on the subscales of support revealed a single factor (factor loadings for mothers: 0.50 – 0.80, factor loadings for fathers: 0.55 – 0.83). To improve the model, error covariance was freed between the similar worded indicators in the latent construct of mothers and fathers, resulting in a good fit (χ2(33)=68.60, RMSEA=0.05, CFI= 0.96, SRMR=0.05). The composite reliability of the support subscale was 0.80 for mothers and 0.84 for fathers. Confirmatory factor analyses on the subscales of control revealed a single factor (factor loadings for mothers: 0.55 – 0.92, factor loadings for fathers: 0.61 – 0.88), after omitting two indicators that did not load sufficiently. To improve the model, an error covariance was twice freed between similar worded indicators in the latent construct of mothers and fathers, resulting in a good fit (χ2(6)=14.42, RMSEA=0.06, CFI=0.98, SRMR=0.03). The composite reliability of the control subscale was 0.73 for mothers and 0.77 for fathers. For the subscale of support as well as the subscale of control, metric equivalence could be found between mothers and fathers (support - Δχ2 =4.89, Δdf=4, p=0.30; control - Δχ2 =1.23, Δdf=2, p=0.54). Moreover, metric equivalence was already established for support and control regarding the custodial arrangement (Bastaits et al. 2012). Custodial Arrangement Based on a double custody calendar, which the responding parent completed by indicating the nights that the child stayed with him or her, as well as the nights that the child stayed with the other parent, a residential arrangement was assigned to each child (consistent with Melli 1999; Smyth and Moloney 2008; Sodermans et al. 2013). Children in joint custody shared time between parents, staying with their mother for at least 33 % and at most 66 % of the nights and staying with their father for at least 33 % and at most 66 % of the nights. Children in families with nonresidential fathers stayed with their mother for 67 % of the nights or more and with their father for 32 % of the nights or less. We take only nights into account since it is suggested in an article by Melli (1999) that overnight visitation is important for parental involvement. If a child spends the night, that parent is more accessible to the child and, in most cases, responsible for providing dinner, breakfast and maybe school lunch for the next day as well as for bedtime rituals, homework and other important parental tasks. In the analytic subsample, 138 children are children in joint custody and 225 children are children in non-residential father families.

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Control Variables Previous research has indicated that background characteristics are often associated with the well-being of children after a parental divorce (Amato 2000). To select our control variables, we examined the relationship between the child’s wellbeing and the child’s age and gender, the age and educational level of the parents, the presence of a new partner in the paternal or maternal household and the length of time since the divorce. Preliminary analysis revealed the gender of the child was significantly associated with self-esteem (β=−0.23, SE=0.05, p