With the Father or the Mother? Determinants of Parent-Child Coresidence after Union Dissolution

Luisa Fadel , UCLouvain
Diederik Boertien, Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics (CED)
Christine Schnor, UCLouvain

Following union dissolution, women are more likely than men to live with their children. At the same time, in many European countries, there has been a recent increase in the percentage of children living with their fathers. However, little is known about the socio-economic factors leading fathers, rather than mothers, to coreside with their children after separation. In this study, we focus on couples with minor children and investigate the role of their own and partner’s income on the likelihood of becoming the resident parent upon union dissolution. In doing so, we analyze data from Belgian registers and tax records and look at coresident couples with at least one minor child in 2017 who separated within the following year. We use linear probability models to investigate how income in the year preceding union dissolution is associated with the likelihood of both mothers and fathers becoming resident parents (versus non-resident parents). We then applied three-way interaction terms to account for the combined effect of each parent’s income. Our preliminary findings point to the importance of individual economic resources in the parent-child coresident decision among separating couples. However, our results do not provide support for the hypothesis that a higher relative income gives some advantage in living arrangements negotiations. In further analyses, we will include additional information on both parents (e.g., distance from grandparents’ place of residence, repartnering after separation, etc.) which could shed more light on the decision of parental living arrangements after union dissolution both in absolute and relative terms.

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 Presented in Session 37. Union Dissolution and Children