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This study used the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to examine how parents' adult attachment influences their their own and the partners' co-parenting and parent-child relationships. Participants were from a cross-sectional sample of 1313 Chinese heterosexual married couples (fathers' Mage = 39.74, SD = 5.61; mothers' Mage = 37.55, SD = 5.04) whose biological children were pupils (Mage = 10.25, SD = 2.35). Results revealed that: (a) Couple members' actor effects from adult attachment avoidance to positive and negative co-parenting and parent-child closeness and conflict were found both significant; (b) The actor effects from adult attachment anxiety to negative co-parenting and parent-child conflict were found significant, whereas only partner effect from attachment avoidance to positive co-parenting and from attachment anxiety to parent-child conflict were significant. The results highlight the negative effects of parents' attachment avoidance and anxiety on their partners' parenting function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental burnout is overwhelming exhaustion associated with one's parental role. Numerous studies have explored the antecedents of parental burnout, with a deficient focus on its consequences, especially for children's development. This study investigated the interaction effect between two protective factors (i.e., co-parenting and parental psychological flexibility) of parental burnout on subsequent children's mental health through the mediation effect of parental burnout. A total of 262 Chinese mothers (Mage = 35 years old) raising preschoolers participated in a two-wave survey within 1-month interval. Path analysis confirmed the moderated median model. Specifically, parental psychological flexibility (PPF) moderated the mediating effect of parental burnout between co-parenting and children's internalizing and externalizing problems reported by mothers. For mothers with middle or low PPF, high-quality co-parenting was related to low children's externalizing and internalizing problems via low-level parental burnout. While mothers with high PPF were less likely to develop parental burnout and exert a negative impact on children's externalizing and internalizing problems even in face of low-quality co-parenting. Co-parenting and PPF may compensate for each other as the protective factors of parental burnout in mothers and children's internalizing and externalizing problems in China. Highlights: Parental burnout mediates the link between co-parenting and children's internalizing and externalizing problems. The mediating effect mentioned above is significant for mothers with middle or low level of parental psychological flexibility. Strategies to promote fathers' cooperation in parenting and maternal PPF are both needed in reliving maternal parental burnout and children's problems in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co‐parenting, the undertaking of parents working together to raise their children, is well documented as an important consideration of children's adjustment in Western countries, but we know less about the role of co‐parenting in other cultures. In China, for example, co‐parenting has only recently emerged in the social science literature. This study aimed to examine the cultural sensitivity of the CoPAFS instrument among Chinese Mandarin‐speaking parents. CoPAFS is a 27‐item survey designed to assess co‐parenting across married and unmarried family structures originally developed in English. Data were collected from 729 Chinese‐speaking and 348 English‐speaking respondents. Factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the overall model fit for the translated co‐parenting measure was acceptable in Mandarin. However, the five CoPAFS subscales (trust, respect, communication, acrimony, and value) differed across comparison groups, with communication notable for its lack of endorsement among Chinese couples. Implications of measuring co‐parenting within Chinese families are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether the mother's nationality influenced children's school adjustment and whether four dimensions of co-parenting and the mother's parenting self-efficacy mediated the relationship between the mother's nationality and children's school adjustment in Taiwan. Teacher-student relationships and peer relationships were viewed as indicators of school adjustment. We analyzed data from 484 mother-child dyads, which were available from a 2015 project on the association between immigrant mothers' parenting efficacy, co-parenting, and school-aged children's life adjustment using structural equation modeling. Results revealed that Indonesian mothers' offspring had poorer relationships with their teachers than children with mothers from mainland China, but mothers' nationalities did not affect children's relations with peers. With regard to children's relationships with peers and teachers, children whose mothers were from Vietnam scored lower than their counterparts whose mothers were proficient in the Chinese language, but the difference was not significant. Our findings showed that undermining co-parenting and maternal parenting self-efficacy, rather than supportive co-parenting, spousal support, spousal involvement, child's characteristics, and family backgrounds, fully mediated the association between mothers' nationalities and the child's relationship with teachers. Moreover, supportive co-parenting was found to be positively related to mothers' parenting self-efficacy. Highlights: There are differences inteacher-student relationships for children of immigrant mothers from different countries. Co-parenting and maternal parenting self-efficacy explain the adjustment gap between groups. The mediation effects of undermining co-parenting and mothers' parenting self-efficacy are identified. Supporting co-parenting is positively related to maternal parenting self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the positive effects of father involvement on children outcomes, mothers may hold inconsistent attitudes toward father involvement in childcare. Taking mothers' diverse attitudes and behaviours into account, Puhlman and Pasley [(2013). Rethinking maternal gatekeeping. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5(3), 176–193] defined maternal gatekeeping as a multi-dimensional construct which includes control, discouragement as well as encouragement. Following their framework, the current work explored how this father–mother relationship and father–child involvement affected children's development. Analysis of survey data from 214 families in Beijing indicated that (1) mothers' positive gatekeeping behaviours appeared more often than negative ones; (2) fathers involved more in rule teaching and emotional communication than in recreational activities and daily caring; (3) mothers' encouraging and discouraging behaviours were significantly correlated with father involvement; (4) maternal gatekeeping could influence children's social emotional development through the mediating effect of father involvement. The findings suggest the importance of co-parenting in dual-earner families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationships of parents' and children's sibling status to parenting and co-parenting in Shanghai, China. Parents of 652 children (mean age = 61.55 months) from 12 preschools completed the questionnaire. The fathers and mothers provided demographic information and responded to items that assessed parenting style and perceived co-parenting. The results found that, in two-child families, mothers without siblings reported more authoritative parenting styles and less authoritarian parenting styles than mothers with siblings. Co-parenting positively related to authoritative parenting style and negatively related to authoritarian parenting style for both parents and regardless of parents' and children's sibling status. The results support the resource dilution model for Chinese families, emphasize the importance of sibling status on parenting and co-parenting, clarify gender differences, and add to the emerging discourse on China's changing population policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Limited research has investigated how parenting stress may play a role in sibling relationships. Little is known about co-parenting in buffering against the role of parenting stress on sibling relationships. This study examined these links in a Chinese contest. Methods: A sample of 167 two-child Chinese families were recruited to attend this study. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing parenting stress, co-parenting, parental warmth, and the quality of their children's sibling relationships. Results: Mothers' parenting stress was indirectly associated with positive sibling relationships through the role of maternal warmth. In addition, mothers' parenting stress interacted with their perception of co-parenting to play a role in maternal warmth. Conclusions: These findings provide useful information about the pathway through which mothers' parenting stress influences sibling relationships. In identifying the moderating role of co-parenting on the mediating process of parenting behaviors, we encourage fathers to support the mothers' role in caring for two children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a link between co-parenting conflict and academic performance is frequently assumed, studies on this association have shown inconsistent results. In addition, academic engagement and depression can potentially mediate the association between co-parenting conflict and academic performance. However, studies have not tested this proposition. This paper examined the direct effect of co-parenting conflict on adolescent academic performance and the mediating effect of academic engagement and depression. Using data from a nationally representative survey, the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we constructed a sample of 1989 dyads of adolescents (aged 10 to 15) and their primary caregivers in China. The structural equation model analysis revealed that co-parenting conflict was not directly linked with academic performance but was indirectly associated with adolescent academic performance through academic engagement and depression. The findings provide empirical support that academic engagement and depression play important mediating roles in the relationship between co-parenting conflict and adolescent academic performance. Future intervention programs aimed at promoting adolescent academic performance may consider a family-oriented approach to identify adolescents from families with co-parenting conflict and provide them with professional support.

• The role of fathers' perception in co-parenting have been commonly ignored. • This study examines the effects of Co-parenting under fathers' perception on adolescent emotion regulation. • The co-parenting subsystem and the spouse subsystem act together on the adolescent emotion regulation. This study constructed a moderated mediation model, focusing on the role of family functioning and marital satisfaction, to clarify the mechanism between co-parenting and children's emotion regulation in China. A total of 646 valid questionnaires were retained which were filled out by fathers, and their children came from 12 primary and secondary schools in China (M = 12.30, SD = 1.11). Data were collected and analyzed with SPSS 23.0 and SPSS PROCESS written by Hayes. Results revealed that: (1) Co-parenting relationship is positively related to children emotion regulation; (2) Family functioning partially mediates this association; (3) Marital satisfaction respectively moderates the effect of co-parenting relationship on family functioning and family functioning on children's emotion regulation. When marital satisfaction is low, co-parenting has a stronger positive effect on family functioning, and when marital satisfaction is higher, family functioning has a stronger positive effect on children's emotion regulation. Certain implications can be provided for guiding parents in properly cultivating the ability of children emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]