Friendly and antagonistic contact between former spouses after divorce patterns and determinants

This study presents descriptive and explanatory analyses of contact between former spouses, using data on 1,791 previously married men and women in the Netherlands. The authors employ a typology of relationships between former spouses, differentiating between friendly contact, antagonistic contact, and no contact. Ten years after divorce, still almost half of the respondents report contact with their former spouse. Especially the number of former couples with antagonistic contact decreases strongly over time. In multivariate models, we examine six hypotheses concerning (a) duration, (b) prior attachments, (c) prior conflicts, (d) life-course events after divorce, (e) liberal family values, and (f) personality. Important predictors of postdivorce contact are duration since divorce, prior economic ties, the presence of joint children, marital duration, marital conflicts, a new relationship, and liberal values. Couples with joint children have both more friendly contact and more antagonistic contact than other couples. This difference is largest for antagonistic contact.