Overnight Custody Arrangements, Attachment, and Adjustment Among Very Young Children

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Family Studies
• Psychology

Background:

• Parental separation and divorce are common for infants and toddlers.
• The impact of frequent overnight stays with nonresident parents on child wellbeing is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the prevalence of frequent overnight stays with nonresident parents for infants and toddlers.
• To investigate the association between frequent overnight stays and child attachment and adjustment.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.
• Longitudinal study of children born to primarily low-income, racial/ethnic minority parents in 20 U.S. cities.
• Examined overnight stay frequency and assessed attachment insecurity and adjustment problems at ages 3 and 5.

Main Results:

• 6.9% of infants and 5.3% of toddlers had at least one overnight stay per week with a nonresident parent.
• Frequent overnights were linked to infant attachment insecurity, but this association was less clear for toddlers.
• Attachment insecurity predicted later adjustment problems, but frequent overnights were not directly associated with adjustment issues at older ages.

Conclusions:

• Frequent overnight stays with nonresident parents are common for young children.
• While associated with infant attachment, frequent overnights do not appear to directly impact later child adjustment.
• Further research is needed to understand the long-term effects of co-parenting arrangements on child development.