Alimony and absent parents' contact with children
02.01.20 - Families, households
Two surveys on contact arrangements and child maintenance are conducted, one in 2002 and one in 2004. A survey on non-resident parents' contact was carried out in 1996.
Regional level.
590 - Unit for social and demographic research
Statistics Act, § 2-1 (voluntary).
Not relevant.
Not relevant.
The surveys were initiated by the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs. The surveys are - important contributions to the evaluation of the child support reform of October 2003 by mapping the situation prior to the reform and after the reform.
The overall aim of the surveys is to provide the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs with information concerning the effects of the child support reform. The statistics and analyses will be used by researchers and students within a large range of disciplines, such as sociology, media and communication and social studies. Other important users are journalists, political parties and the public sector, both in Norway and abroad. The statistics will be available from the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD).
The sample was 4 000 people in the 2002-survey and 3800 people in the 2004-survey. The population consisted of parents whose child(ren) is aged under 18 at 31.12.2002/ 31.12.2004 and with parents resident in Norway. Only one parent lives with the child on a permanent basis.
Not relevant.
The sample was drawn in two stages. First, the children were defined. Then the population of parents was defined as parents of these children and a sample of parents was drawn.
The sample of parents consisted of two parts. One consisted of persons who live with their child(ren), but who do not live with the other parent. This group receives child maintenance from the other parent. The second sample consisted of persons neither resident with their child(ren) nor the other parent. In 2002 each of the two samples had 2000 persons, and in 2004 each sample had 1900 persons. Every non-resident parent has one or several children with a resident parent. This makes a sample of 2 000 couples of resident and non-resident parents in 2002, and 1900 such couples in 2004.
Postal and telephone interviews in 2002. Reminders were sent after three weeks. Interviewers at Statistics Norway carried out follow-up interviews of non-respondents and of respondents with incomplete postal interviews.
Out of a gross sample of 3 906 persons, 2 309 persons were interviewed (total sample excluding ineligible respondents). The response rate was 59.1. Among these there were 747 couples of resident and non-resident parents. The 2004-survey was mainly carried out by telephone interviews, but with some follow up by postal interviews. First one tried to contact all persons in the sample by telephone. The interviews were carried out in November and December 2004. A follow up survey was carried out by postal interviews in January 2005. Of a gross sample of 3582 persons, 2692 persons were interviewed (total sample excluding ineligible respondents). The response rate was 75.2. Among these there were 1020 couples of resident and non-resident parents.
Response burden
15 minutes' telephone interview. The postal interview had twelve pages in 2002 and six pages in 2004.
The postal information was controlled. Incomplete information was completed by use of telephone interviews as well as data from the National Population Register and the 2001 Population and Housing Census (FoB).
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2004
Not relevant.
Published: Samfunnsspeilet 2/2004, three articles based on the survey on contact arrangements and child maintenance 2002 and reports on non-resident and resident parents' contact with their children prior to and after the reform, and on the parents' economic situation prior to the reform.
Resident parents: parents who live with their child(ren) below the age of 18, but who do not live with the other parent. This group also includes parents who have a new partner or spouse.
Non-resident parents: parents who neither live with their child(ren) below the age of 18 nor the other parent.
Relation: one resident parent and one non-resident parent who have one or several children together. Parents with joint parental responsibility are also included in the survey.
Parental responsibility: The parent with parental responsibility has the right and duty to make decisions on behalf of the child(ren) with regard to choice of school, issue of passport and country of residence, among other things.
Daily care: The resident parent has the responsibility for the daily care of the child. This parent can decide where the child shall live, kindergarten and other important issues in daily life.
Present household: All persons permanently resident in the household and with a shared food budget. Persons who are permanent residents of the household, but away at the time of the survey are counted. Children who live in the household half the time or more are counted. Children who live in another household half the time or more are not counted.
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2004
Standard region.
Errors may arise in connection with the collection of data as well as during processing. There are risks that a respondent may give a wrong answer. There could be many reasons why respondents give wrong answers, e.g. they may have trouble recalling activities that took place a long time ago, they may misunderstand the questions, they may find it difficult to answer sensitive questions, and some answers may be considered more socially acceptable than others. In these surveys sensitive questions are defined as questions on how much time the resident parent and the non-resident parent spend with the child(ren). This information could also be difficult to recall.
The data from the postal interview in 2002 were registered manually by Statistics Norway. To improve the quality of the postal data a lot of effort was put into developing a system for data registration and unambiguous routines. The possibility of errors during manual registration cannot be excluded though, but such errors were not discovered in controls and checks of the data.
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2004
Not relevant.
Variance: The uncertainty of the findings due to the fact that they only represent ------ a part of the population is often called sample variance. Standard deviation is a measure of this uncertainty. The size of standard deviation depends, among other factors, on the number of observations in the sample and on the distribution of the current variable in the whole population. The estimate of standard deviation can be computed by using the observation in the sample.
Bias and non-response: If the percentage of non-respondents in different groups deviates to a considerable degree, the net sample (the sample of persons interviewed) will only approximately have the same statistical proportion as the gross sample (the sample selected for interview). The non-response was higher in the group of non-resident parents than in the group of resident parents. Scales are made to reduce this. Scales are also developed to reduce bias between gender and in education and bias due to different possibility of being drawn depending on the number of children a person has.
In principle, statements about bias because of non-response must be linked to variables. If one has found that there is no bias because of non-response in a certain variable, this does not imply that there is no effect of non-response on other variables, and vice versa
The non-response was 1 597 or 40.9 per cent in the 2002-survey and 890 persons or 24.8 per cent in the 2004-survey.
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002
Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2004
Vekter i undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002
Not relevant.
A survey on non-resident parents' contact was carried out in 1996. Many of the questions from this survey were used in the two surveys on contact arrangements and child maintenance.
Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. Key figures, first six months 2004 provide county figures for numbers of non-resident and resident parents. 30.06.2002-2004.
Statistics Norway, Children statistics. Children 0-17 years, by type of family and siblings regardless of age.
http://www.ssb.no/emner/02/01/20/barn/arkiv/tab-2004-09-09-01.html
Internet address: http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/01/20/
Publications
The statistics are published electronically (text, tables and figures) on Statistics Norway's website. The findings of the survey are presented in some articles in Samfunnsspeilet and in Statistics Norway's Reports-series.
Samfunnsspeilet:
Lyngstad, J. (2004): Samværsforeldres kontakt med sine barn: Mer faktisk enn avtalt samvær.
Sætre, A. H. (2004): Foreldreansvar, daglig omsorg og samvær: Far er blitt viktigere, men mor er fortsatt viktigst.
Kitterød, R. H. (2004): Samvær med barn etter samlivsbrudd. Hva svarer far og hva svarer mor?
J. Lyngstad og E. H. Nymoen (2006): Økonomisk velferd blant foreldre som ikke bor sammen. Hvem har best råd?
Kitterød, R. H. (2006): Samværsmødre - liten gruppe med mye omsorg.
Kitterød, R. H. (2007): Barna ser minst til fedre med lav inntekt.
Lyngstad, J. (2007): Gikk barnebidragene ned etter bidragsreformen?
Rapporter
Kitterød, R. H.: Foreldreskap på tvers av hushold. Ansvar og omsorg for barn blant foreldre som ikke bor sammen. Resultater fra Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002. Rapporter 2004/15.
Lyngstad, J., R. Kjeldstad og E. Nymoen: Foreldreøkonomi etter brudd. Omsorgsforeldres og samværforeldres økonomiske situasjon 2002. Rapporter 2005/21.
Kitterød, R. H.: Når mor og far bor hver for seg. Ansvar og omsorg for barna før og etter bidragsreformen. Rapporter 2005/22.
Kitterød, R. H. og J. Lyngstad: Mest samvær blant ressurssterke fedre? Betydningen av inntekt og utdanning for samværsfedres kontakt med barna. Rapporter 2006/35.
Kitterød, R. H. og J. Lyngstad: Samværsfedre - sammenheng mellom inntekt og kontakt med barna også etter bidragsreformen. Rapporter 2007/10.
Lyngstad, J.: Barnebidrag før og etter bidragsreformen. En analyse av undersøkelsene om samvær og bidrag 2002 og 2004. Rapporter 2007/34.
Lyngstad, J.: Økonomisk velferd blant foreldre som lever atskilt. Forskjeller mellom grupper av mødre og fedre i 2004. Endringer 2002-2004. Rapporter 2008/31.
Kitterød, R. H.: Økonomisk velferd blant foreldre som lever atskilt. Forskjeller mellom mødre og fedre i samme bidragsrelasjon i 2004. Rapporter 2008/32.
Lyngstad, J. og R. H. Kitterød: Samvær og bidrag 2002-2004. Sluttrapport. Rapporter 2008/45.
Notater
Sætre, A. H.: Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002. Dokumentasjons- og tabellrapport. Notater 2004/6.
Vedø, A.: Vekter i undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2002. Notater 2004/25.
Skaare, S. og G. Fodnesbergene: Undersøkelsen om samvær og bidrag 2004. Dokumentasjonsrapport. Notater 2005/41.
Lyngstad, J. og E. H. Nymoen: Kvaliteten på opplysningene om barnebidrag i Statistisk sentralbyrås undersøkelser om Samvær og bidrag 2002 og 2004. Notater 2007/48.
Data on micro level. The data file is transmitted to the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD)
Other documentation
Lyngstad, J. (2006): "Reiseutgifter ved barns besøk hos forelder de ikke bor sammen med. Kroner og fordeling mellom foreldrene. Fra undersøkelsene om samvær og bidrag 2002 og 2004", Upublisert notat til Barne- og likestillingsdepartementet.
Kitterød, R. H. og J. Lyngstad (2006): "Expenses, norms or practical considerations? The effect of income and education on non-resident fathers' contact with their children. The case of Norway", Paper presented for the European Population Conference 2006. Liverpool (UK) 21-24 June, and for Workshop 6 of the Wellchi Network "The relationship between children and non-resident fathers and its impact on their quality of life" 1.-2. December 2006, Hosted by NOVA, at Clarion Savoy Hotel, Oslo.
Kjeldstad, R., J. Lyngstad og R. H. Kitterød (2007): "Absent and Resident Parents in Norway: Child Maintenance, Income, Economic Welfare and Contact Arrangements", Poster presentation at The Wellchi Final Conference, Barcelona, Spain, February 8th - 10th, 2007.
Kitterød, R. H. og J. Lyngstad (2007): "Fathering from a distance - are wealthy fathers most successful? The effects of fathers' socioeconomic characteristics on contact with non-resident children", Paper presented for the conference Extended and extending families. Edinburgh 27th -29th June 2007.
Kitterød, R. H. (2006): Stor avstand - lite samvær? Samværsfedres tid med barn per måned og i ferier. Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning, årg. 9 (2): 100-115.
Kitterød, R. H. og J. Lyngstad (2009): Foreldres økonomi etter samlivsbrudd – er det mor eller far som har høyest inntekt? Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning, 12 (4): 232-248.
Lyngstad, J. (2010): Hvorfor betaler så få samværsmødre barnebidrag? Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning, 13(3): 138-152.
Lyngstad, J. (2010): “Why do non-resident mothers pay child support less often than non-resident fathers?” Paper for the 8th Meeting of the European Network for the Sociological and Demographic Study of Divorce, 14-16th October 2010, Valencia, Spain.
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