Emmi Lindroos, Eija Räikkönen, Kaisa Malinen, Anna K Rönkä
{"title":"Circular causality in daily coparenting processes among first-time parents.","authors":"Emmi Lindroos, Eija Räikkönen, Kaisa Malinen, Anna K Rönkä","doi":"10.1037/fam0001227","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although coparenting has been widely studied, little is known about the daily processes of coparenting between mothers and fathers in early parenthood. Based on family systems theory and the ecological model of coparenting, we investigated new parents' day-to-day within-family processes of cooperative and tensioned coparenting. Mothers and fathers from 144 Finnish first-time couples completed daily mobile diaries for 7 consecutive days when their firstborn was 4-6 months old. The random-intercept cross-lagged panel model showed three types of within-family processes in daily coparenting, which we named continuity, spread, and shift. <i>Continuity</i> in cooperative coparenting occurred when a parent's previous-day cooperative coparenting positively predicted his or her own cooperative coparenting experiences the next day. We also found that coparenting experiences <i>spread</i> from one spouse to another: A parent's cooperative coparenting on the previous day negatively predicted his or her spouse's experiences of tensioned coparenting the following day. Finally, daily coparenting experiences also <i>shifted</i> from day to day: One parent's experience of tensioned coparenting the previous day positively predicted that parent's cooperative coparenting experiences the next day. No gender differences were found. These findings emphasize that the two daily coparenting dimensions seem to operate partly differently in daily life, as cooperative coparenting was slightly more often a cause and consequence in the observed processes than tensioned coparenting. Therefore, it seems that interventions should focus on enhancing cooperative coparenting. Moreover, the new concepts of continuity, spread, and shift are proposed as better descriptions of the three daily processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48381,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Family Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"707-720"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Family Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001227","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/5/16 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"FAMILY STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Although coparenting has been widely studied, little is known about the daily processes of coparenting between mothers and fathers in early parenthood. Based on family systems theory and the ecological model of coparenting, we investigated new parents' day-to-day within-family processes of cooperative and tensioned coparenting. Mothers and fathers from 144 Finnish first-time couples completed daily mobile diaries for 7 consecutive days when their firstborn was 4-6 months old. The random-intercept cross-lagged panel model showed three types of within-family processes in daily coparenting, which we named continuity, spread, and shift. Continuity in cooperative coparenting occurred when a parent's previous-day cooperative coparenting positively predicted his or her own cooperative coparenting experiences the next day. We also found that coparenting experiences spread from one spouse to another: A parent's cooperative coparenting on the previous day negatively predicted his or her spouse's experiences of tensioned coparenting the following day. Finally, daily coparenting experiences also shifted from day to day: One parent's experience of tensioned coparenting the previous day positively predicted that parent's cooperative coparenting experiences the next day. No gender differences were found. These findings emphasize that the two daily coparenting dimensions seem to operate partly differently in daily life, as cooperative coparenting was slightly more often a cause and consequence in the observed processes than tensioned coparenting. Therefore, it seems that interventions should focus on enhancing cooperative coparenting. Moreover, the new concepts of continuity, spread, and shift are proposed as better descriptions of the three daily processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
Journal of Family Psychology offers cutting-edge, groundbreaking, state-of-the-art, and innovative empirical research with real-world applicability in the field of family psychology. This premiere family research journal is devoted to the study of the family system, broadly defined, from multiple perspectives and to the application of psychological methods to advance knowledge related to family research, patterns and processes, and assessment and intervention, as well as to policies relevant to advancing the quality of life for families.