Poster #137 - Divide and Conquer: Adaptive Interparental Processes When Coparenting Two Children

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Background: Although the majority of U.S. families have two children, little is known about coparenting processes with two children. Observational studies of coparenting in families of four are virtually nonexistent. Studies using self-report measures of coparenting in families of four indicate that fathers are likely to become more involved in coparenting after the birth of a second child, as care of two children often requires “all hands on deck” to provide adequate attention and resources for two young lives (Bartell, 2004). Parents also report having more divided attention with their children upon the arrival of a second child (Volling, 2012). This suggests that a “divide and conquer” style of coparenting, in which each parent focuses their attention on one child at a time, might be an adaptive and novel form of coparenting for families of four. However, little is known about the extent to which “divide and conquer” coparenting actually occurs in families of four, how it relates to each parents’ involvement, and whether or not this pattern is adaptive. Specifically, is “divide and conquer” coparenting associated positively or negatively to cooperative coparenting – parents’ support and facilitation of their partners’ parenting efforts (McHale et al., 2000)?

Primary Aim: How does each parents’ level of involvement with each child (e.g., one parent involved/ one parent not involved with both children, both parents equally involved with both children, both parents involved with predominantly one child) relate to the couple’s overall coparenting quality?

Methods: The present study utilized multimethod data in 52 families with two children (208 subjects) aged 1 to 7 years old, with no more than a 3-year age-gap. A new observational coding system to code coparenting in families of four (divide and conquer coparenting, cooperative coparenting, and each parents’ level of involvement) was developed for the present study, as a quadratic (mother-father-older child-younger child) observational coding system does not yet exist. Each coding team was assigned a separate construct, had high reliability (all >.74), and was blind to all other data. Figure 1 presents the coding sheet for the divide and conquer construct.

Results: Two one-way ANOVAs were used to examine the relation of parenting involvement groups to cooperative and divide-and-conquer coparenting. All assumptions for normality, equality, and independence of variables were met. Bonferroni post-hoc tests (Table 1) revealed that significantly higher levels of cooperative coparenting were found when both parents were equally involved with both children, as compared to only one parent being involved (and the other not involved with either child). In addition, when both parents were predominantly involved with one child at a time, this related to higher levels of cooperative coparenting and higher ratings of divide-and-conquer coparenting. The latter finding also provided further validation of the divide and conquer coparenting construct.

Implications: The results of the present study suggest that dividing the parenting responsibilities of caring for two children is an adaptive style of coparenting.

Authors

• Sarah Elizabeth Murphy, California State University, Chico
  Presenting Author

• Nancy Hazen, The University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author