Trajectories of Maternal and Paternal Coparenting from Ages 1 to 9 and Adolescence Adjustment

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the significance of coparenting relationships for a wide range of child outcomes, studies examining long-term effects of both maternal and paternal coparenting support from infancy into adolescence on children are relatively scarce. Given that coparenting support on child adjustment extends all the way into adolescence (Steinberg, 2001), understanding dyadic and longitudinal processes of maternal and paternal coparenting support in shaping children’s developmental pathways is extremely important. Such understanding is crucial for benefitting efforts to develop coparenting interventions that facilitate more positive child outcomes in later years. Although coparenting support tends to be stable in childhood (Van Egeren, 2004), recent studies show variability in longitudinal patterns of coparenting support in early childhood (Davis et al., 2009) and pre-adolescence (Riina & McHale, 2014). Moreover, recent evidence suggests that mothers and fathers influence one another (Fagan & Palkovitz, 2019). Thus, guided by family systems theory, which stresses the importance of family subsystems’ interdependence, the present study aimed to 1) identify simultaneously variations in dyadic maternal and paternal trajectories of coparenting support when their child was between age 1 and 9; and 2) examine whether distinct dyadic trajectories of maternal and paternal coparenting support delineate adolescents’ maladjustment at age 15.

Method: Mothers, fathers and adolescents (N = 3907 families) were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (Reichman et al., 2001). Mothers and fathers reported their perceived partner’s coparenting support at ages 1, 3, 5, and 9 (Dush et al., 2011); and adolescents’ behaviors were reported by primary caregivers at age 15 (CBCL; Achenbach, 2001).

Results: Growth mixture modeling (GMM) with two parallel processes revealed four distinct dual trajectories of coparenting from age 1 to 9 (Figure 1): 1) The cooperative group (n = 2686) consisted of couples in which both mother and fathers exhibited high levels of coparenting at age 1 and these levels remained stable until age 9. 2) The low-discrepancy group (n = 614) consisted of couples in which fathers’ perceptions of mothers’ coparenting was high, but mothers’ perceptions of fathers’ coparenting was lower throughout ages 1-9. 3) The vulnerable group (n = 333) consisted of couples in which both mothers’ and fathers’ coparenting levels were high at age 1, but mothers’ perceptions of fathers’ coparenting dramatic declined between ages 1-5 and only lightly increased between ages 5 and 9. 4) The high discrepancy group (n = 274) consisted of couples in which mothers and fathers were highly discrepant in their perception of one another’s coparenting at age 1, but mothers’ perception of fathers’ coparenting slightly increased between ages 1 and 9. Subsequent multi-group analyses revealed that parents in the cooperative group had adolescents with fewer behavior problems (Table 1) compared to the other groups.

Authors

• Seowon Song, Texas Tech University
  Presenting Author

• Wonjung Oh, Texas Tech University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sylvia Niehuis, Texas Tech University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tianyu Li, Austin Peay State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zhe Wang, Texas A&M University - College Station
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Garcia, Texas Tech University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mary Campbell, Texas Tech University
  Non-Presenting Author