Coparenting across the transition to parenthood: Qualitative evidence from South-Brazilian families.

Abstract

Despite the increase in research on coparenting, few studies have focused on non-North American or non-European families, which has hindered practice and policy targeting diverse countries. The authors used a qualitative, longitudinal, multiple case study to investigate coparenting agreement/disagreement and support/undermining, defined by Feinberg's model, in a sample of South-Brazilian families across the Transition to Parenthood (TtoP). Twelve first-time mothers and fathers (six nuclear families) of children who attended different childcare arrangements (i.e., maternal care, nanny care, and daycare center) participated in individual, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews at 6, 12, and 18 months postpartum. Deductive thematic analysis was adopted to explore and interpret the data. Similarities and singularities between families were found. Overall, agreement remained relatively stable during the first year, whereas disagreements concerning discipline demanded more parental negotiation as infants advanced toward toddlerhood. Support and undermining coexisted in the same families, although mothers and fathers expressed undermining differently. Our findings also revealed how Brazilian sociocultural aspects linked to the upbringing in the family of origin, gender role expectations, labor and financial spheres, as well as childcare arrangements, may have shaped the coparenting dynamics of the participants. This study contributes to the literature by shedding light on coparenting in South-Brazilian families. Our findings offer support to two key themes aligned with Feinberg's model of coparenting, that is agreement/ disagreement and support/undermining, further reinforcing the importance of understanding coparenting in light of the families' ecological context, without disregarding singularities that mark each coparental relationship.

Couple, parent, and infant characteristics and perceptions of conflictual coparenting over the transition to parenthood

“…The reasons why undermining appeared to increase across this period are unclear. As infants' capacities for movement and attention develop, parents may respond differently and opportunities for criticism and competition may increase (Schmidt et al, 2021).…”

“…The reasons why undermining appeared to increase across this period are unclear. As infants’ capacities for movement and attention develop, parents may respond differently and opportunities for criticism and competition may increase (Schmidt et al, 2021). Research that examines changes in infant development in relation to changes in undermining coparenting at a more detailed level would help achieve a more nuanced understanding of these patterns.…”

“…Children’s needs and capabilities change rapidly over the first year, and opportunities for parents to undermine one another increase as parents may have different ways of approaching these developments (Schmidt et al, 2021). Moreover, even as fathers’ global evaluations of coparenting may be more positive than mothers’ (Van Egeren, 2004), fathers may also feel more undermined by mothers or perceive greater conflict because of maternal gatekeeping, which can convey a lack of confidence in fathers’ parenting (Schoppe-Sullivan & Altenburger, 2019).…”

The Prospective Co-Parenting Relationship Scale (PCRS) for Sexual Minority and Heterosexual People: Preliminary Validation

“…Furthermore, sexual minority individuals who reported receiving more support from their families of origin also indicated stronger parenting alliances [15] and less parental stress [33]. Thus, it is important to understand coparenting taking into account the families' ecological context and considering singularities that mark each co-parental relationship [34].…”

“…0.789 (36) Our relationship will wear off with the interference of our parents in the way we raise our child. 0.719 (34) We will disagree about who will take care of our child: my parents or his/her parents. 0.631 (32) The financial help provided by our parents will be a motive of disagreement between me and my partner.…”