Ja. Arditti et Tz. Keith, VISITATION FREQUENCY, CHILD-SUPPORT PAYMENT, AND THE FATHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP POSTDIVORCE, Journal of marriage and the family, 55(3), 1993, pp. 699-712
Using survey data from 212 divorced fathers randomly selected from the
court records, we investigated the relationships between frequency of
father-child contact, quality of visitation, and payment of child sup
port. A conceptual model was tested using structural equations analysi
s as implemented in LISREL 7. Findings indicate that fathers who see t
heir children frequently tend to live nearby, report higher levels of
father-child closeness before the divorce, and are more likely to have
joint custody. Our results provide partial support for the hypothesis
that frequent father-child contact is associated with better visitati
on quality and higher child support payment. As expected, fathers with
frequent visitation report higher visitation quality and fewer proble
ms during visitation. However, there is a lack of significance between
visitation and child support payments. Possible explanations for thes
e findings, as well as policy challenges, are considered.