Differential effects of coparenting problems on parent-child relationships and adjustment of children and adolescents in nuclear and separated families

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Families have undergone profound changes regarding parental roles and the structure of partner relations during the past decades. Most prominently, divorce rates have more than doubled in the past 50 years, and a rising share of children is born to unmarried parents, who are at higher risk for separation (e.g. Liefbroer & Dourleijn, 2006). Several meta-analyses report poorer outcomes for children with divorced or separated parents than with continuously married parents (e.g. Swartz-Den Hollander, 2017). Interparental conflict, negative coparenting, and problems in the parent-child relationship have proven to be significant in explaining these differences. However, despite remarkable international research, recent evidence from Germany regarding family relations and children’s well-being following parental separation is lacking. Particularly children and adolescents have seldomly been asked themselves. Therefore, the present study seeks to shed light on the differential impact of coparenting problems on parent-child-relationships and child adjustment in nuclear and separated families.
Data were drawn from waves 7 to 9 of the German Family Panel pairfam (Huinink et al. 2011), a longitudinal study with annual assessments since 2008. The study comprised a subsample of N=686 early adolescents (mean= 12.8 years) – including 150 with separated parents – and one of their parents. While children reported on parenting behavior and their relationships to mother and father (e.g. Emotional Insecurity), as well as their adjustment (e.g. SDQ), one parent (female: 67.8%) provided information about coparenting problems with the other parent and legal disputes regarding child’s legal or physical custody. Via PROCESS we tested a moderation model controlling for anchor education and child characteristics amongst other things. A mediation model was performed for in-depth analyses with children of separated parents.
As expected, coparenting problems in wave 8 were longitudinally linked to children’s higher fear of love withdrawal regarding mother and father one year later. However, this was only the case in children in separated families, no significant association was found in nuclear families. Also with regard to child adjustment, coparenting problems were only significantly associated to more emotional symptoms and less self esteem in separated families. A closer look at separated families revealed the mediation model of coparenting problems and fear of love withdrawal through legal disputes and perceived pressure to side to be significant. Nevertheless, the indirect effects of the mediators proved non-significant. In the mediation model focussing on self esteem, also a significant indirect effect was found: The mediating path through pressure to side was significant, while the mediating path through legal disputes was not.
The findings will be discussed in the context of the interparental conflict hypothesis and its consequences for child adjustment following parental separation.

Authors

• Ulrike Lux, German Youth Institute
  Presenting Author

• Julia Reim, German Youth Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sabine Walper, German Youth Institute
  Non-Presenting Author