Vincent Duindam

Joint Physical Custody in The Netherlands and the Well-Being of Children

The frequency of contact with fathers and mothers and the amount of parental support for boys and girls is an important issue after divorce, from emotional, legal, and empirical points of view. In the Netherlands between 1998 and 2008, joint physical custody after divorce (when children actually have shared residences) has increased from 5% to 16%. It is therefore interesting to compare the effects growing up in the following different kinds of families actually has on children: (a) mother families with low contact frequency with the father; (b) mother families with high contact frequency with the father; (c) co-parenting families (joint physical custody); and (d) father families. The main conclusion is that, on average, the effects of joint physical custody for children, mothers, and especially for fathers, are slightly positive.

Caring fathers in the Netherlands

Data from two studies on heterosexual men and their care work at home are discussed. Five groups of fathers are distinguished. They range from the traditional father (hardly any care work within the home) to the very caring father (who does at least as much as his wife). What makes the difference between these five groups of men? Measures at three levels have been studied: present social context, value orientation, and family of origin of the fathers. Measures at the first and second levels seem to be the most important. The role of the female partner is also discussed. Caring men do not report a lesser degree of well-being, including the quality of their relationship.

Problem Behavior of Boys and Young Men After Parental Divorce in the Netherlands

Abstract This article examines the effects of parental divorce on externalizing, internalizing, and relational problem behavior of boys and young men between 12 and 30 years of age in the Netherlands. We compare sons coming from divorced families both with sons from intact families and also with daughters. Compared to male youngsters coming from intact families, male youngsters from divorced families tend to have more externalizing problems, including risky habits. Young men, after a divorce, hardly differ either from young men coming from intact families or from young women with respect to internalizing problem behavior. Male children of divorced families enter into relationships at an early age and usually have greater sexual experience compared to male children coming from intact families. However, young men in general and also young men after parental divorce postpone marriage and fatherhood compared to young women.

Men in the Household: Caring Fathers

Fathers, as important caregivers for their children, and men doing substantial tasks in the household more generally, are a rare phenomenon. As D. Morgan states: … most of the evidence points to very slow changes in the direction of men’s participation … Most of the findings are, therefore, relatively pessimistic although perhaps we should begin to look more closely at those men who are attempting to take on greater responsibilities within the home. (Morgan, 1992: 136) Precisely this argument was the motivation to undertake the present study. There are a number of studies on ‘caring fathers’ available now from several countries: examples inlcude the United States (Radin, 1982; Pruett, 1983), Sweden (Lamb et al., 1982a), Australia (Russell, 1987) and Israel (Sagi, 1982). In the literature a number of possible determinants of care work by men have been pointed out. Both the views of men and women and their present social context appear to be important. In addition, there has been much debate about the family backgrounds of caring fathers. One of the questions is whether they are imitating their own inspiring father, or compensating for his lack of involvement. Two determinants of a father’s functioning as a major caregiver in intact families seem to emerge: (a) the parents’ perceptions of the fathering they had experienced as children, and (b) financial-employment factors; particularly fathers’ problems in obtaining jobs, mothers’ economic activity and maternal career aspirations (Radin, 1994: 44).