Coparenting as a family-level construct: Parent and child inputs across the first two years

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Family Studies
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Coparenting quality is crucial for child development and family well-being.
• Infant characteristics and parental mental health are known to influence family dynamics.
• Longitudinal studies examining the interplay of these factors in early parenthood are essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the longitudinal effects of infant negative affectivity (NA) and parental depressive symptoms on coparenting perceptions.
• To analyze how these factors influence coparenting quality across the first two years postpartum.
• To understand the combined impact of parental and infant factors on the coparenting relationship.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 147 two-parent families from infancy to 24 months.
• Utilized the Coparenting Relationship Scale and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised for parental reports.
• Employed growth curve modeling within an actor-partner interdependence model framework.

Main Results:

• Higher parental depression was associated with steeper declines in coparenting quality over 24 months.
• Interactions between parental depression, spousal depression, and infant NA predicted poorer coparenting.
• Both parents' and their spouses' perceptions of coparenting were negatively affected by parental depression.

Conclusions:

• Coparenting is a dynamic process influenced by parental mental health and infant temperament.
• A comprehensive understanding requires considering individual parent and child characteristics, alongside spousal influences.
• Interventions should address multiple risk factors in both parents (e.g., depression) and children (e.g., NA) for optimal coparenting support.