Introduction: Advances in Research on Shared Physical Custody by Interdisciplinary Approaches

This introductory chapter provides the rationale for adopting an interdisciplinary approach to study the implications of shared physical custody arrangements for families and their members. The Chapter gives a rapid overview of the current state of the literature on shared physical custody in the legal, sociological and psychological literature and highlights the uncertainties and controversial aspects still open to exploration in this field. It addresses the specific research needs in order to move forward from the current situation, where evidence on shared physical custody produce results that are scattered across disciplines and hard to compare across contexts. It concludes by arguing that the complexity of shared physical custody implications in terms of health, educational, relational and living standards requires research from different disciplinary fields in order to agree on a comprehensive theoretical perspective, standardize definitions and collect longitudinal and comparable data on the custody arrangements and their normative environments.