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Drawing on family systems theory and the biosocial-cognitive model, this study examined whether paternal coparenting predicted life satisfaction (LS) directly and indirectly through (a) adolescent attachment to parents (father-adolescent attachment and mother-adolescent attachment) and (b) externalizing problems (EPs) among preadolescents. We conducted structural equation modeling using Amos 22.0 to analyze data from 667 father-mother-child triads during early adolescence in China. The results revealed that paternal coparenting had an indirect but not a direct relationship with preadolescent LS. Adolescent attachment to fathers and EPs played a serial mediating role in the association between paternal coparenting and adolescentLS. The indirect effect of paternal coparenting on preadolescent LS acted mainlythrough EPs, while that of maternal coparenting on preadolescent LS acted mainly through maternal attachment. Thus, preadolescents'globalLS is shaped not only by specific subsystemswithin a family environment but also by individual behavior systems.

The number of families affected by parental incarceration in the United States has increased dramatically in the past three decades, with primarily negative implications for adult mental health and child and family well-being. Despite research documenting increased strain on coparenting relationships, less is known regarding the relation between adult mental health and coparenting quality. This study investigated coparenting in families with young children currently experiencing parental incarceration. In a diverse sample of 86 jailed parent–caregiver dyads (n = 172), this analysis of a short-term longitudinal study examined the links among jailed parents’ and children’s at-home caregivers’ externalizing mental health symptoms and perceived coparenting alliance quality using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. Analyses using structural equation modeling revealed a medium sized negative partner effect for externalizing behaviors on coparenting alliance for jailed parents, wherein caregivers increased externalizing symptoms related to jailed parents’ lower reported coparenting quality. Caregiver–partner effects and both actor effects resulted in small effects. These findings highlight the roles of mental health and coparenting relationship quality when a parent is incarcerated and contribute to the existing literature on incarcerated coparenting, with implications for theory and practice.

Since the last decade review of the fathering literature in 2000, scholars across numerous disciplines such as demography, family studies, medicine, nursing, law, psychology, social work, and sociology have continued to produce a steady stream of work on fathering and father-child relationships. This literature is reviewed selectively with a focus on key developments, persistent challenges, and critical directions for future research. Significant developments include greater availability of large and nationally representative dataseis to study fathers; expansion and evaluation of U.S. federal policy regarding fathers; thoughtful consideration of conceptualization and measurement of fathers' parenting; growth in research on coparenting, maternal gatekeeping, and fathering; increased attention to issues of diversity in fathering; and awareness of the effects of fathering on men's development. Persistent challenges and critical new directions in fathering research include full and routine inclusion of fathers in research on parenting, improved assessment and appropriate data analysis, adherence to evidence-based portrayals of fathers' roles in children's development, generation and use of scientific evidence to guide policy-making, and sustained attention to diversity and fatherhood. These should be priority areas of focus as fathering research proceeds into the next decades of the 21st century.

Objective The goal of this study was to examine dual trajectories of supportive coparenting and father involvement across the transition to parenthood into early childhood. Background During the transition to parenthood, families adapt to new dynamic family subsystems. Drawing on family systems theory, we investigated the influence of supportive coparenting (mother–father subsystem) and father involvement (father–child subsystem) on child development. Method Longitudinal data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study collected at the child's birth and ages 1, 3, and 5 years included a sample of predominantly unmarried disadvantaged couples (N = 856) living in diverse couple relationship configurations. Group‐based modeling was used to identify interfamilial variations in dual trajectories and how these trajectory groups were associated with parental predictors and child behavior outcomes. Results Three classes were identified: High‐Slow Decreasing Supportive Coparenting and Father Involvement (Class 1, 78%), High‐Rapid Decreasing Supportive Coparenting and Father Involvement (Class 2, 12%), and Low‐Increasing Supportive Coparenting and Low‐Stable Father Involvement (Class 3, 10%). Class 3 showed greater couple supportiveness than the other classes. Couples in committed partner relationships were more likely to be in Class 1 or Class 2 than Class 3. Children of Class 1 displayed fewer behavioral problems than the other classes. Conclusions Findings emphasize the value of jointly considering coparenting and father involvement in targeted interventions to strengthen child development and family functioning among economically disadvantaged families.

ObjectivesExamined the influences of parent-grandparent coparenting relationship on young children’s social competence, and the potential mediating role of maternal parenting self-efficacy between them in Chinese urban families.MethodsA two-wave longitudinal study was conducted. A total of 317 young children’s mothers participated in Wave 1, 179 of the 317 participants participated in Wave 2 six months later. Mothers completed scales of parent-grandparent coparenting relationship, maternal parenting self-efficacy, and children’s social competence in Wave 1 and reported their children’s social competence again six months later.ResultsStructural equation modeling with a bootstrap resample of 1000 indicated: (a) the cross-sectional study showed that maternal strategies efficacy (ab = .06, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [.02, .10], p = .006) and child outcome efficacy (ab = .14, 95% CI = [.01, .08], p = .002) partially mediated the effect of parent-grandparent coparenting relationship and children’s social competence. (b) the six-month follow-up study showed that child outcomes efficacy totally mediated the relationship between parent-grandparent coparenting relationship and children’s social competence (ab = .07, 95% CI = [.03, .12], p = .003).ConclusionsThese findings highlight the contribution of the harmonious parent-grandparent coparenting relationship and maternal parenting self-efficacy to young children’s socialization and are discussed in light of family systems theory and the ecological model of coparenting.

ObjectivesThe current study aimed to examine the association between coparenting and adolescent emotional instability and to analyze the potential mediating effect of parent–child relationship quality between them in Chinese families.MethodsA convenient sample of 3045 adolescents from China was selected to fill out questionnaires regarding their emotional instability and demographic variables, parental coparenting behavior, and parent–child relationship quality. Structural equation modeling was used to test the total and mediating effect models.ResultsSupportive and undermining coparenting were significantly associated with adolescent emotional instability (βSC = −0.13, βUC = 0.21, p < 0.001), and the total effect of undermining coparenting on adolescent emotional instability was stronger than that of supportive coparenting (Wald [χ2] = 4.37, p < 0.05). Mediation model analysis revealed that undermining coparenting was associated with a poor quality of parent–child relationship, which ultimately predicted a high level of emotional instability (ab/c = 0.47). By contrast, supportive coparenting was associated with a high parent–child relationship quality, which ultimately predicted a low level of emotional instability (|ab/c’| = 1.98). However, the direct effect of supportive coparenting was positively related to adolescent emotional instability (β = 0.14, p < 0.05).ConclusionsFindings implied that undermining coparenting was a family risk factor for adolescent emotional instability, whereas supportive coparenting exhibited a double-edged (i.e., positive and negative) effect on adolescent emotional instability.

Father involvement is considered multidetermined, being influenced by personal and family characteristics. These variables, however, are rarely examined together, leaving unclear what makes fathers involved. A multilevel dyadic approach was used to examine the relationship between fathers’ and mothers’ demographics, parenting stress, coparenting, and father involvement among dual-earner couples ( n  = 311 dyads). Fathers ( M age = 39.33; SD  = 6.04) and mothers ( M age = 36.81; SD  = 5.96) of a young child ( M  = 4.36; SD  = 1.69; 52.4% boys) reported on education, parental stress, and time committed to childcare (level 1 variables), work–family conflict, their child’s age, and coparenting (level 2). The findings revealed that, regarding individual variables (level 1), only father’s education and father’s time committed to child activities were related to a greater proportion of father involvement. At the family level (level 2), older children, more children in the family, and cooperative coparenting were related to a greater proportion of father involvement. The results highlight the importance of fathers’ perspectives and characteristics to their involvement. The findings may be used to promote father involvement and inform public policies on the topic.

Objective In the present study, the cognitive theory of stress and coping was adopted as a framework and a mediation model was developed to investigate the long‐term effect of fathers' involvement in child care and mothers' appraisal of a supportive coparenting partnership (SCP) on postpartum depressed mood (PDM) and parenting self‐efficacy (PSE) in Taiwanese new mothers. Background Due to the risk of PDM and low PSE, many new mothers struggle with first‐time motherhood. It is therefore meaningful to investigate the benefits of potential protective factors that can reduce the risk of PDM and enhance PSE, such as fathers' involvement in child care and mothers' appraisal of an SCP, to improve new mothers' postpartum adjustment. Method Using secondary data from the nationwide longitudinal project Kids in Taiwan, we analyzed data provided by 2,020 Taiwanese new mothers at 3 and 6 months after delivery. We conducted structural equation modeling to test our hypothetical mediation model. Results Fathers' involvement in child care was significantly positively related to mothers' appraisal of an SCP, which in turn had a significant effect on reducing the risk of PDM and increasing PSE in Taiwanese new mothers both concurrently and 3 months later. Conclusion This study highlighted the concurrent and long‐term benefits of fathers' involvement in child care for new mothers' postpartum adjustment and the importance of new mothers' appraisal of an SCP as a significant mediator. Implications These findings warrant the attention and efforts of family life educators, marriage counselors, and other experts in related fields to promote better parenting experiences for new parents.

Objective: The study tested the grandmother role difference hypothesis (GRDH) in Chinese three-generation families by investigating the effects of mothers' and grandmothers' perceptions of the coparenting relationship on child adjustment and the potential mediating effect of parenting self-efficacy. Background: Mother-grandmother coparenting has become the prevalent parenting mode in urban China, yet previous studies have failed to recognize the differences between the grandmothers by lineage. By reviewing biological theories and sociological contexts, this study proposed the GRDH. The hypothesis posited that in addition to maternal grandmother's benefits on grandchildren over paternal grandmother due to biological drives, maternal and paternal grandmothers exert their effect on child outcomes disparately by developing different relationships with the mother in coparenting. Method: In total, 409 mother-grandmother coparenting families were recruited. Two identical structural equation models were examined separately for maternal and paternal grandmother groups. Results: The results of multigroup analysis showed a stronger direct effect by maternal grandmother's perception of coparenting relationship than paternal grandmother on child social competence. The relation between maternal parenting self-efficacy and child social competence was stronger in households with paternal grandmothers. Furthermore, the mothers' evaluation of the coparenting relationship had a significant spillover effect on the paternal grandmother's parenting self-efficacy only. The findings also showed the exclusive mediating effect of maternal parenting self-efficacy linking the mother's perception of the coparenting relationship to child problem behavior in the mother-paternal grandmother group only. Conclusion and implications: The results overall validated the GRDH while providing further contextual information on the roles of mothers and grandmothers in different types of coparenting families.

Objective This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) in Chinese samples. Background The coparenting relationship serves an important role in raising children. The CRS was originally developed to measure the multidimensionality of the coparenting relationship. However, its latent structure and psychometric properties have not been extensively addressed, particularly in non‐Western cultures. Method Data were collected from a sample of 991 Chinese families (991 mothers, 967 fathers, 31–57 years of age). Confirmatory factor analyses were utilized to provide evidence of the theoretical factorial structure. Internal consistency was examined by Cronbach's α and omega coefficients. Correlations with the Dyadic Adjustment Scale were to verify criterion validity. Configural, metric, scalar, and residual variance invariance were examined across the gender of parents in dyadic perspective. Results In contrast to a poor fit for the seven‐factor structure of the original 35‐item CRS, the Chinese version of the CRS (CRS‐C) showed a good fit in a six‐factor structure with 27 items. The CRS‐C showed strict measurement invariance across gender of the parent, satisfactory internal consistency, and criterion‐related validity as indicated by marital quality. Conclusions These findings provided preliminary evidence that the CRS‐C is reliable and valid for measuring the coparenting relationship among Chinese parents. Implications Coparenting relationship and its measurement will benefit from attention in non‐Western contexts and cross‐cultural studies.