Click here to download

Marital adjustment, coparenting and children’s psychological adjustment: an exploratory study
Journal Title: PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE 
Author/s: Elena Camisasca, Sarah Miragoli, Luca Milani, Paola Di Blasio 
Year:  2016 Issue: 2 Language: Italian 
Pages:  15 Pg. 127-141 FullText PDF:  208 KB
DOI:  10.3280/PDS2016-002007
(DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation:  clicca qui   and here 


Literature has already shown that marital quality has a significant predictive effect on children’s psychological wellbeing. Build on this literature, the present study explores the association between marital adjustment and children’s psychological adjustment (internalizing and externalizing behaviours), in an attempt to investigate the role of coparenting relationship as an explaining mechanism of this link. A set of measures DAS (marital adjustment), CRS (coparenting relationship) and CBCL (internalizing and externalizing behaviors of children) were administered to 58 mothers and fathers of school-age children (8-11 years old). Results show that coparenting relationship mediates the association between marital adjustment and children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviours. In particular, the dimension of coparenting "exposure of child to conflict" mediates the associations between marital adjustment and internalizing behaviors while the dimensions "exposure of child to conflict" and "endorsement of partner’s parenting" jointly mediate the associations between marital adjustment and externalizing behaviors. Clinical implications and interventions are discussed.
Keywords: Marital adjustment, coparenting, internalizing, externalizing, children

  1. Abidin R.R. and Brunner J.F. (1995). Development of a parenting alliance inventory. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 24 (1): 31-40., DOI: 10.1207/s15374424jccp2401_
  2. Achenbach T.M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
  3. Baril M.E., Crouter A.C. and McHale S.M. (2007). Processes linking adolescent well-being, marital love, and coparenting. Journal of Family Psychology, 21 (4): 645-54., DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.645
  4. Belsky J., Putnam S. and Crnic K. (1996). Coparenting, parenting, and early emotional development. In: McHale J.P. and Cowan P.A., editors, New directions for child development - Vol. 74, Understanding how family-level dynamics affect children’s development: Studies of two-parent families. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 45-55.
  5. Bonds D.D. and Gondoli D.M. (2007). Examining the process by which marital adjustment affects maternal warmth: The role of coparenting support as a mediator. Journal of Family Psychology, 21 (2): 288-296., DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.21.2.28
  6. Brown G.L., Schoppe-Sullivan S.J., Mangelsdorf S.C. and Neff C. (2010). Observed and reported supportive coparenting as predictors of infant-mother and infant-father attachment security. Early Child Development and Care, 180 (1-2): 121-137., DOI: 10.1080/0300443090341501
  7. Camisasca E. (2013). Legami interrotti: Alienazione genitoriale e sottrazione internazionale dei minori nei casi di separazione/divorzio. [Parental alienation and international child abduction in separated and divorced couples] Maltrattamento e Abuso all’Infanzia, 15: 7-13., DOI: 10.3280/MAL2013-00200
  8. Camisasca E., Miragoli S. e Di Blasio P. (2013). L’attaccamento modera le reazioni dei bambini esposti al conflitto genitoriale? Verifica di un modello integrato [Does attachment moderate the reactions of children exposed to marital conflict? Evidence for an integrated model]. Psicologia Clinica dello Sviluppo, XVII (3): 479-500., DOI: 10.1449/7622
  9. Camisasca E., Miragoli S. and Di Blasio P. (2014). Is the relationship between marital adjustment and parenting stress mediated or moderated by parenting alliance? Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 10 (2): 235-254., DOI: 10.5964/ejop.v10i2.72
  10. Camisasca E., Miragoli S., Caravita S.C.S. and Di Blasio P. (2015). The Parenting Alliance Measure: the first contribute to the validation of the measure in Italian mothers and fathers. TPM. Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 22 (1): 71-95., DOI: 10.4473/TPM22.1.
  11. Camisasca E., Miragoli S. and Di Blasio P. (2016). Families with distinct levels of marital conflict and child adjustment: Which role for maternal and paternal stress? Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25 (3): 733-745., DOI: 10.1007/s10826-015-0261-
  12. Camisasca E., Miragoli S., Di Blasio P. and Feinberg M. (Submitted). Coparenting as a linking mechanism between marital quality and child adjustment: The role of parents’ empathy as a moderator.
  13. Castellano R., Velotti P., Crowell J.A. and Zavattini G.C. (2013). The role of parents’ attachment configurations at childbirth on marital satisfaction and conflict strategies. Journal of Child and Families Studies, 23(6), 1011-1026., DOI: 10.1007/s10826-013-9757-
  14. Christopher C., Umemura T., Mann T., Jacobvitz D. and Hazen N. (2015). Marital quality over the transition to parenthood as a predictor of coparenting. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24 (12): 1-15., DOI: 10.1007/s10826-015-0172-0
  15. Erel O. and Burman B. (1995). Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent-child relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 118: 108-132., DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.118.1.10
  16. Fadda D., Scalas L.F. and Meleddu M. (2014). I predittori del benessere in adolescenza: relazione tra i tratti di personalità, il sistema del sé, la famiglia e le strategie di coping. Psicologia della Salute, 1: 29-49., DOI: 10.3280/PDS2014-00100
  17. Feinberg M.E. (2003). The internal structure and ecological context for coparenting: A framework for research and intervention. Parenting: Science and Practice, 3 (2): 95-131., DOI: 10.1207/S15327922PAR0302_0
  18. Feinberg M.E., Kan M.L. and Hetherington E.M. (2007). Longitudinal study of coparenting conflict on adolescent maladjustment. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69 (3): 687-702., DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00400.
  19. Feinberg M.E., Brown L.D. and Kan M.L. (2012). A multi-domain self-report measure of coparenting. Parenting: Science and Practice, 12 (1): 1-21., DOI: 10.1080/15295192.2012.63887
  20. Fosco G.M. and Grych J.H. (2008). Emotional, cognitive, and family systems mediators of children’s adjustment to interparental conflict. Journal of Family Psychology, 22 (6): 843-854., DOI: 10.1037/a001380
  21. Gentili P., Contreras L., Cassaniti M. e D’Arista F. (2002). La Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Una misura dell’adattamento di coppia. [The Dyadic Dyadic Adjustment Scale. A measure of marital ajustment] Minerva Psichiatrica, 43: 107-116.
  22. Frigerio A. (2001). Child Behavior Checklist 4-18, Manuale. Bosisio Parini (LC): IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Editore Ghedini Libraio.
  23. Grych J.H. and Fincham F.D. (1993). Children’s appraisals of marital conflict: Initial investigations of the cognitive-contextual framework. Child Development, 64 (1): 215-230., DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02905.x
  24. Holland A.S. and McElwain N.L. (2013). Maternal and paternal perceptions of coparenting as a link between marital quality and the parent-toddler relationship. Journal of Family Psychology, 27 (1): 117-126., DOI: 10.1037/a003142
  25. Karreman A., van Tuijl C., van Aken M.A. and Deković M. (2008). Parenting, coparenting, and effortful control in preschoolers. Journal of Family Psychology, 22 (1): 30-50., DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.22.1.3
  26. Katz L.F. and Low S.M. (2004). Marital violence, co-parenting, and family-level processes in relation to children’s adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 18 (2): 372-382., DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.18.2.37
  27. Kolak A.M. and Volling B.L. (2007). Parental expressiveness as a moderator of coparenting and marital relationship quality. Journal of Applied Family Studies, 56 (5): 467-478., DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2007.00474.
  28. Kolak A.M. and Vernon-Feagans L. (2008). Family-level coparenting processes and child gender as moderators of family stress and toddler adjustment. Infant and Child Development, 17 (6): 617-638., DOI: 10.1002/icd.57
  29. Margolin G., Gordis E.B. and John R.S. (2001). Coparenting: A link between marital conflict and parenting in two parent families. Journal of Family Psychology, 15 (1): 3-21., DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.15.1.
  30. McHale J.P. (1995). Coparenting and triadic interactions during infancy: The roles of marital distress and child gender. Developmental Psychology, 31 (6): 985-996., DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.31.6.98
  31. Merrifield K.A. and Gamble W.C. (2013). Associations among marital qualities, supportive and undermining coparenting, and parenting self-efficacy: Testing spillover and stress-buffering processes. Journal of Family Issues, 34 (4): 510-533., DOI: 10.1177/0192513X1244556
  32. Milani L., Grumi S., Gagliardi G. and Di Blasio P. (2016). Famiglie italiane e immigrate: identificare fattori di rischio e di protezione nella valutazione delle competenze genitoriali. Psicologia della Salute, 1: 67-89., DOI: 10.3280/PDS2016-001008
  33. Minuchin S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  34. Parmiani L., Iafrate R. and Giuliani C. (2012). Loyalty conflict, feelings of unfairness, and young adults’ individuation difficulties in separated and nonseparated families. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 53(5): 386-401., DOI: 10.1080/10502556.2012.68288
  35. Preacher K.J. and Hayes A.F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40 (3): 879-891., DOI: 10.3758/BRM.40.3.87
  36. Raffagnino R. e Penzo I. (2012). Attaccamento e intimità nella relazione di coppia: verso il costrutto dell’affettività. [Attachment and intimacy in couple relationships: towards the construct of affectivity]. Psicologia della Salute, 22 (2): 33-58., DOI: 10.3280/PDS2012-00200
  37. Riina E.M. and McHale S.M. (2014). Bidirectional influences between dimensions of coparenting and adolescent adjustment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(2): 257-269., DOI: 10.1007/s10964-013-9940-
  38. Schoppe Sullivan S.J. and Mangelsdorf S.C. (2013). Parent characteristics and early coparenting behavior at the transition to parenthood. Social Development, 22 (2): 363-383., DOI: 10.1111/sode.1201
  39. Schoppe-Sullivan S.J., Weldon A.H., Cook J.C., Davis E.F. and Buckley C.K. (2009). Coparenting behavior moderates longitudinal relations between effortful control and preschool children's externalizing behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50 (6): 698-706., DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02009.
  40. Spanier G. (1976). Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38 (1): 15-28., DOI: 10.2307/35054
  41. Stroud C.B., Meyers K.M., Wilson S. and Durbin C.E. (2014). Marital quality spillover and young children's adjustment: Evidence for dyadic and triadic parenting as mechanisms. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 44 (5), 1-14., DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2014.90072
  42. Teubert D. and Pinquart M. (2010). The association between coparenting and child adjustment: A meta-analysis. Parenting: Science and Practice, 10 (4): 286-307., DOI: 10.1080/15295192.2010.49204
  43. Van Egeren L.A. (2004). The development of the coparenting relationship over the transition to parenthood. Infant Mental Health Journal, 25 (5): 453-477., DOI: 10.1002/imhj.2001
  44. Zohoor A.R. and Kroll T. (2008). Divorce and its consequences for health of families. Psicologia della Salute, 2: 5-22.

Elena Camisasca, Sarah Miragoli, Luca Milani, Paola Di Blasio, Marital adjustment, coparenting and children’s psychological adjustment: an exploratory study in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 2/2016, pp. 127-141, DOI:10.3280/PDS2016-002007

   

FrancoAngeli is a member of Publishers International Linking Association a not for profit orgasnization wich runs the CrossRef service, enabing links to and from online scholarly content