Pourquoi les enfants en résidence alternée ont-ils mieux vécu le premier confinement ?

Abstract

Early work on the effects of the spring 2020 lockdown in France on children found that those in shared physical custody had experienced it better than others. This article aims to understand why. Using the SAPRIS survey (Health, perceptions, practices, relations, and social inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic) and the subsample of children aged 8–9 from the Elfe and Epipage2 cohorts, we compare the consequences of the lockdown on children according to their family structure (nuclear, single-parent, or shared physical custody). Family time tends to be much more divided between parents’ residences for children in separated families than for those in nuclear families. Lockdown has transformed children’s usual experiences of family time by altering their ordinary living environment, daily routines, and relationships with their parents. By observing the differences between the residences that continued alternating and those that were interrupted, we show that while the regular movements of children may have constituted a welcome respite for the various actors involved, the interrupted alternations opened up exceptional spaces for renewing past forms of family continuity.

Keywords

• lockdown
• family structure
• single-parent family
• shared physical custody
• occupations
• parent-child relationships