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Marital Quality over the Transition to Parenthood as a Predictor of Coparenting

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Abstract

This study examined changes in first-time parents’ marital quality over the transition to parenthood as predictors of their coparenting quality and mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in parenting and support of their spouse’s coparenting. Mothers and fathers (N = 96 couples) individually completed measures of marital conflict and satisfaction prenatally, at 8 months, and at 24 months. Triadic family interactions observed at 24 months were coded for coparenting quality (cooperative and competitive coparenting), and coparenting dynamics (fathers’ involvement in parenting, mothers’ involvement in parenting, fathers’ support of mothers’ parenting, and mothers’ support of fathers’ parenting). Latent growth curve modeling demonstrated that declines in fathers’ marital satisfaction predicted higher competitive coparenting and lower father involvement in parenting, and increases in fathers’ marital conflict predicted lower cooperative coparenting. Increases in mothers’ marital conflict predicted mothers’ lower support of fathers’ parenting. Thus, declines in fathers’ marital quality may have more direct effects on coparenting quality, whereas declines in mothers’ marital quality may indirectly affect coparenting through mothers’ support of their spouse’s parenting.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grant SBR-9212990 from the National Science Foundation and Grant 3332 from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. The first author was supported by Grant 5 T32 MH 18387 from the NIH, and the second author is supported by the Program of Employment of Best Young Scientists for International Cooperation Empowerment (grant number CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0037), European Social Fund, and the state budget of the Czech Republic.

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Christopher, C., Umemura, T., Mann, T. et al. Marital Quality over the Transition to Parenthood as a Predictor of Coparenting. J Child Fam Stud 24, 3636–3651 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0172-0

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