A Dyadic Approach to Understanding Coparenting Relationships

Background & Purpose:
The quality of coparenting relationships plays a key role in paternal involvement and overall family well-being. The Coparenting Across Family Structures Scale (CoPAFS) was developed to be applicable across various demographics, family structures, and cultural contexts. CoPAFS measures five constructs: value, respect, animosity, communication, and trust. It has been translated and used globally with diverse populations. Prior research using CoPAFS has typically relied on individual-level data. This study is distinct in its use of dyadic data, drawing from both co-parenting partners as part of a broader intervention study with low-income co-parents raising a young child (ages birth to 12 years) in disadvantaged, multi-racial communities in Oklahoma City, USA.

Using data from both members of each dyad, this study aimed to assess how each partner’s perceptions of coparenting factors are related to their own and their partner’s overall coparenting experience. The goal was to explore both mutuality and divergence in coparenting perspectives using a dyadic framework.

Methods & Procedures:
Participants were recruited through local media, outreach efforts, and community-based referrals (e.g., clinics, schools, libraries, parole offices, and public events). The final sample included 528 individuals (264 dyads) in stable romantic relationships, most of whom lived together. The sample was predominantly BIPOC (35% Black, 32% White, 18% Mixed Race). Nearly 40% of fathers were unemployed, and the average annual income across participants was $10,500. Only baseline, pre-intervention data were analyzed. The CoPAFS, comprising 27 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, was used to assess coparenting quality across the five factors.

Data Analysis & Results: Analyses employed the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) within a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework.Significant actor effects emerged across all five CoPAFS constructs—for example, participants’ own scores on respect (b = 4.53, p < .001) were strongly associated with their total CoPAFS score. Partner effects were more selective: significant for trust (b = 0.17, p = .019) and value (b = 0.42, p = .020), indicating that one parent’s trust or valuing of their partner was associated with the partner reporting higher overall coparenting quality. Gender-specific analyses confirmed consistent actor effects across all five constructs. However, patterns of partner effects varied: mothers’ trust and valuing of the father were associated with higher paternal CoPAFS scores, while fathers’ respect toward mothers was linked to maternal scores. R-squared values showed that trust best predicted mothers’ coparenting quality (74.6%), while animosity was the strongest predictor for fathers (74.1%).

Implications & Conclusions: These findings highlight that a parent’s own perception of the coparenting relationship—particularly feelings of animosity—has a stronger influence on their overall experience than their partner’s perceptions. This suggests that improving coparenting quality may require more than encouraging mutual cooperation; it involves addressing internalized experiences of trust, value, and respect. Interventions may be most effective when they account for gender-specific dynamics and actively foster mutual trust and respect in coparenting relationships.