Coparenting Mediates the Association Between Relationship Quality and Father Involvement

Abstract

The study of adolescent childbearing is a major public policy concern, and father involvement is a particular focus. Previous research with married couples has found that coparenting may be a better predictor of father involvement than relationship quality. The current study examined 94 primiparous African American and Latino parents to determine whether coparenting expectations during pregnancy better predict concurrent father involvement secondary to a mediation effect. Results were mixed; simple mediation was supported, but structural equation modeling (SEM) results suggested a better fitting model for mothers than for fathers. For mothers, relationship quality predicted coparenting. For fathers, relationship quality and coparenting predicted father involvement, but relationship quality did not predict coparenting. This examination suggests that both relationship quality and coparenting are important for father involvement in unmarried adolescents but to differing degrees for mothers and fathers. Pregnancy may be an important potential intervention point for increasing subsequent father involvement.

Cooperative, Compromising, Conflictual, and Uninvolved Coparenting Among Teenaged Parents

“…As well, our results indicated that parents of toddler age children were less engaged in coparenting, or more likely to have conflictual coparenting discussions compared with parents of younger children who were more likely to engage in cooperative coparenting behaviors. Although impossible to determine from our cross-sectional sample, it is possible that adolescent parents’ engagement in coparenting may wane as their child ages (Kamp Dush et al, 2011; Varga et al, 2017).…”

“…The coparenting relationship is considered a source of support for mothers and fathers in their parenting role and may contribute uniquely to the functioning of both parents. For example, the coparenting relationship may mediate the influence of the couple relationship on fathering behavior (Varga, Gee, Rivera, & Reyes, 2017) as well as uniquely influence fathering even when a couple relationship does not exist (Futris et al, 2010). When parents have more cooperation and less conflict in their coparental relationship, this spills over into their parenting behaviors, so that parents are more likely to exhibit less parenting stress, a higher sense of parental self-esteem (Solmeyer & Feinberg, 2011), more parental competence (Favez, Tissot, Frascarolo, Stiefel, & Despland, 2016), and positive well-being (Gavin et al, 2002), leading to more functional and involved father–child relationships (Bunting & McAuley, 2004; Waller, 2012).…”

“…High levels of coparental conflict without cooperation has been associated with poorer quality parent–child interactions, stressful parent–child relations (Solmeyer & Feinberg, 2011), less effective parenting strategies (Amato, 1998), and maternal maladjustment in adverse situations (Conger et al, 2002). Fathers in highly conflictual coparenting relationships are less likely to report a positively engaged parent–child relationship (Varga et al, 2017) and paternal involvement may diminish further in the presence of a conflictual rather than a disengaged coparenting relationship (Waller, 2012).…”

Paternal Support and Involvement in Unmarried Fragile Families: Impacts on Long‐Term Maternal Mental Health

“…Fathers in highly conflictual coparenting relationships are less likely to display involved parenting (Elliston, McHale, Talbot, Parmley, & Kuersten-Hogan, 2008). In never married families where father involvement is more vulnerable, a supportive and functional coparenting relationship may serve as a stabilizing factor (Varga, Gee, Rivera, & Reyes, 2017).…”

O Desenvolvimento da Relação do Casal diante do Sucesso da Reprodução Assistida,,

“…Estudos enfocando a coparentalidade têm demonstrado sua importância para o desenvolvimento da criança e da família (Cairo et al, 2012;Darwiche et al, 2015;Schoppe-Sullivan et al, 2018). Diversos estudos têm corroborado o princípio fundamental da Teoria Familiar Sistêmica segundo o qual os subsistemas se influenciam mutuamente, ao demonstrarem a associação entre conjugalidade, coparentalidade e parentalidade (Bonds & Gondoli, 2007;Schoppe-Sullivan et al, 2018;Van Egeren, 2004;Varga et al, 2017). Assim, uma boa relação coparental tende a contribuir para a relação que cada um dos pais estabelece com a criança, assim como para a melhora da relação conjugal em si, diminuindo o estresse presente no sistema familiar e favorecendo o desenvolvimento da criança.…”