RESEARCH ARTICLE
Swedish Parent’s Experiences of Joint Physical Custody
Åsa Carlsund*, Kennet Asplund, Eva Sellström, Ulrika Eriksson
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 6
First Page: 1
Last Page: 7
Publisher Id: TOFAMSJ-6-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874922401406010001
Article History:
Received Date: 7/3/2014Revision Received Date: 18/8/2014
Acceptance Date: 19/8/2014
Electronic publication date: 11/9/2014
Collection year: 2014
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Aim: This study’s aim was to learn more about parent experiences, when living in joint physical custody with their children.
Methods: The study design was descriptive, using a qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted with 28 parents who lived in joint physical custody with their children. Content was analysed using inductive content analysis.
Results: Participants with joint custody reported many positive experiences, and a similar process of adapting to the new living- arrangement. Results indicate that shortly after the separation parents were mainly occupied with emotional reactions to the new family situation. After two to three years, or in some cases longer, things seemed to settle down and the participants became more accustomed to the arrangements.
Conclusion: This qualitative study provides insights into parents’ experiences of living in joint physical custody with their children. Many positive experiences and a similar process of adapting to the new arrangement were revealed. In the initial period, the parents seemed mainly to have been occupied with emotional reactions to the new family situation.
