The Roles of Coparenting and Parental Anxiety/Depression in Child Behavior Problems: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

Background: A considerable amount of research has suggested significant associations among perceived coparenting relationships, parental anxiety/depression, and children's adjustment. However, previous studies of coparenting often obtained reports only from mothers or ignored the differences in mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of coparenting. Moreover, mothers and fathers have mutual influences on each other, and both parents contribute to children’s development. Nevertheless, the interdependence between family members was often not appropriately or fully modeled. Finally, mothers and fathers might not function in the same way in the family system. The similarities and differences between the roles and functioning of mothers and fathers in family systems might not be fully understood without controlling the effects of each other. To address the limitations, we applied the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) and accounted for the interdependence between fathers and mothers in examining the mediating role of parental anxiety/depression in the association between coparenting quality and child behavior problems.

Method: Data were from the Supporting Healthy Marriage project, a large-scale multi-site relationship and marriage education program for low-income married couples. This study used 1,827 families with children under 4 years old at the 30-month follow-up survey. Coparenting relationship quality was measured by set of six items was used to measure parents’ perceptions at the 12-month follow-up study. Children’s Behavior Problems was measured by a list of statements about children’s behavior problems at the 30-month follow-up study. Parents’ anxiety/depression was measured by six items adapted from the K6 Mental Health Screening Tool at the 30-month follow-up study. We employed the Mplus 8.3 to conduct the measurement model and then the APIM using latent variables.

Result: The results showed that the effects of the perceived coparenting quality of the father and mother significantly predicted their own anxiety/depression symptoms (-.216; SE = .039 and -.184; SE = .038, respectively). The effects of the perceived coparenting quality of the father and mother on the father's anxiety/depression were both significant (-.216; SE = .039 and -.184; SE = .038, respectively), and not statistically different from each other. Conversely, the mother's anxiety/depression was affected only by only the perceived coparenting quality of themselves (-.254; SE = .036), not of the father. Lastly, the effects of the perceived coparenting of the parents on the internalizing/externalizing behavior problems of a focal child were mediated by parental the anxiety/depression of the parents.

Conclusion: By utilizing SHM data, this study enhances the comprehension of coparenting by incorporating the perceptions of low-income married parents. This study integrates the dyadic interdependence between fathers and mothers into the model. Moreover, this study provides clearer insight into the effects of fathers' or mothers' coparenting and mental health on children's development. In terms of research, the current study speaks to the interrelatedness of family subsystems and family members. For practitioners and policymakers, our findings highlight the importance of coparenting in low-income married parents. In addition, the current study suggests that coparenting is an important context to consider in supporting the mental health of family members.