Seventy-three percent of families that established mother residence prior to legal custody determination maintained the same arrangement at Time 2. De facto mother residence is more common at Time 2 when legal papers formally assign physical custody to the mother. Mother residence is most common for infants and girls. Families with children who were under two years of age at Time 1 are more likely to have de facto mother residence at Time 2. Seventy-four percent of these very young children are in de facto mother residence at Time 2.
Girls spend more nights than boys in their mothers' households.
Sixty-five percent of the families with girls have de facto mother residence. Fathers with relatively more income and education have the most contact with their children. The impact of the father's sociodemographic status is most pronounced at Time 2, however. At this point, maternal residence declines to 47 percent among families in which the fathers are employed and 45 percent among those families with fathers earning relatively high incomes. Cultural norms have a bearing on time allocation.