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Reduced parenting time with fathers after divorce undermines children\u2019s emotional security, because they don\u2019t have enough daily interactions to reassure them that they matter to their fathers, finds Professor William Fabricius<\/a> of Arizona State University, USA, in a paper to be published next year. Conversely, more parenting time with fathers is linked to a better father-child relationship.<\/p>\n Most studies of shared time with parents after divorce use 65%\/35% as the cutoff for considering the arrangement to be joint physical custody. But when researchers have looked at what happens when there is more sharing, ranging, for example, from 60%\/40% and all the way to 50%\/50%, they\u2019ve found that higher levels of sharing are associated with fewer behavioural problems and better social skills in the child\u2019s later life.<\/p>\n High conflict between parents further reduces emotional security for children, introducing a fear of abandonment. Recent evidence from larger samples shows this fear is worst when children spend 25%-35% of their time with their fathers. Fear of abandonment is not as bad when they spend less than 25% of their time with their fathers, and is considerably better when they spend more than 35% and closer to 50%. This finding challenges the idea that reducing time with a parent is a cure for high-conflict situations; more sharing will benefit most children.<\/p>\n