Gender equality, child well being and shared residence in Spain

In the last few years there has been a significant growth of divorce cases involving shared residence in Spain where they have shifted from 9.6 percent of divorces with children in 2007 to 24.6 percent in 2015. Recent developments show that the debate on shared residence is shifting from benefits gained by parents from the perspective of gender equality to the questions related to the quality of care and to the consequent outcomes for children in terms of their well-being. The development of shared residence reveals an increasing centrality of children’s well-being, rights and interests. Furthermore, it is in line with the growth of family diversity and closely corresponds with the movement in favor of father involvement with the care of children. One of the unsettled issues of research agenda is to investigate the extent to which and under which conditions the growth of shared residence makes a positive contribution to the well-being of children.

This paper has a two-fold objective: (1) to explore the factors that are contributing to the growth of shared residence in Spain and (2) to examine child well-being levels in different types of postdivorce families with a particular focus on shared residence. Our analyses draw on two different databases, i.e. the Spanish Statistics of Annulments, Separations and Divorces (2007-2015) and Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) for Spain 2014. Preliminary results suggest that adolescents have better well-being levels in two-homes than in single-parent households but lower outcomes than those living in intact families.