Adaptation of the Coparenting Relationship Scale Questionnaire to Spanish Parents with Offspring

The scientific literature supports that practicing positive coparenting leads to the healthy development of children. Consequently, professional interest in parenting and coparenting has experienced significant growth, and evaluating coparenting is crucial in family psychology for establishing action protocols in clinical practice. An instrument highly regarded within the scientific community for evaluating coparenting dynamics is The Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS). This research aims to achieve two objectives: first, to adapt the CRS for the Spanish population of both engaged and separated/divorced parents and to ascertain its reliability, validity, and factorial invariance psychometric properties; second, to assess the effectiveness of the total coparenting measure in categorizing sample participants. A cross-sectional non-experimental investigation was conducted to address these objectives. The first objective was answered by conducting an instrumental study, and the second by an exploratory study using classification techniques and a causal-comparative study using multivariate inferential methods. It was concluded that the model comprising 20 items across two factors, Positive Coparenting and Negative Perception of Coparenting, is the simplest and best fit for the Spanish parent sample; it is invariant regarding gender and marital status, and the measures derived from each factor demonstrate reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. The resulting questionnaire for Spanish parents is named CRS-SEg-S&D. The Coparental Vitality measure calculated using the total weighted measure of CRS-SEg-S&D allows the sample of participants to be divided into three differentiated clusters called Coparental Robustness, Moderate Coparenting, and Coparenting Rickets.

Swiss cohort on Traumatic Childbirth and Health (SwiTCH): protocol for a prospective, population-based cohort study on parents' mental health from pregnancy to one year postpartum

INTRODUCTION

Approximately 4%-5% of mothers develop childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder (CB-PTSD) and approximately 12.3% of mothers develop some CB-PTSD symptoms (CB-PTSS). To date, there is a dearth of studies on fathers and other coparents. Parental CB-PTSD and CB-PTSS may have a negative impact not only on the parents but also on the infant. Understanding risk and protective factors of CB-PTSD for both parents and its consequences on the family is key to detecting or anticipating it, to developing interventions aimed at reducing its detrimental effects and to supporting parents.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This study protocol describes an observational, population-based study, consisting of a longitudinal prospective cohort with online surveys at four time points. The population of interest consist of women, in the third trimester of pregnancy or at 6-12 weeks postpartum, and their partner/coparent, who will give birth or gave birth in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The target sample size is 300-500 women and a proportional number of partners. The primary outcome of this study is the prevalence of CB-PTSD and CB-PTSS. The secondary outcomes focus on: (1) the impact of CB-PTSD and CB-PTSS on the marital and coparental relationships, the bonding with the infant, parental burnout and healthcare seeking behaviours, (2) the role of the childbirth experience in the development of CB-PTSD and CB-PTSS and (3) the social and economic determinants of CB-PTSD and CB-PTSS.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval was granted by the human research ethics committee of the Canton de Vaud (study number 2022-00284). All study participants signed an informed consent form. Dissemination of results will occur via national and international conferences, in peer-reviewed journals, public conferences and social media.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT05865704.

Variation in coparenting quality in relation to child age: Links to coparents' relationship satisfaction and education

Coparenting, denoting shared responsibilities in caring for a child, is a core component of parenthood for most parents. Research has linked quality in the coparenting relationship to several child outcomes as well as parent relationship satisfaction and mental health, yet whether and how these links may differ depending on child age is unclear. Here, we investigated links between coparenting quality, relationship satisfaction, parents' education, and child age, after assessing the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the 35-item Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) in a sample of 206 parents in Sweden. Participants completed the full 35-item CRS, alongside the Parenting Alliance Measure (PAM) and a relationship satisfaction measure. Our findings reveal good psychometric qualities and construct validity for both the CRS and PAM used with Swedish parents. Consistent with other adaptations of the CRS, we found four composite factors for the CRS, all demonstrating high reliability and convergence with the PAM. In relation to child age, parents of older children reported poorer coparenting quality than parents of younger children. The link between relationship satisfaction and coparenting quality was stronger for highly educated parents. Education also predicted partner endorsement in parents of children in early and middle childhood, but not parents of infants. Together, our findings expand the empirical base for understanding coparenting and its links to relationship satisfaction in parents with children of different ages, and they highlight a moderating role of parental education in these links.

Midwives and child health nurses' support is associated with positive coparenting for fathers of infants: A cross-sectional analysis

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To examine if the professional support that fathers received from midwives and child health nurses was associated with improvements in fathers' coparenting. A secondary aim was to investigate if there were any support differences between fathers based on parity.

BACKGROUND

Stronger coparenting is associated with improved maternal, paternal and child health. It is unclear if routine prenatal and postnatal professional support is associated with improved coparenting in fathers of infants.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional online survey.

METHODS

In total, 612 fathers of infants (aged 0-24 months) completed baseline data between November 2018 and March 2020. Socio-demographics, pregnancy control variables, social support, professional support, being invited to attend and attending three specific visits for fathers, respectively, and the fathers' coparenting relationship, using the Brief Coparenting Relationship Scale, were assessed. The STROBE checklist was used as the reporting guideline for this study.

RESULTS

Fathers' attendance at child health visits, support from the prenatal and postnatal midwife, respectively, and total support from the child health nurse, are associated with more positive coparenting. Primiparous fathers reported more received social and professional support, as well as a more positive coparenting relationship than multiparous fathers.

CONCLUSIONS

Receiving clinical support from both midwives and child health nurses is associated with fathers' positive coparenting. All fathers should be invited and encouraged to attend prenatal, postnatal and child health visits to further support their coparenting relationship. Relative to primiparous fathers, multiparous fathers may require targeted and additional clinical support regarding their coparenting relationship.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

With fathers becoming more involved in childrearing, having stronger coparenting skills can help them better adapt to their parental roles. Our findings help understand how routine professional support from midwives and child health nurses are experienced among new fathers and that multiparous fathers are in further need of coparenting support.

When Fathers Feel Socially Constrained to Assume a Role: A Negative Predictor of the Coparental Relationship in Switzerland

Role distribution is a central issue for parents in the transition to parenthood, but little is known about the motivations in fathers to assume a specific role. Differences in work-family balance in each parent may be motivated by an individual choice mutually shared by both partners; however, in many couples, the parents may feel forced to adopt a traditional role distribution, either for financial reasons, or to comply with social expectations about what men and women should do when they are parents. This feeling of being socially constrained to adopt a role distribution that is not congruent with intrinsic motivations can generate dissatisfaction and may jeopardize the development of the interparental relationship. Coparenting refers to the emotional and instrumental support parents bring to each other in their parental tasks. It has been shown to be central in family functioning and a powerful predictor of children's emotional and cognitive development. In this study, we aimed to assess the extent to which different motivations for role distribution in fathers are predictive of the quality of the coparental relationship. A convenience sample of 144 fathers from the French-speaking part of Switzerland completed online questionnaires about their motivations, coparental relationship, and sociodemographic characteristics. Results showed that the reasons for role distribution were mainly economical, practical, and in order to meet personal expectations. Multivariate general linear modeling showed that role distribution that is constrained to meet social expectations and age were predictive of a less cohesive coparental relationship, whereas a deliberate choice in role distribution was linked to a more cohesive coparental relationship.