A Multidimensional Perspective on Former Spouses' Ongoing Relationships: Associations With Children's Postdivorce Well‐Being

Abstract

Objective To determine which aspects of divorced parents' ongoing relationships with their former spouses were associated with children's and youth's postdivorce well‐being. Background Research on the associations between former spousal relationships and children's postdivorce well‐being has focused extensively on postdivorce coparenting, with less emphasis on other aspects of these multidimensional relationships. Method Divorced parents (N = 641), recruited via Amazon MTurk, reported on six aspects of their relationships with their former spouses (coparenting cooperation, general communication with former spouses, boundary ambiguity, how often they talk with their former spouses, and satisfaction with custody and child support), and three indices of postdivorce child well‐being (prosocial, internalizing, and externalizing behavior). Results Analyses were conducted separately for children (4‐ to 9‐years‐old) and youth (10‐ to 18‐years‐old). For children, coparenting cooperation was associated with more prosocial but less internalizing behavior; general communication and boundary ambiguity—family system were associated with greater externalizing and internalizing behavior. For youth, boundary ambiguity—family system was associated with more externalizing and internalizing behavior, boundary ambiguity—relationship with former spouse was associated with more externalizing behavior, child support satisfaction was associated with more prosocial behavior, and custody satisfaction was associated with less internalizing behavior. Conclusion For child and youth postdivorce well‐being, some aspects of former spousal relationships appear more impactful than others, with boundary ambiguity appearing particularly detrimental. Implications Divorce education programs may need to diversify their content, supplementing the common focus on postdivorce coparenting with resources that help parents reduce boundary ambiguity in the family system.

The Divorce Process and Child Adaptation Trajectory Typology (DPCATT) Model: The Shaping Role of Predivorce and Postdivorce Interparental Conflict

“…These studies have challenged the prevailing notion that a “good” divorce is a panacea for improving children’s well-being in postdivorce families, which highlights the necessity of more research systematically examining the complexity inherent in the link between postdivorce coparenting relationship and children’s adaptation. To better inform practice, researchers need to: (a) more systematically identify similarities and differences between mothers and fathers in postdivorce coparenting barriers (Russell et al, 2016 ); (b) clarify the extent to which parent–child contact can be best arranged to create a postdivorce coparenting system that “optimally” supports both parents’ and children’s well-being (Beckmeyer et al, 2019 ; Sandler et al, 2013 ); and (c) pay greater attention to other aspects of former spousal relationships that are beyond postdivorce coparenting (e.g., boundary ambiguity that is defined as confusion and disagreement over the nature of and expectations for their ongoing relationship) (Beckmeyer, Krejnick, et al, 2021 ; Beckmeyer et al, 2021 ; Beckmeyer, Markham, et al, 2021 ; Madden-Derdich et al, 1999 ). Some additional mixed (yet interesting) findings await to be more systematically clarified.…”

Coparenting: A focus on divorced families, stepfamilies, intergenerational families, and families with a child on the autism spectrum.

“…The active partnership between coparents often translates into parenting that is supportive, cooperative, and involves positive communication between the parents and with the child (Schrodt & Afifi, 2018). Beckmeyer et al (2020) operationalized effective coparenting as cooperatively parenting together, supportive and frequent communication, a lack of boundary ambiguity regarding the roles of the parents, and satisfaction with the custody arrangement and child support. They found that effective coparenting was associated with more prosocial behaviors and less internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in adolescents.…”

The Impact of Coparenting on Mothers’ COVID-19-Related Stressors

“…The positive effects of father involvement on child development are secured through positive coparenting (Pruett et al 2017;Pruett and Pruett 2020). A differing focus on distinct coparenting qualities suggests presumed differences in coparenting across family structures, for example the emphasis on triangulation (Madden-Derdich et al 1999), cooperation, and boundary ambiguity (Allen 2007;Beckmeyer et al 2021;Pruett and Donsky 2011) in separated families over intact families.…”