Within- and between-family differences in cooperative and competitive coparenting

Differential Patterns of the Division of Parenthood in Chinese Family: Association With Coparenting Behavior

The current study explored the division of parenthood in Chinese families with adolescents by identifying the parental involvement patterns in the data obtained from 786 pairs of parents. Division-of-parenthood patterns were created via factor mixture modeling using self-reported three dimensions of father and mother involvement. Three differential division-of-parenthood patterns were identified: (a) parent-cooperation pattern, where moderate and equivalent involvement existed between mothers and fathers; (b) mother-dominated pattern, where mother involvement was particularly greater than father involvement; and (c) father-dominated pattern, where father involvement was particularly greater than mother involvement. Families were more likely to be in the mother- or the father-dominated pattern as their levels of positive coparenting behaviors increased. By contrast, as the levels of paternal conflict behavior increased, families were likely to be in the mother-dominated pattern. This study highlighted parents' individual parenting role, the diverse division-of-parenthood patterns in the family, and the important role of coparenting behavior.

A harsh parenting team? Maternal reports of coparenting and coercive parenting interact in association with children's disruptive behaviour

BACKGROUND

Parenting and coparenting are both important for children's adjustment, but their interaction has been little explored. Using a longitudinal design and considering two children per family, we investigated mothers' and fathers' perceptions of coparenting as moderators of associations between their coercive parenting and children's disruptive behaviour.

METHODS

Mothers and fathers from 106 'intact' families were included from the Twins, Family and Behaviour study. At Time 1 (M_{child age}  = 3 years 11 months, SD_{child age}  = 4.44 months) parents reported on their coercive parenting and children's disruptive behaviour via questionnaire; at Time 2 (M_{child age}  = 4 years 8 months, SD_{child age}  = 4.44 months) perceptions of coparenting and the marital relationship were collected by telephone interview. Questionnaire-based reports of children's disruptive behaviour were collected at follow-up (M_{child age}  = 5 years 11 months, SD_{child age}  = 5.52 months). Multilevel modelling was used to examine child-specific and family-wide effects.

RESULTS

Conservative multilevel models including both maternal and paternal perceptions demonstrated that maternal perceptions of coparenting and overall coercive parenting interacted in their prediction of parent-reported child disruptive behaviour. Specifically, accounting for perceived marital quality, behavioural stability, and fathers' perceptions, only in the context of perceived higher quality coparenting was there a positive association between mother-reported overall coercive parenting and children's disruptive behaviour at follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

When combined with highly coercive parenting, maternal perceptions of high quality coparenting may be detrimental for children's adjustment.

The study of Triadic Family Interactions: the Proposal of an Observational Procedure

In the present article we provide an analytical review of 26 recent studies, which investigated triadic mother-father-child interactions through observational procedures. We focused on the methodological framework and compared the studies according to different criteria, in order to highlight the complexity of the object of study as well as the variety of dimensions and measures that have been used. Even if all the considered studies were designed to analyze triads, very few used coherently triadic categories; most of them focused on the individual members of the triad or on the parents with respect to the child. Joining the research that have stressed the importance of focusing on the reciprocal interactions of all members of the triad, we propose a methodological procedure that allows to describe the triad as a system without losing sight of the single participants and the simultaneity, interdependence, and processuality of their actions.