Divorced Father with Custody

Telephone interviews were conducted with 56 fathers who had obtained at least one-third custody of their child, an average of 4.9 years prior. Contrary to the widespread assumption among divorce professionals, there were no significant difference on measures of divorce adjustment between those who had obtained custody through mediation (n = 16) versus through litigation (n = 16), and only one near significant difference comparing these two groups to those who obtained custody through mutual agreement with their former spouse (n = 24). The interview included the Self-Worth, Social Self-worth and Social Trust subscales of the Fisher (1978) Divorce Adjustment Scales, plus items on work adjustment, symptoms of distress, and self-improvement courses attended. Correlations of background variable's with these divorce adjustment measures suggested that single-parent fathers were likely to be better adjusted if they were older and had completed college, if they had older children and greater percentages of custody, and if they were dating.