Dual Trajectories of Supportive Coparenting and Father Involvement: Parental Predictors and Child Behavior Outcomes

• In Event: Fathers’ Positive Parenting and Coparenting Quality: Complex Links in Economically Disadvantaged Families of Young Children

Abstract

During the transition to parenthood, couples adapt to new roles and family interaction patterns Coparenting and father involvement are important aspects of early family interactions with implications for children’s developmental trajectories (Parkes et al., 2019). (Volling & Palkovitz, 2021). Economically disadvantaged families are vulnerable to disruptions of cooperative coparenting alliance and active father involvement as they may experience family instability (Durtschi et al., 2017). However, positive family interactions, including supportive coparenting and father involvement, may be particularly influential on positive child development in families with socioeconomic and relationship risks (Lee et al., 2020). Identifying patterns of change in coparenting and father involvement and associations with child development among disadvantaged families may provide critical insight regarding associations across family systems to inform targets for family strengthening interventions that bolster child development.

Applying a family systems perspective, we investigated dual trajectories of supportive coparenting and father involvement across the transition to parenthood into early childhood. Longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Well Being Study (FFCWS) collected at the child’s birth and ages 1, 3, and 5 (boys = 451, 53%) included a sample of predominantly unmarried low-income couples (N = 856) experiencing diverse parental relationship configurations. Group-based modeling was employed to examine inter-familial variations in dual trajectories, and how trajectory membership was related to early parental predictors (couple supportiveness, relationship status, parental cumulative risk) and later child outcomes (behavior problems). Growth Mixture Model (GMM) results identified three distinct classes (see Figure 1): Class 1 (78%) displaying high and slowly decreasing supportive coparenting and father involvement, Class 2 (12%) exhibiting high and rapidly decreasing supportive coparenting and father involvement, and Class 3 (10 %) showing low and increasing supportive coparenting and stable low father involvement. Multinomial Logistic Regression analyses revealed that couple supportiveness at age 1 was associated with increasing supportive coparenting and stable father involvement over time (see Table 1). Stable couple relationship stability at age 1 was associated with high initial levels of supportive coparenting and father involvement. And, at age 5 children with parents showing the highest dual trajectories (Class 1) exhibited less behavior problems comparing to children in the other two classes.

Findings indicate the value of jointly considering coparenting and father involvement, and targeted interventions to strengthen child development and family functioning among economically disadvantaged families. Notably, within this economically disadvantaged sample, the majority of families displayed fairly stable and relatively high-levels of cooperative coparenting and father involvement, and their children showed low levels of behavior problems. By examining inter-family variations in longitudinal pathways of supportive coparenting and father involvement along with early parental predictors and later child behavior outcomes of these patterns, this study extends our current knowledge about how and when early intervention programs to promote supportive coparenting and positive father involvement should be implemented. Early intervention and prevention efforts that enhance couple relationship quality and stability could be particularly beneficial to initiate and maintain supportive coparenting and father involvement over time, leading to long-term healthy child development.

Authors

• SuJung Park, Texas Tech University
  Presenting Author

• Melissa A. Barnett, University of Arizona

• Ann M Mastergeorge, Texas Tech University