FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 30, 2003

Contact:
Elizabeth J. Kates, Esq.
media@nnflp.org
954-979-8783

Trish Wilson
trish@nnflp.org
978-546-5143
National Network on Family Law Policy

New APA Study Finds Evidence that Children do Better in the
Custody of their Mothers than in the Custody of their Fathers
Post-Divorce Relocation of Children research
by Sanford L. Braver, Ira M. Ellman and William V. Fabricius

FLORIDA -- Sanford L. Braver and colleagues Ira M. Ellman and William V. Fabricius released a new study (June 25, 2003) hoping to examine the effects on children whose parents move after divorce. The study found little evidence that children are affected by post-divorce parental moves, so long as they remain in the custody of their mothers.

The American Psychological Association press release, issued June 25, 2003, and widely distributed made the claim that "children of divorced parents who are separated from one parent due to the custodial or non-custodial parent moving beyond an hour's drive from the other parent are significantly less well off on many child mental and physical health measures compared to those children whose parents don't relocate after divorce."

But that was not what the study found. Here are the actual findings:

WHO WAS STUDIED: Braver et al. compared the characteristics of 602 Arizona undergraduate psychology students from divorced families, divided up into groups in which post-divorce: (1) neither parent moved, (2) mother moved away with kids, (3) mother moved, leaving kids with father, (4) father moved with kids, and (5) father moved, leaving kids with mother.

HOW THEY WERE STUDIED: The students filled out questionnaires.

THE FINDINGS:

PERSONAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-ADJUSTMENT: The most well-adjusted group in this category were children who remained with their mothers whose fathers moved away. They were better adjusted than children from divorced families where neither parent moved, albeit marginally so. Children who moved with their fathers, or who remained behind with their fathers scored significantly lower on personal and emotional well adjustment than children who remained in the custody of their mothers, regardless of whether the mother moved or not.

GENERAL LIFE SATISFACTION: Children in the custody of their fathers scored lowest on general life satisfaction. Children of divorce whose fathers moved away and left them with their mothers were the most satisfied, marginally more satisfied than children from divorced families in which neither parent moved, and significantly more satisfied than children who either moved or remained behind with their fathers.

HOSTILITY: Children who moved with their fathers, or who remained behind in the custody of their fathers had significantly more hostility than children in families in which neither divorced parent moved, or who either moved with their mothers or remained behind with their mothers. Children who moved with their mothers showed less hostility than children who remained behind with their mothers (i.e. whose fathers moved away), but children who remained behind with their mothers whose fathers moved away, while a little more hostile, also were a little more well-adjusted and satisfied overall.

INNER TURMOIL AND DISTRESS FROM THE DIVORCE: Children from the group in which neither parent moved had the least inner turmoil and distress from the divorce itself. However, the group of children who moved with their mothers or stayed with their mothers when their father moved still had less inner turmoil and distress than children who either moved with their fathers or stayed behind with their fathers when their mothers moved. (It is unclear whether this factor was related to moving per se, or more difficult divorce circumstances, which in turn precipitated a move. Either way, it is uncorrelated with the children's overall well-adjustedness and life satisfaction.)

PERCEPTION OF PARENT AS "SUPPORTIVE": Children across all categories tended to perceive the parent they lived with as more supportive. However, in general over all categories, children had a higher opinion of their mothers.

"GLOBAL HEALTH": Children who moved away with their fathers reported significantly lower "global health" than children whose parents did not move, and also lower health than the remaining three groups, which otherwise had no significant differences among them, but did report somewhat lower health than the group whose parents did not move.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF PARENTS TO COLLEGE: Among the moving categories, children who remained behind with their fathers received significantly less college assistance than did children who remained behind with their mothers (the second most supportive category), and children who moved with their fathers (the least supportive category) received significantly less college assistance than did children who moved with their mothers. Children whose parents did not move received significantly more financial assistance for college than children whose parents moved with or without them. (While actually relatively unimportant compared with things like a child's well-adjustedness overall, and probably most easily remedied by policies that would target this issue with particularity -- like more and better government funding for education for all children -- this is the finding Braver et al. and the anti-moveaway crowd are touting the most, and it's essentially echoed in the odd category immediately below.)

FINANCIAL WORRIES OVER COLLEGE EXPENSES: This category mirrored the actual contributions of parents to children's college expenses, as we might have guessed.

A few other areas of well-adjustedness were measured, with no important differences in and among the different groups of undergraduate college students taking an introductory psychology class (e.g. more substance abuse among children who live with their fathers.)

Esteemed divorce psychology researcher Judith Wallerstein, Ph.D., has issued the following statement on this study:

"These findings fail to support the argument that the move away affects the psychological adjustment or social behavior of the youngsters. The youngsters in the custody of their fathers when the mother moved or who moved with the father were the only young people who showed troubled behavior.

"There are however astonishing differences in the emotional adjustment of those youngsters in the custody of their fathers whom either moved or remained in the same community.

"The youngsters in the custody of their fathers when the mother moved or who moved with the father were the only young people who showed troubled behavior.

"The authors make no effort to explain this truly astounding finding, and it is hard to see how these findings constitute an argument for barring the custodial mother's move with her children and changing the custody of the child from mother to father.

"In their final conclusions the authors offer the unfounded generalization that the study establishes that relocation does not improve the condition of children. It is impossible to find any support for this statement in this study.

"There were no significant differences among those groups of children who remained in the same community with both parents and those who moved with their custodial mother. The researchers' conclusion that relocation fails to improve the lives of children seems to be built not on the study itself but on the goals of the investigators.

"The only group of children found to suffer were those who were in the custody of their fathers (whether or not the children moved). These children seemed significantly more troubled in all of the major mental health measures.

"The important findings in this limited study are:

"(1) the striking similarities in major mental health measures between children who moved with their mothers and those whose parents did not move, and

"(2) the unexplained psychological plight of the children in father custody.

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Additional information and links to the APA study can be found at the following websites:
http://www.thelizlibrary.org/~liz/liz/braver.html
http://members.aol.com/asherah/braver.html

ADDITIONAL CONTACT INFORMATION:

Judith Wallerstein, Ph.D.
jwallerstein@nnflp.org
415-435-3417
415-789-9530 fax

The National Network on Family Law Policy is an informal coalition of professionals, organizations and activist groups in the fields of law, psychology, and academia who advocate for appropriate reforms in family law legislation.