Childhood Exposure to Joint Custody Reforms and Adult Family Formation
Joint custody reforms are among the most consequential family-law changes for children, yet little is known about their long-term effects. Exploiting staggered adoption across US states and 13 million ACS observations, we show that childhood exposure reduces adult fertility by 7 percent, symmetrically for women and men and operates primarily through lower parenthood and couple […] The post…
The recent study by Daniel Fernández-Kranz and Sébastien Fontenay delves into the impact of joint custody reforms on adult family formation. The researchers used staggered adoption patterns across US states and analyzed a substantial data set of 13 million American Community Survey (ACS) observations. Their findings reveal that exposure to joint custody in childhood leads to a 7% reduction in adult fertility, affecting both men and women equally. This effect is primarily due to a decrease in parenthood and couple formation.
Interestingly, the impact is sub-additive within couples, meaning the combined effect on fertility is less than the sum of individual effects. Moreover, exposed individuals tend to assortatively match, indicating a preference for similar family structures in their adult relationships. The study's conclusions align with a broader trend in the US fertility decline, which is increasingly driven by rising childlessness and declining couple formation, rather than smaller family sizes among parents.
This research, conducted by Fernández-Kranz and Fontenay, sheds light on how childhood experiences can shape individuals' preferences and behavior when forming families as adults.
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