Bruce M Smyth
Biographic Data
| ID | 4126766 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bruce M Smyth |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bruce M |
| FAMILY NAME | Smyth |
| SIGNATURE | SMYTH B M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3514-5325 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 98 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Introduction: Family court review special feature on changeovers, choices, and challenges—Understanding children and young people's between‐home transitions after parental separation
The seeds of this Special Feature were planted 15 years ago through the observation of young children's everyday routines and rituals at a day-care centre. It was clear, even then, that children developed inventive ways to manage transitions seeking comfort and connection in the moment of parting, such as pressing a hand against a window to mirror a parent's touch on the other side. Children often relied on transitional objects to self-soothe aft…
From here to there and the in‐between: Children's transitions between homes after parental separation
Two potentially important aspects of post‐separation parenting arrangements are the number and nature of children's transitions between homes. Yet scant empirical attention has been paid to the practical, emotional, and relational aspects of these. In this paper, we examine five contextual factors that shape how children and parents experience and interpret transitions: changeover locations, transition routines and rituals, transitional container…
Stability and change in children's residence arrangements after parental separation
Objectives This study examines stability and change in children's residence arrangements after parental separation in Norway using detailed categories of residence arrangements. Background Most studies use broad classifications of residence arrangements. Finer distinctions may offer better insight into the dynamics of postseparation arrangements. Method The sample comprises 800 children from 504 separated families recruited from family counsellin…
The Meaning of Home for Children and Young People After Parental Separation: Key Insights for Practice
This article draws on a recent study of the meaning of home for children and young people after parental separation to provide a way of shifting adult attention beyond prevailing focus on the amount of time children spend with each parent, towards a greater attentiveness to children and young people's views on how their living arrangements look and can work effectively for them. Face‐to‐face, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 68 chil…
Interparental conflict trajectories across various child residence arrangements when parents live apart
In Norway, as in most Western countries, a growing proportion of parents living apart choose shared residence for their children. The aim of this study was to investigate trajectories of five interparental conflict dimensions across four child residence arrangement groups (and three combination groups) to improve understanding of different conflict trajectories when parents live apart. We used data from the Dynamics of Family Conflict study. Fami…
Popular post‐separation parenting smartphone apps: An evaluation
In recent years a bewildering array of smartphone applications (“apps”) has emerged to support separated parents' communication. Post‐separation parenting apps vary in cost and features; they typically comprise a messaging tool, shared calendar, expense tracker and a means to export records for legal purposes. A key challenge for separated parents and family law practitioners alike is knowing which apps or app feature(s) can work well for differe…
Post-separation parenting apps in the hands of family law practitioners: Expectations versus experience
Post-separation parenting apps are an alternative to mainstream digital communication (e.g. text and email) for separated parents. They vary in cost and features, generally incorporating a messaging tool, shared calendar, expense tracker, and the ability to export records for legal purposes. While often recommended in the context of family law, evidence for efficacy and safety is lacking. This study sought insights from family law professionals a…
Risks and benefits of post-separation parenting apps: Perceptions of family law professionals in Australia and New Zealand
Mobile phones have become an essential part of modern family life. Their proliferation has been accompanied by a diverse range of apps, including apps for separated parents. Family law professionals are increasingly being asked about post-separation parenting apps by clients. Yet the empirical evidence about their potential benefits and risks is sparse. The present study draws on qualitative data from an online survey of 344 family law profession…
Allegations of child sexual abuse in the Family Court of Australia: Response to Parkinson
In this article, we respond to commentary by Patrick Parkinson on our research into allegations of child sexual abuse in the Family Court of Australia (both published in AJSI, vol 56, 2021). Parkinson's primary focus was on two of our key findings: (a) that the child was deemed to be at an unacceptable risk of harm in only 12 per cent of fully contested cases; and (b) that in only 14 per cent of the fully contested cases were the allegations code…
Family law professionals’ views of post-separation parenting apps
The rapid proliferation of smartphones has led to a bewildering array of post-separation parenting apps, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. These apps usually comprise a messaging tool, shared calendar, expense tracker, and a means to download messages and documents for courts. In Australia, as elsewhere, family law professionals are increasingly being asked about, or asked to recommend, smartphone apps to clients. There is also an emerging …
Exploring separated fathers’ understandings and experiences of ‘home’ and homemaking
This paper considers fathers’ understandings and experiences of home after relationship separation – an issue that has received little research attention to date – through interviews with four separated fathers conducted as part of a larger qualitative study. Key themes to emerge were: the significance attached by participant fathers to home and homemaking through their focus on everyday interactions; the concern that their home might be viewed b…
Allegations of child sexual abuse: An empirical analysis of published judgements from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019
Allegations of child sexual abuse pose agonisingly difficult issues for families, family law professionals and the courts. We present data from the population (N=521) of Family Court of Australia judgements containing allegations of child sexual abuse published in the Australasian Legal Information Institute's Australian database. Our data cover all in‐scope judgements published between mid‐2012 and mid‐2019, of which 71 dealt with cases that wer…
Covid ‐19 in Australia: Impacts on Separated Families, Family Law Professionals, and Family Courts
Around the globe, many families are experiencing significant anxieties linked to COVID‐19. These include health concerns and economic pressures, both of which are frequently taking place against a backdrop of various levels of social isolation. In addition, many parents have been juggling home schooling requirements in the face of radically different work arrangements including the loss of employment altogether. Unsurprisingly, additional challen…
Modes of Communication between High-Conflict Separated Parents: Exploring the Role of Media Multiplexity and Modality Switching
Much of the work on media multiplexity theory (MMT) is based on unestablished relationships, in which more channels are presumed to be indicative of higher relational closeness. But a different set of relational dynamics may be at play in preexisting acrimonious partnerships. In this article, we investigate the use of different modes of communication by high-conflict separated parents (media multiplexity), and map changes in modes of communicatio…
The Meaning of Home for Children and Young People after Separation
This paper explores 68 Australian children and young people’s understandings of what ‘home’ means for them after their parents’ separation. Home – a familiar yet complex concept of great personal and social significance – has been a research focus for many other disciplines but not family law. We found that home, as an idea and lived experience, was complex. Children and young people’s descriptions of home conveyed an interaction of tangible and …
Mothers’ understandings of ‘home’ after relationship separation and divorce
This paper explores 35 mothers’ understandings of home after relationship separation, along with barriers and facilitators to creating home post-separation. No previous research has done so. We found that for mothers, like their children, home was complex and multidimensional, and rarely defined just in terms of physical space. Rather, it was a relational concept, with physical space providing the context for relationships with family, neighbourh…
Australian post-separation parenting on the smartphone: What’s ‘App-ening
In recent years Australia has seen increasing use of digital technology including smartphones and with that, increasing development and availability of online family law resources including digital applications (‘apps’). However, the extent to which online resources are being used – and are considered useful – by those experiencing relationship separation has not so far been the focus of Australian empirical research. After first briefly examinin…
Responding to concerns about a study of infant overnight care postseparation, with comments on consensus: Reply to Warshak (2014)
Richard Warshak published a “consensus report” in this journal (Vol. 20, No. 1) documenting a policy position on infants and overnight care following parental separation. He asserts that “[t]here is no evidence to support postponing the introduction of regular and frequent involvement, including overnights, of both parents with their babies and toddlers” (p. 60). To support this assertion, Warshak presents a series of detailed concerns about an A…
The Australian child support reforms: A critical evaluation
The Australian Child Support Scheme aims to ensure that children continue to be supported financially should their parents separate or never live together. Sweeping changes to the Australian Child Support Scheme were introduced between 2006 and 2008, featuring a dramatically different system for the calculation of child support and a more rigorous enforcement regime. The reforms were intended to respond to ongoing concerns about equity, and to ch…
Can child support compliance be improved by the introduction of a ‘fairer’ child support formula and more rigorous enforcement? The recent Australian experience
Child support compliance continues to be a thorny policy issue. In Australia, major changes to the Child Support Scheme were introduced between 2006 and 2008, featuring a markedly different and purportedly ‘fairer’ system for the calculation of child support. Extra resources were also provided to the Child Support Agency (CSA) to ensure that child support is paid in full and on time. Did these initiatives lead to greater compliance by payers with…
Overnight Care Patterns Following Parental Separation: Associations With Emotion Regulation in Infants and Young Children
Children living in a shared-time parenting arrangement following separation (also known as joint physical custody or dual residence) spend equal or near-equal amounts of day and night time with each parent.Little data exist regarding developmental sequelae of such arrangements for infants.The current study 4 examined a theoretically driven question: are there associations between quantum of overnight stays away from a primary parent and the infan…
Overnight care patterns following parental separation: Associations with emotion regulation in infants and young children
Children living in a shared-time parenting arrangement following separation (also known as joint physical custody or dual residence) spend equal or near-equal amounts of day and night time with each parent. Little data exist regarding developmental sequelae of such arrangements for infants. The current study examined a theoretically driven question: Are there associations between quantum of overnight stays away from a primary resident parent and …
Post-separation patterns of children's overnight stays with each parent: A detailed snapshot
Post-separation patterns of children’s overnight stays with each parent: A detailed snapshot
Despite widespread interest in patterns of parenting after separation over the past decade - especially in shared-time arrangements - few studies have explored the detail of post-separation parenting time schedules. This article: (a) provides a detailed snapshot of children's overnight stays with each parent among a national random sample of 408 separated parents registered with the Australian Child Support Agency (CSA); and (b) develops a typolo…
Legislating for Shared Time Parenting after Separation: A Research Review
This article reviews research on post-separation shared time parenting and on outcomes of legislating to encourage shared time parenting, drawing mainly on Australian experience. The research shows that children benefit from continuing and regular contact with both parents when they cooperate, communicate, and have low levels of conflict. However, there is no empirical evidence showing a clear linear relationship between the amount of parenting t…
Legislating for Shared Time Parenting after Separation: A Research Review
This article reviews research on post-separation shared time parenting and on outcomes of legislating to encourage shared time parenting, drawing mainly on Australian experience. The research shows that children benefit from continuing and regular contact with both parents when they cooperate, communicate, and have low levels of conflict. However, there is no empirical evidence showing a clear linear relationship between the amount of parenting t…
Changes in patterns of post-separation parenting over time: Recent Australian data
This article examines continuity and change in post-separation patterns of parenting across a three-year time span. We analyse longitudinal data from two recent Australian studies: the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey; and the Caring for Children after Parental Separation (CFC) Project. Mother-residence was found to be the most common and the most stable pattern. Though far less common, father-residence also appea…
A 5-year retrospective of post-separation shared care research in Australia
In recent years, sweeping changes to the Australian family law system – new services, legal processes, legislation, and a new child support scheme – have been put into place, accompanied by a large research evaluation program. A central plank running through the recent reforms is the need for courts, and those who work with separating parents, to consider whether a child spending equal or else substantial and significant periods of time with each…
Parent-Child Contact in Australia: Exploring Five Different Post-Separation Patterns of Parenting
While there is good information on the broad patterns of parenting after separation in Australia, which parents opt for which patterns and why remains poorly understood. This article summarizes recent Australian research into five different post-separation patterns of father-child contact: (i) 50/50 shared care, (ii) little or no contact, (iii) holiday-only contact, (iv) daytime-only contact, and (v) 'standard' contact. Two sources of data are us…
Postseparation Fathering: What Does Australian Research Tell Us? ⋆
This article summarises Australian research into separated and divorced fathering. It attempts to take stock of what is known in order to identify research gaps for the development of a forward-looking research agenda. My hope is that the piece will encourage more considered empirical attention to postseparation fathering
Post-separation patterns of children’s overnight stays with each parent: A detailed snapshot
Despite widespread interest in patterns of parenting after separation over the past decade - especially in shared-time arrangements - few studies have explored the detail of post-separation parenting time schedules. This article: (a) provides a detailed snapshot of children's overnight stays with each parent among a national random sample of 408 separated parents registered with the Australian Child Support Agency (CSA); and (b) develops a typolo…
The distributional and financial impacts of the new Australian Child Support Scheme: A ‘before and day-after reform’ comparison of assessed liability
Sweeping changes to the Australian Child Support Scheme were recently introduced, featuring a dramatically different system for the calculation of child support. The reforms were intended to respond to ongoing concerns about equity and changes in social expectations and practices in gender, work and parenting. The extent to which the new Scheme is ‘fairer’ and will improve the wellbeing of children and their families needs to be tested. Drawing o…
The Meaning of Home for Children and Young People after Separation
This paper explores 68 Australian children and young people’s understandings of what ‘home’ means for them after their parents’ separation. Home – a familiar yet complex concept of great personal and social significance – has been a research focus for many other disciplines but not family law. We found that home, as an idea and lived experience, was complex. Children and young people’s descriptions of home conveyed an interaction of tangible and …
Can child support compliance be improved by the introduction of a ‘fairer’ child support formula and more rigorous enforcement? The recent Australian experience
Child support compliance continues to be a thorny policy issue. In Australia, major changes to the Child Support Scheme were introduced between 2006 and 2008, featuring a markedly different and purportedly ‘fairer’ system for the calculation of child support. Extra resources were also provided to the Child Support Agency (CSA) to ensure that child support is paid in full and on time. Did these initiatives lead to greater compliance by payers with…
Allegations of child sexual abuse: An empirical analysis of published judgements from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019
Allegations of child sexual abuse pose agonisingly difficult issues for families, family law professionals and the courts. We present data from the population (N=521) of Family Court of Australia judgements containing allegations of child sexual abuse published in the Australasian Legal Information Institute's Australian database. Our data cover all in‐scope judgements published between mid‐2012 and mid‐2019, of which 71 dealt with cases that wer…
Australian post-separation parenting on the smartphone: What’s ‘App-ening
In recent years Australia has seen increasing use of digital technology including smartphones and with that, increasing development and availability of online family law resources including digital applications (‘apps’). However, the extent to which online resources are being used – and are considered useful – by those experiencing relationship separation has not so far been the focus of Australian empirical research. After first briefly examinin…
Pre-filing Family Dispute Resolution for financial disputes: Putting the cart before the horse
The Labor federal Attorney-General's plan, announced in May 2010, to extend the pre-filing requirement to attend family dispute resolution from parenting disputes to financial (property and spousal maintenance) disputes has encouraged us to think about the assistance currently available for separating parents who seek help to resolve financial issues. Our review of services currently available suggests that, despite the key significance of financ…
Risks and benefits of post-separation parenting apps: Perceptions of family law professionals in Australia and New Zealand
Mobile phones have become an essential part of modern family life. Their proliferation has been accompanied by a diverse range of apps, including apps for separated parents. Family law professionals are increasingly being asked about post-separation parenting apps by clients. Yet the empirical evidence about their potential benefits and risks is sparse. The present study draws on qualitative data from an online survey of 344 family law profession…
Modes of Communication between High-Conflict Separated Parents: Exploring the Role of Media Multiplexity and Modality Switching
Much of the work on media multiplexity theory (MMT) is based on unestablished relationships, in which more channels are presumed to be indicative of higher relational closeness. But a different set of relational dynamics may be at play in preexisting acrimonious partnerships. In this article, we investigate the use of different modes of communication by high-conflict separated parents (media multiplexity), and map changes in modes of communicatio…
Responding to concerns about a study of infant overnight care postseparation, with comments on consensus: Reply to Warshak (2014)
Richard Warshak published a “consensus report” in this journal (Vol. 20, No. 1) documenting a policy position on infants and overnight care following parental separation. He asserts that “[t]here is no evidence to support postponing the introduction of regular and frequent involvement, including overnights, of both parents with their babies and toddlers” (p. 60). To support this assertion, Warshak presents a series of detailed concerns about an A…
Overnight care patterns following parental separation: Associations with emotion regulation in infants and young children
Children living in a shared-time parenting arrangement following separation (also known as joint physical custody or dual residence) spend equal or near-equal amounts of day and night time with each parent. Little data exist regarding developmental sequelae of such arrangements for infants. The current study examined a theoretically driven question: Are there associations between quantum of overnight stays away from a primary resident parent and …
Beyond the formula: Where can parents go to discuss child support together
The Australian family law system has generally not aimed to provide services to assist separated parents to discuss child support matters directly with each other. In this article we suggest that in an increasingly complex social landscape of diverse family forms and parenting arrangements, some families would benefit from facilitated joint discussions about workable financial solutions to questions of ongoing parenting obligations – solutions th…
Mental Health and the Family Law System
Mental health issues permeate the family law system – at least according to anecdote. Yet such issues are rarely mentioned in family-law research, policy, and practice. This article aims to stimulate discussion about the sometimes close and complex links between mental health issues and family law, and suggests a framework for how the family-law system might provide better emotional support to families in transition
Therapeutic Divorce Mediation: Strengths, Limitations, and Future Directions
Therapeutic divorce mediation is one of several interventions that hold promise for assisting highly conflicted parents to resolve disputes about their children. But how is it defined, what do we know about it, how is it constrained, and does it work? This article seeks to address these questions by reviewing the divorce mediation–therapy literature, and critically examining the recent Conjoint Mediation and Therapy (CoMeT) initiative, which is c…
Exploring separated fathers’ understandings and experiences of ‘home’ and homemaking
This paper considers fathers’ understandings and experiences of home after relationship separation – an issue that has received little research attention to date – through interviews with four separated fathers conducted as part of a larger qualitative study. Key themes to emerge were: the significance attached by participant fathers to home and homemaking through their focus on everyday interactions; the concern that their home might be viewed b…
Mothers’ understandings of ‘home’ after relationship separation and divorce
This paper explores 35 mothers’ understandings of home after relationship separation, along with barriers and facilitators to creating home post-separation. No previous research has done so. We found that for mothers, like their children, home was complex and multidimensional, and rarely defined just in terms of physical space. Rather, it was a relational concept, with physical space providing the context for relationships with family, neighbourh…
Child Support for Young Adult Children in Australia
Scant information is available on the extent to which separated parents continue to support their children financially once children turn eighteen years. Little is also known about separated parents' awareness of their legal obligations to support their young adult children, and their attitudes towards such obligations. This article draws on data from the Australian Divorce Transitions Project to explore these issues. The sample for this analysis…
Child Support for Young Adult Children in Australia
Scant information is available on the extent to which separated parents continue to support their children financially once children turn eighteen years. Little is also known about separated parents' awareness of their legal obligations to support their young adult children, and their attitudes towards such obligations. This article draws on data from the Australian Divorce Transitions Project to explore these issues. The sample for this analysis…
Therapeutic Divorce Mediation: Strengths, Limitations, and Future Directions
Therapeutic divorce mediation is one of several interventions that hold promise for assisting highly conflicted parents to resolve disputes about their children. But how is it defined, what do we know about it, how is it constrained, and does it work? This article seeks to address these questions by reviewing the divorce mediation–therapy literature, and critically examining the recent Conjoint Mediation and Therapy (CoMeT) initiative, which is c…
Postseparation Fathering: What Does Australian Research Tell Us? ⋆
This article summarises Australian research into separated and divorced fathering. It attempts to take stock of what is known in order to identify research gaps for the development of a forward-looking research agenda. My hope is that the piece will encourage more considered empirical attention to postseparation fathering
Mental Health and the Family Law System
Mental health issues permeate the family law system – at least according to anecdote. Yet such issues are rarely mentioned in family-law research, policy, and practice. This article aims to stimulate discussion about the sometimes close and complex links between mental health issues and family law, and suggests a framework for how the family-law system might provide better emotional support to families in transition
Parent-Child Contact in Australia: Exploring Five Different Post-Separation Patterns of Parenting
While there is good information on the broad patterns of parenting after separation in Australia, which parents opt for which patterns and why remains poorly understood. This article summarizes recent Australian research into five different post-separation patterns of father-child contact: (i) 50/50 shared care, (ii) little or no contact, (iii) holiday-only contact, (iv) daytime-only contact, and (v) 'standard' contact. Two sources of data are us…
Non‐Resident Parents
Family life has undergone dramatic change in recent decades, especially in relation to family structure. Marked increases in union dissolution and nonmarital childbearing have resulted in a growing number of children living apart from one of their parents. Most non‐resident parents are fathers but with resident fathers becoming one of the fastest‐rising family forms in many western countries, non‐resident mothers too are increasing in number
Changes in patterns of post-separation parenting over time: A brief review
In Australia, there has been considerable interest in recent years in the policy and practical implications of sharing parental care and responsibilities after separation – concepts that have culminated in the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006. While there is now good information on the prevalence, demography and dynamics surrounding different patterns of parenting after separation, not a great deal is known about the…
Changes in patterns of post-separation parenting over time: Recent Australian data
This article examines continuity and change in post-separation patterns of parenting across a three-year time span. We analyse longitudinal data from two recent Australian studies: the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey; and the Caring for Children after Parental Separation (CFC) Project. Mother-residence was found to be the most common and the most stable pattern. Though far less common, father-residence also appea…
A 5-year retrospective of post-separation shared care research in Australia
In recent years, sweeping changes to the Australian family law system – new services, legal processes, legislation, and a new child support scheme – have been put into place, accompanied by a large research evaluation program. A central plank running through the recent reforms is the need for courts, and those who work with separating parents, to consider whether a child spending equal or else substantial and significant periods of time with each…
Beyond the formula: Where can parents go to discuss child support together
The Australian family law system has generally not aimed to provide services to assist separated parents to discuss child support matters directly with each other. In this article we suggest that in an increasingly complex social landscape of diverse family forms and parenting arrangements, some families would benefit from facilitated joint discussions about workable financial solutions to questions of ongoing parenting obligations – solutions th…
Child support: Ongoing and emerging challenges
Child support (or ‘child maintenance’) is the payment that non-resident parents (mostly fathers) make towards the costs of raising their \nchildren after parental separation. In Australia, pursuant to s.66C(1) of the Family Law Act 1975, parents have a ‘primary duty’ to maintain \ntheir children. For the past two decades, the Australian Child Support Scheme has buttressed this moral and legislative mandate
Pre-filing Family Dispute Resolution for financial disputes: Putting the cart before the horse
The Labor federal Attorney-General's plan, announced in May 2010, to extend the pre-filing requirement to attend family dispute resolution from parenting disputes to financial (property and spousal maintenance) disputes has encouraged us to think about the assistance currently available for separating parents who seek help to resolve financial issues. Our review of services currently available suggests that, despite the key significance of financ…
The distributional and financial impacts of the new Australian Child Support Scheme: A ‘before and day-after reform’ comparison of assessed liability
Sweeping changes to the Australian Child Support Scheme were recently introduced, featuring a dramatically different system for the calculation of child support. The reforms were intended to respond to ongoing concerns about equity and changes in social expectations and practices in gender, work and parenting. The extent to which the new Scheme is ‘fairer’ and will improve the wellbeing of children and their families needs to be tested. Drawing o…
Legislating for Shared Time Parenting after Separation: A Research Review
This article reviews research on post-separation shared time parenting and on outcomes of legislating to encourage shared time parenting, drawing mainly on Australian experience. The research shows that children benefit from continuing and regular contact with both parents when they cooperate, communicate, and have low levels of conflict. However, there is no empirical evidence showing a clear linear relationship between the amount of parenting t…
Some reflections on research translation for policy and practice
Stepping into the Editor's role for this issue of Journal of Family Studies has prompted to me to reflect on the importance of research being made accessible for policy-makers, practitioners, and parents themselves. This is not because the articles in this issue are not accessible for non-researchers! Rather, flowing out of the recent Excellence in Research in Australia (ERA) initiative that seeks to assess 'research quality' within Australia's h…
Post-separation patterns of children's overnight stays with each parent: A detailed snapshot
Post-separation patterns of children’s overnight stays with each parent: A detailed snapshot
Despite widespread interest in patterns of parenting after separation over the past decade - especially in shared-time arrangements - few studies have explored the detail of post-separation parenting time schedules. This article: (a) provides a detailed snapshot of children's overnight stays with each parent among a national random sample of 408 separated parents registered with the Australian Child Support Agency (CSA); and (b) develops a typolo…
Overnight Care Patterns Following Parental Separation: Associations With Emotion Regulation in Infants and Young Children
Children living in a shared-time parenting arrangement following separation (also known as joint physical custody or dual residence) spend equal or near-equal amounts of day and night time with each parent.Little data exist regarding developmental sequelae of such arrangements for infants.The current study 4 examined a theoretically driven question: are there associations between quantum of overnight stays away from a primary parent and the infan…
Overnight care patterns following parental separation: Associations with emotion regulation in infants and young children
Children living in a shared-time parenting arrangement following separation (also known as joint physical custody or dual residence) spend equal or near-equal amounts of day and night time with each parent. Little data exist regarding developmental sequelae of such arrangements for infants. The current study examined a theoretically driven question: Are there associations between quantum of overnight stays away from a primary resident parent and …
Can child support compliance be improved by the introduction of a ‘fairer’ child support formula and more rigorous enforcement? The recent Australian experience
Child support compliance continues to be a thorny policy issue. In Australia, major changes to the Child Support Scheme were introduced between 2006 and 2008, featuring a markedly different and purportedly ‘fairer’ system for the calculation of child support. Extra resources were also provided to the Child Support Agency (CSA) to ensure that child support is paid in full and on time. Did these initiatives lead to greater compliance by payers with…
Responding to concerns about a study of infant overnight care postseparation, with comments on consensus: Reply to Warshak (2014)
Richard Warshak published a “consensus report” in this journal (Vol. 20, No. 1) documenting a policy position on infants and overnight care following parental separation. He asserts that “[t]here is no evidence to support postponing the introduction of regular and frequent involvement, including overnights, of both parents with their babies and toddlers” (p. 60). To support this assertion, Warshak presents a series of detailed concerns about an A…
The Australian child support reforms: A critical evaluation
The Australian Child Support Scheme aims to ensure that children continue to be supported financially should their parents separate or never live together. Sweeping changes to the Australian Child Support Scheme were introduced between 2006 and 2008, featuring a dramatically different system for the calculation of child support and a more rigorous enforcement regime. The reforms were intended to respond to ongoing concerns about equity, and to ch…
Australian post-separation parenting on the smartphone: What’s ‘App-ening
In recent years Australia has seen increasing use of digital technology including smartphones and with that, increasing development and availability of online family law resources including digital applications (‘apps’). However, the extent to which online resources are being used – and are considered useful – by those experiencing relationship separation has not so far been the focus of Australian empirical research. After first briefly examinin…
Covid ‐19 in Australia: Impacts on Separated Families, Family Law Professionals, and Family Courts
Around the globe, many families are experiencing significant anxieties linked to COVID‐19. These include health concerns and economic pressures, both of which are frequently taking place against a backdrop of various levels of social isolation. In addition, many parents have been juggling home schooling requirements in the face of radically different work arrangements including the loss of employment altogether. Unsurprisingly, additional challen…
Modes of Communication between High-Conflict Separated Parents: Exploring the Role of Media Multiplexity and Modality Switching
Much of the work on media multiplexity theory (MMT) is based on unestablished relationships, in which more channels are presumed to be indicative of higher relational closeness. But a different set of relational dynamics may be at play in preexisting acrimonious partnerships. In this article, we investigate the use of different modes of communication by high-conflict separated parents (media multiplexity), and map changes in modes of communicatio…
Psychology (28 works) · Political science (27 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (25 works) · Sociology (25 works) · Law (22 works) · Law (22 works) · Publishing (19 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (18 works) · Project commissioning (18 works) · Developmental psychology (14 works)