Typologies of Post-divorce Coparenting and Parental Well-Being, Parenting Quality and Children’s Psychological Adjustment

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify post-divorce coparenting profiles and examine whether these profiles differentiate between levels of parents' well-being, parenting practices, and children's psychological problems. Cluster analysis was conducted with Portuguese heterosexual divorced parents (N = 314) to yield distinct post-divorce coparenting patterns. Clusters were based on parents' self-reported coparenting relationship assessed along four dimensions: agreement, exposure to conflict, undermining/support, and division of labor. A three cluster solution was found and replicated. Parents in the high-conflict coparenting group exhibited significantly lower life satisfaction, as well as significantly higher divorce-related negative affect and inconsistent parenting than parents in undermining and cooperative coparenting clusters. The cooperative coparenting group reported higher levels of positive family functioning and lower externalizing and internalizing problems in their children. These results suggested that a positive coparenting alliance may be a protective factor for individual and family outcomes after parental divorce.

Cognitive-affective depression and somatic symptoms clusters are differentially associated with maternal parenting and coparenting

“…Cognitive-affective depressive symptoms have predicted lower maternal competence and ineffective discipline practices, such as hostile, harsh, inconsistent, and abusive parenting behavior (Childs et al, 2014;Dix and Meunier, 2009;Leung and Slep, 2006). In addition, cognitiveaffective depressive symptoms were related to unsupportive, undermining, and conflictual coparenting behaviors in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Lamela et al, 2016;Solmeyer and Feinberg, 2011;Tissot et al, 2016). Less studied is the relationship between maternal somatic symptoms and parenting and coparenting.…”

“…In Study 3, we sought to extend these findings by testing the relationship between cognitiveaffective depressive-nonspecific somatic clusters and coparenting dimensions. Coparenting broadly refers to the ways that parents relate to each other in the role of parent, how they support each other in childrearing, and how they solve childrearing-related conflicts (Feinberg, 2003;Lamela et al, 2016). Empirical work suggests coparenting as a pivot family process strongly associated with subsequent family members' mental health and parenting outcomes (Lamela et al, 2016;Teubert and Pinquart, 2010).…”

Trauma‐Informed Interventions in Parent–Child Contact Cases

“…The second factor that most affects children's adjustment after separation or divorce is the quality of parenting. The extent to which parenting quality is affected by interparental conflict has been discussed (Krishnakumar & Buehler, ; Lamela, Figueiredo, Bastos, & Feinberg, ; Sandler et al, ), but is inconclusive. While it appears high conflict between parents and poorer quality of parenting are correlated, it is unclear whether other variables intervene, or whether baseline levels of quality of parenting change in the face of high conflict between parents post separation.…”

Coparenting relationship trajectories: Marital violence linked to change and variability after separation.

“…Coparenting after separation refers to the ways in which former partners relate to each other as parents, including their involvement in childrearing and decision making about their children and support of each other as parents (Lamela, Figueiredo, Bastos, & Feinberg, 2106). According to family systems theory, although divorce marks the end of a marital relationship, parents do not necessarily exit the family’s boundaries.…”