Mother‐Stepfather Coparenting in Stepfamilies as Predictor of Child Adjustment

• Author: Nicolas Favez,Eric D. Widmer,Minh‐Thuy Doan,France Frascarolo
• Published date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12360
• Date: 01 June 2019

Mother-Stepfather Coparenting in Stepfamilies as

Predictor of Child Adjustment

NICOLAS FAVEZ*

ERIC D. WIDMER

†

FRANCE FRASCAROLO

‡

MINH-THUY DOAN

†

Coparenting between biol ogical parents is a strong p redictor of child adjustmen t. To

date, however, little is kn own about the coparenting dy namics between parent and step-

parent in stepfamilies. T his study aimed at exploring t he links between coparent ing in

the mother–stepfather dyad and child behavior in stepfamilies compared with the links

between mother–father coparenting and child behavior in first-marriage families. Two

modes of coparenting wer e assessed: overt coparent ing, that is, coparental be haviors in

the presence of the child, and c overt coparenting, that i s, the way each parent speaks of

the other parent to the child. T he sample (N=80) comprised 48 ste pfamilies and 32

first-marriage familie s with a child between 7 and 13 years ol d. Overt coparenting was

assessed through direct observation in the standardized situation of the PicNic Game.

Covert coparenting and chi ld behavior were assessed th rough mother-reported que stion-

naires. Results showed ( a) more covert coparenti ng behaviors in first-ma rriage families,

(b) no differences in overt copa renting, (c) more child diffi culties reported in stepfam ilies,

(d) less optimal overt coparent ing being linked with more difficul ties in children in both

family structures, and (e) an interaction effect between family structure and coparenting,

showing that overt coparenting is linked with child behavior mainly in stepfamilies.

Keywords: Mother–Stepfather Dyad; Coparenting Support; Coparenting Conflict;

Stepfamilies; Child Adjustment

Fam Proc 58:446–462, 2019

Coparenting, defined as “the ways that parents and/or parental figures relate to each

other in the role of parent” (Feinberg, 2003, p. 96), is critical for child and family func-

tioning. It has been shown to be linked with the social and cognitive development of the

child as early as the first years of life and up to adolescence (McHale, 2007; Teubert & Pin-

quart, 2010). Specifically, disturbances in the coparental relationship are predictive of

adaptive problems and psychopathology, such as slower development of theory of mind

abilities (Favez et al., 2012), difficulties in adjustment at school (D opkins Stright & Neit-

zel, 2003), difficulties in relationships with peers (Leary & Katz, 2004), externalizing

symptoms (McHale & Rasmussen, 1998; Schoppe, Mangelsdorf, & Frosch, 2001), and

internalizing symptoms (McHale, Kuersten, & Lauretti, 1996). As a consequence,

*Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

†

Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

‡

Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nicolas Favez, Faculty of Psychology and

Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 40, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.

E-mail: nicolas.favez@unige.ch.

This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under Grant 100015_122413.

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Family Process, Vol. 58, No. 2, 2019 ©2018 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12360

coparenting has become a specific target of intervention for family therapists and educa-

tors (Feinberg, 2002; Frascarolo, Fivaz-Depeursinge, & Favez, 2011).

Two main dimensions of the coparental relationship have been highlighted (for

reviews of the theoretical models of coparenting, see Favez & Frascarolo, 2013, and Teu-

bert & Pinquart, 2010). The first one is “support,” which refers to cooperation between

parents at an instrumental level (parents help each other in everyday tasks related to

the child) and at an emotional level (parents mutually validate their respective parent-

ing behaviors, support is brought to each other with warmth, and positive comments are

made to promote family integrity). The second one is “conflict,” which refers to enduring

disagreements between parents, unresolved disputes (parents may argue in front of the

child or compete to get her attention), critical attitudes, and disparagement. Low sup-

port and high conflict are considered indexes of disturbances of the coparental relation-

ship (McHale, 2007; Van Egeren & Hawkins, 2004). Lack of support forms a nonoptimal

context of development for the child, as emotional exchanges are impoverished and the

behaviors of the parents are uncoordinated; high conflict tends to undermine the sense

of security of the child and to entrap her between the parents, a situation that has been

amply documented in the family therapy literature as a triangulation process, whose

effect is especially detrimental for the development of the child (Cummings & Davies,

2010; Feinberg, 2003). Coparenting support and conflict behaviors have different modes

of expression: They are overt when both parents interact with one another in the pres-

ence of the child, or they are covert in the comments—positive or negative—that one

parent makes to the child about the behavior or the personality of the other parent

(McHale, 1997). Both modes are interdependent and they are most often congruent, but

they do not totally overlap (McHale & Rasmussen, 1998): Parents may, for example, be

engaged in hidden conflict, where there are no overt clashes between them, but where

each of them tries covertly to engage the child in a coalition against the other (Min-

uchin, 1974).

Coparenting has been mainly studied in biological parents, be it in intact families

or in postdivorce families. Regarding stepfamilies, studies have focused on the resi-

dent-nonresident parent relationship, with two main aims: first, to assess the psycho-

logical consequences for the child of an enduring postdivorce conflict (Ahrons, 2007;

Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 2002; Maccoby & Mnookin, 1992; Pasley & Garneau,

2012; Pasley & Lee, 2010), and second, to identify the conditions for a successful con-

tinuation of the relationship between the nonresident parent—usually the father—and

the child (Amato & Rezac, 1994; Braver, Griffin, Cookston, Sandler, & Williams, 2005;

Claessens, 2007). Whereas interest has been brought to the stepparent in order to

understand the specificities needed for a successful stepparent–stepchild relationship

(Braithwaite et al., 2010; Dunn, O’Connor, & Cheng, 2005; Ganong, Coleman, Fine, &

Martin, 1999; King, Amato, & Lindstrom, 2015; Vogt Yuan & Hamilton, 2006) , the

coparenting relationship in the new couple unit between the parent and the steppar-

ent has been less considered (see Margolin, Gordis, & John, 2001, for one of the rare

studies in this field). The data available regarding the new couple concern mainly the

marital features of the relationship and the risk factors of dissolution of the new

union, and not coparenting per se (King & Scott, 2005; Whitton, Stanley, Markman, &

Johnson, 2013).

The divorced parent–parent coparental relationship thus seems to most often have been

implicitly considered as the only one that is meaningful for the child. However, the grow-

ing number of studies on the development of relationships in contemporaneous families in

their diverse forms has shown that the coparenting construct may be applied to any and

all adult teams engaged in the daily rearing and education of a child, the parent–steppar-

ent duo being one of these teams in stepfamilies (Ganong & Coleman, 2017; McH ale et al.,

Fam. Proc., Vol. 58, June, 2019

FAVEZ, WIDMER, FRASCAROLO, & DOAN

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