Poster #32 - A Latent Profile Analysis of Co-Parenting during COVID-19: Implications for Parent and Adolescent Well-Being

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

Co-parenting is conceptualized as the way parents coordinate childrearing responsibilities, and how they support or undermine each other (Deater-Deckard & Panneton, 2017). Co-parenting not only provides vital support for both mothers and fathers, but it also has implications for parent and child well-being. According to the family systems theory (Cox & Paley, 2003) and the spillover theory (Erel & Burman, 1995), the relationship, mood, or affect of members within a family subdomain transfer to other family members as a unit. Robust evidence suggests that supportive co-parenting is related to less parental stress (Choi & Becher, 2018), more positive parenting (Feinberg et al., 2007), better parental self-efficacy (Merrifield & Gamble, 2013), and better child emotional and behavioral adjustment (Kolak & Vernon-Feagans, 2008; Jiménez-García et al., 2019). However, maintaining positive co-parenting has become especially challenging under the COVID-19 pandemic due to heightened parental stress (Lucassen et al., 2021), financial stress, and increased marital conflict (Prime et al., 2020). Few studies have examined co-parenting and its relationships with parent and adolescent well-being in times of the pandemic. In addition, previous studies were primarily variable-centered, thus failing to capture the complexity of father’s and mother’s co-parenting patterns. Hence, with a person-centered approach, this study aims to identify co-parenting profiles and their associations with parent and adolescent well-being during a global pandemic.

A total of 314 families from Guangzhou, China participated in this study. Only intact families (i.e., father, mother, and adolescent children living together) were included, resulting in a final sample of 252 families. Fathers and mothers reported on their spouse's co-parenting (i.e., co-parenting and triangulation), their own parental self-efficacy, subjective well-being (i.e., mental health, positive and negative affect, life satisfaction), physical well-being, and their adolescent children's well-being (i.e., prosocial behavior, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems). Father's and mother's report on adolescents' well-being were averaged into a composite score. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed to differentiate participants with co-parenting and triangulation items as indicators. MANOVA was employed to identify profile differences in associated outcomes.

The results of LPA suggested a 2-profile model as the best fit (Figure 1), namely the Congruent High CP profile (44.5%, N=113; characterized as high mother and father co-parenting) and the Incongruent CP profile (55.5%, N=139; characterized as moderate mother co-parenting and low father co-parenting). Subsequently, results of MANOVA analysis disclosed profile differences in both parent and adolescent well-being outcomes (Table 1). In general, parents in the Congruent High CP profile had stronger parental self-efficacy, fewer mental health problems, better subjective and physical well-being than those in the Incongruent CP class. Moreover, adolescent children of parents in the Congruent High CP displayed more prosocial behavior and fewer internalizing and externalizing problems.

To conclude, the present study identifies different profiles of co-parenting between fathers and mothers. Notably, this study also reveals the positive association between congruent co-parenting and well-being outcomes in both parents and adolescents. The findings highlight the importance of promoting supportive co-parenting in both fathers and mothers, especially during a global pandemic era.

Authors

• Patricia Hok Sei Ng, The Education University of Hong Kong
  Presenting Author

• Jianbin Li, The Education University of Hong Kong