Noncustodial Parent's Report of Child Support Payments

The statistics concerning the extent of the problem of divorced fathers' nonpayment of child support have been primarily based on mothers' responses to survey questions. The present study provides fathers' reports, matched to mothers', as well as court record data. The court records are shown to be an underestimate. Not surprisingly, fathers' report of compliance (the percent of what they owed they actually paid) is much higher (27%) than mothers' report. The findings illustrate that both reports might be biased, in opposite directions. Data showed that ability to pay (as measured for example by continuous employment) is a key correlate of child support payment.