IMPACT OF JOINT VERSUS MATERNAL LEGAL CUSTODY, SEX AND AGE OF ADOLESCENT, AND FAMILY STRUCTURE COMPLEXITY ON ADOLESCENTS IN REMARRIED FAMILIES

• Date: 01 December 1988
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.1988.tb01037.x
• Published date: 01 December 1988
• Author: Margaret Crosbie‐Burnett

IMPACT

OF

JOINT VERSUS MATERNAL LEGAL CUSTODY,

SEX AND

AGE

OF

ADOLESCENT, AND FAMILY STRUCTURE COMPLEXITY

ON

ADOLESCENTS IN REMARRIED FAMILIES

Margaret Crosbie-Burnett”

ABSTRACT

No published research has investigated the impact of

joint custody on the adjustment of children of divorce

who become stepchildren. This research examined the

differential effects of joint versus maternal custody,

structural complexity (presence of absence of stepfa-

ther’s children from a prior marriage), and sex and age

of adolescent on adolescent outcomes in stepfamilies.

The volunteer sample consisted of wives, husbands, and

oldest or only adolescents in

84

white, middle-class step-

father families. Each family member independently com-

pleted a questionnaire in the family’s home. Findings

revealed that adolescents in joint custody and simple

stepfamilies reported more happiness and more inclu-

sion than those in joint custody and complex stepfamilies.

Joint custody families with older adolescents and with

boys reported the most role ambiguity (disagreement

about the stepfather’s role in the family). Structural

complexity affected loyalty conflicts only for younger

adolescents, who reported less loyalty conflicts in com-

plex stepfamilies. Boys were reported to have greater

well-being than girls regardless of custody arrangement.

Implications for theory and policy are discussed.

An increasing number of states are adopting some

form

of

joint custody legislation in an effort to support

continued relationships between children

of

parental

divorce and

both

of their biological

or

adoptive parents,

22

the controversy over the costs and benefits of joint

versus sole custody for children heightens. Nearly all of

the published research in this area has focused on com-

paring children who lived in joint versus sole maternal

custody arrangements and whose parents were not re-

married. Based on

a

variety of psycho-social, medical

and subjective measures, the studies reported either no

differences in these two groups of children or better

adjustment for the joint custody children.

8,

I),

15,

19,

20,

Unfortunately, in addition to methodological prob-

lems like self-selected samples and short-term results,

this research suffers from a major flaw in that cause and

21

23

,

*Margaret Crosbie-Burnett, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor

in the Department

of

Counseling Psychology and Counselor

Education, School

of

Education, University

of

Wisconsin-

Madison, Madison,

W153706.

effect conclusions cannot be made from the positive

relationships between joint custody and child outcomes

that some studies report. We cannot conclude that joint

custody is the cause

of

positive child outcomes, because

“better” parents may be the cause

of

both

joint custody

and better-adjusted children. In other words, it may be

the quality

of

parenting that produces positive child

outcomes (not a novel idea!), and joint custody may be

another outcome of good parenting.

In

order to conclu-

sively test the effect

of

custody arrangement

on

child

outcomes, we would have to assign parents to joint

versus sole custody

on

a random basis. Obviously, this

is not possible. However, the movement toward the

presumption of joint custody opens up new research

possibilities for studying the effects

of

custody arrange-

ment in the future.

At present both the legislative move toward joint

custody and the research in the area are short-sighted.

Few policy makers and scholars seem

to

be considering

the fact that three-fourths of all previously married

women and five-sixths of all previously married men

remarry; half do

so

within the first three years of di-

vorce or ~idowhood.~ Sixty percent of these re-marrying

partners have custody

of

one or more minor children

and another

20%

are non-custodid parents.’

This

means

that most children and parents of divorce spend a rela-

tively short period of time in the single-parent house-

hold before moving into another transition-adjustment

to remarriage and the formation of

a

stepfamily.’ Even

so,

the effect of remarriage

on

custody arrangement has

not been studied sufficiently and the effect of custody

arrangement on remarried family life has

been

addressed

by only one group of scholars.” In their report of

clinical observations, Grief and Simring claim that chil-

dren in joint custody arrangements fare better in their

adjustment to parental remarriage, because they experi-

ence less threat of emotional

loss

of a sole custodial

parent as that parent moves into a conjugal relation-

ship, and less loyalty conflicts between the biological

parent and the stepparent

of

the same sex. Similarly, the

non-remarrying biological parent is less threatened

by

the new stepparent; since hidher relationship with the

child is legally secured, this parent need not pressure the

child for reassurance.

A

related

area

of research has begun in the stepfamily

literature. Researchers have become interested in ties to

family members outside

of

the stepfamily household

47

CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW/VOLUME

26,

NUMBER 2/DECEMBER

1988