Positive coparenting previous to the COVID‐19 pandemic can buffer regulatory problems in infants facing the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Coparenting can be a development‐enhancing or risk‐promoting environment for infant regulatory capacity, mainly in the presence of adversity. This study aimed to analyze the association between positive and negative coparenting previous to the COVID‐19 pandemic and infant regulatory capacity in the presence of the COVID‐19 pandemic, an adverse condition. A sample of 71 first‐born infants and their mothers and fathers from a longitudinal cohort in Portugal were assessed at 2 weeks postpartum before the COVID‐19 pandemic and again at 6 months postpartum, before (n = 35) or during the COVID‐19 pandemic (n = 36). Parents completed measures of positive and negative coparenting and infant regulatory capacity in both assessment waves. Results revealed that the presence of the COVID‐19 pandemic moderates the association between mothers' and fathers' positive coparenting previous to the COVID‐19 pandemic and infant regulatory capacity at 6 months. The association between positive coparenting and regulatory capacity was stronger in infants facing the COVID‐19 pandemic, than in infants who did not face the COVID‐19 pandemic. Positive coparenting previous to the COVID‐19 pandemic may be a development‐enhancing environment for infant regulatory capacity in the presence of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Positive coparenting may buffer regulatory problems in infants facing adverse conditions.

Measurement invariance of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) across 10 countries.

“…Indeed, it is highly probable that items may be of different importance (preventing metric invariance from being achieved) or that the mean scores on various items vary across different countries (preventing scalar invariance from being achieved). This goal is innovative in that it builds on studies of the validation of the CRS at the country level (Calders, 2021;Çetin & Demircan, 2023;Favez et al, 2021;Feinberg et al, 2012Feinberg et al, , 2016Galdiolo & Roskam, 2016;Luo, 2022;Mosmann et al, 2018;Nakamura et al, 2021;Pinto & Figueiredo, 2023, 2024Shai, 2019;Soma et al, 2021;Takeishi et al, 2017; see Supplemental Material) by focusing on the cross-country aspect, which is the first step to adequately compare coparenting relationships across these different contexts. In the present study, we use the full version, not the brief version, of the CRS.…”