“Part‐Time Parent”: Mothering in the Context of Shared Physical Custody

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Melinda Stafford Markham,Marilyn Coleman
• Date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12491

M S MKansas State University

M CUniversity of Missouri

“Part-Time Parent”: Mothering in the Context

of Shared Physical Custody

Objective: This qualitative study examined

women’s identities as mothers when sharing

postdivorce physical custody of children.

Background: The increase in divorced parents

sharing physical custody can create challenges,

especially for women whose identity is man-

ifested through the social position of mother.

Although researchers have investigated chil-

dren’s outcomes in connection with shared

physical custody, little is known regarding the

effects of shared custody on women’s identities

as mothers.

Method: A secondary analysis was conducted

using interviews from a groundedtheory study of

20 divorced women with sharedphysical custody

arrangements.

Results: Mothers resolved the cognitive disso-

nance they experienced upholding the compet-

ing values of being physically present for their

child and supporting their child’s relationship

with their father by prioritizing the belief that

their child should maintain relationships with

both parents. The mothers found ways in which

their part-time parent rolesupported their moth-

ering identity. They also experienced challenges

and developed individual solutions to overcome

the challenges.

Department of Applied Human Sciences, Kansas State

University, 303 Justin Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506

(mmarkham@ksu.edu).

KeyWords: custody, divorce,identity, maternal gatekeeping,

postdivorce, roleexpectations, shared custody.

Conclusion: The ideology of intensive mother-

ing may be changing, particularly for women

who undergo divorce or separation. Mothers’

beliefs that their children should maintain rela-

tionships with both parents overridestheir desire

to always be physically present for their children

and decreases the time women enact their roleas

mothers.

Implications: Practitioners are encouraged

to guide mothers’ adjustment to their custody

arrangement and help them “redo” the ways

they view their mother identity.

Approximately 1.2 million children each year

experience their parents’ divorce (Kreider &

Ellis, 2011). Children’s postdivorce experiences

have been altered as a result of changes in

the law, primarily because of two landmark

studies (Hetherington et al., 1978; Waller-

stein & Kelly, 1980). In both of these studies,

researchers concluded that children who main-

tained contact with both parents after divorce

were better adjusted than those primarily in

the sole custody of their mothers. The legal

system rapidly incorporated these conclusions

into existing laws. Nearly all states now have

statutes authorizing the awarding of shared

legal and physical custody if it is in the best

interests of the child (Elrod & Spector, 2011;

Meyer et al., 2017). Before the 1970s, the norm

for fathers’ postdivorce involvement in raising

children was minimal; mothers were most often

awarded custody (Maccoby et al., 1990). Cur-

rently, more than 70% of American mothers

1128Family Relations 69 (December 2020): 1128–1142

DOI:10.1111/fare.12491