The aim of this paper is to examine how children’s relationship with their non-resident father has effects on children’s subjective well-being. Using randomly selected probability sample of junior high school third grade students who live in a single mother household, the effects of the conversation with non-resident father and his supportiveness on children’s self-esteem were quantitively analyzed. Although every conversation and supportiveness item’s non-response rates were over half, the results of the analysis both treating non-response as a dummy variable and removing non-response from the analysis with controlling non-response tendency show the following findings: 1) Conversation of ‘about friends’ with non-resident father was positively related to girl’s self-esteem; 2) the degree of supportiveness of father as ‘he is understanding me’ was positively related to girl’s self-esteem. However, we could not find significant relationships for boys. Non-resident father seems to have a significant role as expressive support provider for girls. These findings suggest that it is probable that keeping interaction with non-resident fathers is beneficial for children.

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In this study, 11 resident mothers were interviewed. At the time of the divorce, these mothers had negative feelings about their children’s parenting time with their ex-husbands but at present their feelings towards such parenting time have changed to positive ones. The change in their attitude toward parenting time and the factors leading to this change were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach. As the resident mothers continued to allow parenting time despite their dislike of their ex-husbands, feelings of anxiety, and discomfort with such parenting time, the resident mothers began to recognize the benefits of parenting time for themselves. They also began reevaluating their ex-husbands. Further, this change in attitude was due to factors such as their children’s happiness during parenting time with their fathers, the mothers’ situation becoming more stable with the support of family and friends, and the passage of time. The children developed a close relationship with both parents, although the roles of each were different: their fathers tended to pamper them, while their mothers tended to take a disciplinary role. While the children occasionally talked back to the disciplining mothers, they nevertheless developed a deep bond with them. The change in the resident mothers’ attitudes occurred because of parenting time. However, this conclusion involves the assumption that although the relationship between the parents soured, the father–child relationships were positive, the fathers were cooperatively involved in parenting, including paying child support, and the mothers were able to prioritize their children’s feelings above their own.

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　This study compared the support needs of divorced mothers living with their children in four Hokuriku prefectures (Ishikawa, Toyama, Fukui, and Niigata), which have a low divorce rate, to those living in high divorce rate prefectures (Okinawa, Miyazaki, Kochi, Kagawa, and Wakayama) to determine whether such needs vary. A questionnaire survey of 218 divorced mothers living with children under the age of 18 revealed the following characteristics of mothers in the Hokuriku prefectures compared to those in the high divorce rate prefectures: (1) Better psychological adjustment and fewer difficulties with their children. (2) Difficulties in ensuring physical safety due to violence or other threat, and a high percentage of mothers who responded that they were unable to seek advice. (3) A high percentage of those who sought advice on divorce and its conditions and a high need for support regarding legal knowledge. (4) A low need for psychological support from a peer group. These results suggest that after carefully assessing violence or other threat, mothers in the four Hokuriku prefectures should be provided with information on support, with a focus on individual support centered on individual counseling.

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