Public Attitudes Toward Shared Custody: The Czech Republic

Abstract

In the beginning of the existence of divorce as a social institution, parenthood was not as deeply problematized as the moral aspects of the partnership. In contrast, current public and scientific debates are most frequently involved in the questions of the impact of divorce on the children. Shared custody can be understood as a result of this cultural shift. The knowledge about public attitudes toward this topic and its social differentiation is limited. This study presents a unique source of data on shared custody attitudes from EVS (European Values Study) and CHPS (Czech Household Panel Survey) surveys conducted recently in the Czech Republic. The results show there is a substantive distinction between the attitudes of men and women and that the acceptance of shared custody is higher in younger age groups. No differences according to the social and economic status of respondents and their family backgrounds were found. Concerning the broader attitudinal contingency, we found no relationship between egalitarian gender attitudes and the acceptance of shared custody, but conservative attitudes toward divorce consequences increase the acceptance of shared custody.