Socioeconomic background and children's shared residence in Sweden

This paper analyses socioeconomic differentials in children's likelihood of having shared residence, meaning living equal or near equal time with both parents after parental union dissolution. This is an aspect of modern family complexity that has so far largely been overlooked. The cross-sectional analysis is based on the Swedish Level of Living Study and Surveys of Living Conditions from 2000-2003. The tentative results show an increased likelihood of shared residence for children of women in non-manual occupations compared to children of manual working women after controlling for income and education. There were no occupational differences in the likelihood of shared residence for children living with a male respondent. The results show no educational differences after controlling for occupational category and other characteristics. We see a geographical pattern with shared residence being more common in the Stockholm metropolitan area compared to other major cities and rest of the country.