Bargaining Against Poor Odds
A Power Resource Analysis on Legal Disputes for Child Support in Sweden
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12426643 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johanna Finnström (0009-0000-6841-1920, Stockholm University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Politics International Studies in Gender State & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1072-4745 • E-ISSN: 1468-2893 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/sp/jxaf063 |
| OpenAlex | W7117979586 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 41 |
Child support payments are typically gendered and may be influenced by unequal bargaining positions. Nonetheless, child support is increasingly framed as a private responsibility, with parents expected to negotiate payments themselves. As court mediation expands, this expectation extends to legal disputes. This study examines whether power imbalances—measured as parents’ relative incomes—affect the monetary outcomes of child support court processes in Sweden, comparing cases resolved through in-court mediation versus court adjudication. Using a unique dataset of all Swedish court decisions involving resident parents suing liable parents for child support between 2016 and 2020 (n = 327), the results show that filing for child support typically results in low payments and high costs, offering a poor deal for resident parents. High-income liable parents secure comparatively favorable outcomes relative to both resident parents and lower-income liable parents, indicating that absolute financial resources drive bargaining power in court disputes
Bargaining power · Child support · Mediation · Negotiation · Payment · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Single Parents and Child Support Systems
Absent Fathers?
Family Policies and Family Outcomes in OECD Countries
Couples' Transitions to Parenthood
Child maintenance and child poverty
The potential of child support to reduce lone mother poverty
Relative resources and moving from the joint home around divorce
Child Maintenance Reforms
Fairness in Child Support Assessments
Money or children? Power sources in divorce mediation 1
Mothers' experiences of child support
You Just Have to Look at It as a Gift”
He Won’t Pay”
Testing the Suitability of Mediation of Child Support Orders in Title IV-D Cases
State Facilitated Economic Abuse
Contribution of child maintenance to lone mothers’ income in five countries
Help me help you
Does paying child support impoverish fathers in the United States, Finland, and the United Kingdom
Joint Physical Custody in Europe
Toward a Fuller Understanding of Nonresident Father Involvement
The Mediation Alternative
Child Support Policy across High-Income Countries
Moving Related to Separation
Autonomy, Dependence, or Display? The Relationship Between Married Women's Earnings and Housework
Child Support Obligations and Low-Income Fathers
Perceived Fairness and Compliance With Child Support Obligations
Economic Dependence, Gender, and the Division of Labor in the Home
Dependence within families and the division of labor
Change in Spousal Human Capital and Housework
Changing Resources and the Division of Housework
Trends in Women's Relative Earnings Within Couples Across the Transition to Parenthood in Sweden, 1987-2007
When Does Gender Trump Money? Bargaining and Time in Household Work
Family policies and single parent poverty in 18 OECD countries, 1978-2008
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |