Mother–Grandmother and Mother–Father Coparenting Across Time Among Mexican‐Origin Adolescent Mothers and Their Families

• Date: 01 April 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12462
• Published date: 01 April 2018

C L. D Virginia Commonwealth University

A J. U-T Harvard University∗

K A. U Arizona State University∗∗

L B. J Teachers College, Columbia University∗∗∗

Mother–Grandmother and Mother–Father

Coparenting Across Time Among Mexican-Origin

Adolescent Mothers and Their Families

The current study examined mothers’ reports

of coparenting relationship dynamics (i.e.,

conict, communication) within and between

mother–father and mother–grandmother sub-

systems from 10months postpartum to 5 years

postpartum among 178 Mexican-origin teen

mothers (M age =16.78 years; SD =1.00).

Within subsystems, morefrequent mother–father

coparenting conict was associated with less

frequent mother–father coparenting communi-

cation from 10 months to 5 years postpartum,

and more frequent mother–father coparent-

ing communication was associated with less

frequent mother–father conict from 3 to

Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of

Psychology, DevelopmentalProgram, P.O. Box 842018,

Richmond, VA23284-2018 (clderlan@vcu.edu).

∗Harvard University Graduate School of Education, 14

Appian Way,Larsen Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138.

∗∗Arizona State University, P.O.BOX 873701, Tempe, AZ

85287-3701.

∗∗∗Teachers College, Columbia University,525 W. 120th

Street, Box 223, New York,NY 10027.

This article was edited by Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan.

Key Words: adolescent pregnancy, coparenting, family

dynamics, Hispanic/Latino/a, longitudinal research.

4 years postpartum. Furthermore,more frequent

mother–grandmother coparenting commu-

nication was associated with less frequent

mother–grandmother conict from 10 months

to 2 years postpartum. Regarding relations

across subsystems, more frequentmother–father

coparenting conict was associated with more

frequent mother–grandmother conict from

10 months to 2 years postpartum, as well as

from 3 to 4 years postpartum. Findings have

implications for future interventions focused on

coparenting relationships within the context of

adolescent parenthood.

The rate of adolescent pregnancy has decreased

in the past decade across all ethnic and racial

groups, but the number of births among Latina

adolescents is still more than double the rate

of non-Latina Black adolescents, and almost

triple the rate of non-Latina White adolescents

(Martin et al., 2011). Furthermore, among all

ethnic and racial groups in the United States,

Mexican-origin adolescents face the highest risk

for pregnancy during adolescence (Martin et al.,

2011). In addition, in 2010 the number of Lati-

nos in the United States reached 16.3% of the

total population, and accounted for more than

Journal of Marriage and Family 80 (April 2018): 349–366 349

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12462

350 Journal of Marriage and Family

56% of the nation’s growth (Passel, Cohn, &

Lopez, 2011). Given this visible increase and

prevalence of the Latino population, coupled

with the disproportionate number of births to

Mexican-origin adolescents, it is important to

focus on processes that impact Mexican-origin

adolescent mothers, their young children, and

their family members as they navigate through

pregnancy and parenting.

One such process is termed coparenting,

which is the shared relationship between two

or more adults who assume responsibility for

the children’s care and upbringing (McHale &

Irace, 2011). Although research on coparenting

is still in its infancy, there has been considerable

growth in this area within the past two decades

(McHale & Lindahl, 2011), particularly in terms

of the links between coparenting and children’s

and coparents’ outcomes. For example, in terms

of children’s outcomes, previous work indicated

that greater coparenting competitiveness was

associated with infants’ less secure attachment to

their parents (Caldera & Lindsey, 2006); greater

hostile-withdrawn coparenting was related

to preschool children’s greater delinquency,

withdrawal, anxiety, and depression (Katz &

Low, 2004); higher coparenting conict was

linked with young children’s decreased math

scores, literacy scores, and social skills (Cabre-

ra, Scott, Fagan, Steward-Streng, & Chien,

2012); and higher supportive coparenting was

linked with children’s positiveadjustment, more

broadly (Teubert & Pinquart, 2010). In terms

of coparents’ outcomes, previous research has

indicated that a lower quality coparenting rela-

tionship (e.g., undermining) between mothers

and fathers was associated with more depressive

symptoms and parenting stress, less parenting

efcacy (Solmeyer & Feinberg, 2011), and

less father involvement (Carlson, McLana-

han, & Brooks-Gunn, 2008). In addition to

mother–father coparenting relationships and

outcomes, other work has examined whether

coparenting between mothers and their own

mothers (i.e., children’s grandmothers) was

related to coparents’ outcomes. Findings indi-

cated that greater coparenting quality was

associated with mothers’ (Kalil, Spencer,

Spieker, & Gilchrist, 1998) and grandmothers’

decreased depressive symptoms (Caldwell,

Antonucci, & Jackson, 1998).

Despite the emerging body of literature

indicating that features of the coparenting

relationship have implications for individuals’

adjustment, little is known about how aspects of

the adolescent mother–grandmother coparenting

relationship and the adolescent mother–father

coparenting relationship are associated with one

another over time. Given that these relation-

ships among coparents do not occur in isolation

from one another, examining the family system

more holistically can provide a more accurate

reection of adolescent mothers’ experiences.

Guided by family systems theory (Cox &

Paley, 1997), the current study examined the

extent to which (a) mothers’ reports of the

frequency of coparenting communication and

conict were associated with each other over

time within the mother–grandmother subsys-

tem and within the mother–father subsystem,

and (b) mothers’ reports of the frequency of

coparenting communication and conict across

the mother–grandmother and mother–father

subsystems were associated with each other

over time.

Understanding more about coparenting

among various coparents as young mothers nav-

igate parenting during the developmental period

of adolescence is important. Adolescence is

characterized by numerous normative develop-

mental processes, including an increased desire

for autonomy, greater emphasis on acceptance

from similar-aged peers, and the search for

an understanding of self (De Goede, Branje,

Delsing, & Meeus, 2009; Erikson, 1968) that

may have implications for their coparenting

relationships. Adolescents’ increased desire for

autonomy, for example, may conict with their

need for support from their mothers as they

navigate being a young parent. Furthermore,

the salience of peer relationships in adolescence

may mean that adolescent mothers place a

stronger emphasis on their coparenting rela-

tionship with their child’s father, above their

coparenting relationship with their mothers.

Because adolescent mothers are navigating nor-

mative developmental tasks while establishing

coparenting relationships with multiple copar-

ents, this is a unique developmental context in

which to examine coparenting and one that is

likely to be distinct from the context of adult

coparenting relationships.

T F S  F W

A M

Family systems theory (Cox & Paley, 1997;

Minuchin, 1985) proposes that a family is a