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Assessing Coparenting Relationships in Daily Life: The Daily Coparenting Scale (D-Cop)

Springer Nature
Journal of Child and Family Studies
Authors:
Brandon T McDaniel at Parkview Health
Brandon T McDaniel
Douglas M Teti
Douglas M Teti
Douglas M Teti
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Mark Ethan Feinberg at Pennsylvania State University
Mark Ethan Feinberg
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We describe the development and validation of the Daily Coparenting Scale (D-Cop), a measure of parents’ perceptions of daily coparenting quality, to address the absence of such a daily measure in the field. A daily measure of coparenting can help us to better identify specific mechanisms of short-term change in family processes as well as examine within-person variability and processes as they are lived by participants in their everyday lives. Mothers and fathers, from 174 families with at least one child age 5 or younger, completed a 14-day diary study. Utilizing multilevel factor analysis, we identified two daily coparenting factors at both the between- and within-person level: positive and negative daily coparenting. The reliabilities of the overall D-Cop and individual positive and negative subscales were good, and we found that parents’ reports of coparenting quality fluctuated on a daily basis. Also, we established the initial validity of the D-Cop, as scores related as expected to (a) an existing and already validated measure of coparenting and to (b) couple relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and child behavior problems. Further, fluctuations in daily couple relationship feelings related to fluctuations in daily coparenting quality. The D-Cop and its subscales functioned almost identically when only utilizing 7 days of data instead of 14 days. We call for future work to study day-by-day fluctuations and dynamics of coparenting to better illuminate family processes that lead to child and family outcomes in order to improve the efficacy of family interventions.
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Supplementary resource (1)

The Daily Coparenting Scale (D-Cop)
Data
May 2017
Brandon T McDaniel · Douglas M Teti · Mark Ethan Feinberg
... Despite the moderate rank-order stability in coparenting over longer time spans (Feinberg et al., 2012;Le et al., 2016;Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2004), studies on daily coparenting have shown considerable fluctuation in parents' reports of coparenting (e.g., McDaniel et al., 2017) in response to everyday experiences, such as hassles in child-rearing, interparental disagreements, and other such stressors. However, coparenting has rarely been studied on a day-to-day level. ...
... The few existing studies provide somewhat limited insights into the phenomenon, as they have investigated daily coparenting either as a one-dimensional construct (McDaniel et al., 2018;Nelson & Holub, 2022) or measured it with only one item (Le et al., 2019(Le et al., , 2022. However, McDaniel et al. (2017) suggested, based on Feinberg's (2003) coparenting theory, that as a daily phenomenon, coparenting consists of two interrelated dimensions, originally labelled as "positive" and "negative" coparenting. The model of daily coparenting (McDaniel et al., 2017) contains fewer dimensions than the original coparenting theory (Feinberg, 2003), as on average some negative coparenting behaviors, such as conflict and undermining, seem to occur relatively rarely (Feinberg et al., 2012) and therefore cannot be measured on a daily level in a valid way. ...
... However, McDaniel et al. (2017) suggested, based on Feinberg's (2003) coparenting theory, that as a daily phenomenon, coparenting consists of two interrelated dimensions, originally labelled as "positive" and "negative" coparenting. The model of daily coparenting (McDaniel et al., 2017) contains fewer dimensions than the original coparenting theory (Feinberg, 2003), as on average some negative coparenting behaviors, such as conflict and undermining, seem to occur relatively rarely (Feinberg et al., 2012) and therefore cannot be measured on a daily level in a valid way. In this study, we adopt the two-dimensional conceptualization of daily coparenting proposed by McDaniel et al. ...
Circular Causality in Daily Coparenting Processes Among First-Time Parents
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2024
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.
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... A study with Portuguese mothers also provided evidence of satisfactory convergent, construct, and discriminant validity (Lamela et al., 2018). Furthermore, the measure has previously been adapted to specific populations (e.g., pre-natal fathers; Pinto et al., 2019) and into a daily measure of coparenting (Daily Coparenting Scale;McDaniel et al., 2017). Given the psychometric properties demonstrated by the CRS, the measure provides a framework that can be modified to focus on coparenting children's emotions. ...
... Items were averaged to create a global index score of coparenting quality as well as index scores for seven subscales: agreement, closeness, exposure to conflict, support, undermining, endorsement of partner's parenting, and division of labor. Overall positive coparenting (averaging items from agreement, closeness, support, endorsement of partner's parenting, and division of labor) and negative coparenting (averaging items from exposure to conflict and undermining) subscales were also generated (e.g., McDaniel et al., 2017). ...
Development and psychometric evaluation of a new domain-specific coparenting measure: Coparenting Children's Emotion Scale
Article
  • Aug 2024
  • FAM PROCESS
Caregivers play an integral role in supporting children's development, not only through their individual parenting practices but also how they work together as coparents. The literature on coparenting is extensive; however, most of the research has relied on global measures to assess the quality and functioning of the coparenting relationship. Examining the coparenting relationship with domain‐specific measures enables a deeper understanding of this complex family process. One domain of particular interest is emotion socialization given the vast and long‐term consequences emotion socialization has on children's emotional, social, behavioral, and psychological functioning. Emotion socialization literature would benefit from a domain‐specific coparenting measure, as researchers have rarely explored how coparents work together when responding to their children's emotions (i.e., coparenting children's emotions). As such, an emotion‐focused coparenting measure could address gaps in both coparenting and emotion socialization literature. This study outlines the development and psychometric evaluation of a domain‐specific measure of coparenting, the Coparenting Children's Emotion Scale (CCES), which assesses how parents work together when responding to their children's emotions. In the current study, the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the CCES were examined in an Australian sample. Findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the CCES comprises two subscales that capture coparents' levels of support/cooperation and undermining. In the current sample, both CCES subscales demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency, and good convergent and concurrent validity. The CCES will provide researchers and practitioners with a domain‐specific measure to use in exploratory and intervention research.
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... Our data and CFA results suggest that the brief version (B-CRS-HU) and the six separate subscales are suitable for use; however, the full CRS-HU scale as a single factor showed a low fit and should be treated with caution despite its good internal consistency. Positive correlations between the Hungarian versions of CRS, D-COP, and ECS indicate convergent (congruent) validity, which is consistent with previous results (McDaniel et al., 2017). A methodological and practical issue concerns the way the scale scores are calculated. ...
Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS): Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Hungarian Version
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2025
Introduction: This study aims to investigate the validity and psychometric properties of the Hungarian version of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS-HU), a measurement designed to assess different dimensions of coparenting. Only a few validation studies can be found, even though CRS is a widely used measurement. Methods: Currently, no assessment instruments exist in Hungarian that measure coparenting relationships and practices; therefore, we adapted CRS and designed a validation study to investigate mothers’ coparenting characteristics (N = 381). We checked the construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), then to assess convergent and discriminant validity, we examined correlations between the coparenting questionnaire factors and other similar constructs. We also examined the relationship between CRS-HU and different background variables using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: Our main results showed that the internal consistency in the Hungarian version of CRS and its subscales is good or excellent (Cronbach’s apha = .75–.89). The seven-factor structure had a poor model fit in CFA, however, the brief version of the CRS-HU (RMSEA = .057; CFI = .962) and six subscales separately (RMSEA = .031–.066; CFI = .978–.999) demonstrated a good model fit. Conclusions: The brief version of Hungarian CRS and the different subscales are valid and feasible measures for assessing coparenting and its dimensions. Thus, CRS can be effectively used at last in our culture, as well.
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... Fourth, due to the online nature of the study and the tender ages of the children, we relied on parents' reports to assess all constructs. To avoid the exclusive reliance on parental report, which may create issues of common method variance, future studies with children in this age range should ideally incorporate observations of sibling and parentchild interactions, which will take into consideration the natural interactions that occur in daily life (McDaniel et al., 2017). ...
Raising siblings is stressful: Measuring parental emotion regulation in the sibling context
Article
Full-text available
Parents’ ability to manage intense emotions in the face of conflictual sibling interactions is a significant challenge that has been linked with various child and parent outcomes. With existing instruments focused on raising a single child, we lack validated instruments to assess dimensions of parental emotion regulation in the context of rearing siblings. We tested the factor structure, reliability, divergent and concurrent criterion validity of a new instrument designed to measure parental emotion regulation ( Parental Emotional Regulation in the Sibling Context Questionnaire) while raising two or more children. Participants, 359 mothers from 35 countries, with two children aged 4- to 8-years, completed the new instrument along with established measures of parental emotion regulation, sibling relationship quality, and children’s emotion regulation. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the utility of the instrument in reliably assessing dimensions of parent emotional regulation (Reactivity and Dysregulation). Evidence for divergent validity stemmed from associations with an established measure of general emotion regulation strategies and evidence for concurrent criterion validity stemmed from associations with children’s sibling relationship quality. Findings have implications for the reliable identification of mothers who are facing emotion regulation difficulties, the design of customized intervention strategies, and the evaluation of prevention and intervention programs.
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... The coparenting relationship has been linked to the triadic coparenting family system, contributing to parental adjustment, parenting, and child outcomes (Kotila & Schoppe-Sullivan, 2015). It has been shown that the coparental relationship can be considered a family resource (McDaniel et al., 2017). Coparenting, where partners support each other, affects the well-being of the child and both parents and protects parents from parenting-related stress (Durtschi et al., 2017). ...
Learning and Developmental Pathways in Early Coparenting Among Finnish First-Time Parental Couples’
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2024
  • J ADULT DEV
Since the learning and developmental processes of adults have rarely been studied in the context of coparenting, this study seeks to deepen our understanding of early coparenting development by examining longitudinal qualitative multimethod data. The data of Finnish 30 opposite-sex two-parent families were collected during three different phases: the third trimester of pregnancy with individual interviews, 4–6 months postnatal by a survey and diary method, and 18 months postnatal through individual interviews. The longitudinal analysis combined initial cross-sectional thematic analysis and longitudinal analysis. The results showed that early coparenting develops among new parental couples through the merging of simultaneous individual and interrelational processes. Early coparenting involves several adult learning processes and turning points. Four developmental pathways illustrating the couples’ journeys were identified: (a) equal and supportive coparenting, (b) from differential adaptation to smooth coparenting, (c) from the mother’s primacy to a communicating team, and (d) a challenging coparenting rollercoaster. These pathways vary from a smooth and linear growth curve to a variable and tense process that takes time and patience. In all, the results indicate that first-time parents (either as couples or partners) can be at different points in adapting to a new life stage and growing into parenthood, which may complicate the development of coparenting.
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... Co-parenting Experience We used the Daily Co-parenting Scale (D-cop) developed by McDaniel et al. (2017) to measure co-parenting behavior. It should be noted that the identities of all participants in this study were restricted to married individuals who co-parent their children and live together. ...
Being a Parent Helps Being a Benevolent Leader: A Mixed-Method Approach
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2024
  • J BUS ETHICS
Benevolent leadership as a typical human-centered leadership pattern has been constantly advocated but often sacrificed to the prevailing performanceism in today’s organizations. However, it still remains unclear on how to effectively facilitate the emergence of benevolent behavior for leaders, which would potentially hinder the adoption of benevolent leadership and its attainment of high priority. In the current research, we go beyond the workplace to explore one deliberate way leaders can bring family resources into their leadership practice to emerge more benevolent behaviors at work. From the experience-based leadership development perspective, supported by the theory of role accumulation across domains, we take a mixed-method approach to uncover the effect of positive parenting experience on benevolent leadership behavior via parent-leader role enrichment. In Study 1, we conduct a qualitative analysis based on the text content and interview provided by parent-role leaders to preliminarily reveal that being a parent makes a leader perform more behaviors with benevolent nature. In Study 2, we draw from the benefits of being a parent generated in Study 1 and the cross-role accumulation perspective to develop a theoretical model to delineate how the positive parenting experience yields benefits for benevolent leadership behavior. Results show that positive parenting experience can benefit parent-role leaders’ benevolent leadership behavior via perspective-taking ability. Meanwhile, both the positive parenting experience’s direct effect on perspective taking and its indirect effect on benevolent leadership behavior are stronger for individuals involved in high-quality co-parenting with their spouse, highlighting the important collaboration effects in the process of achieving parent-to-leader enrichment across domains.
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... In many other countries, the scale is utilized following translation alone. Additionally, the CRS serves as a foundational tool for the development of other measures, facilitating the examination of coparenting dynamics in specific contexts, such as the Daily Coparenting Scale (McDaniel et al., 2017) and the Feeding Coparenting Scale (Tan et al., 2019). ...
Polish Adaptation of the Coparenting Relationship Scale
Article
Full-text available
The Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) is a 35-item self-report measure used to assess subjective evaluation of the relationship between parents. Developed and applied in the United States, it was translated and adapted in other countries. The article presents a Polish adaptation of the CRS. The study included 802 respondents (514 mothers, 288 fathers). In comparison to the original 7-factor structure of the original CRS, in our case, we excluded the division of labor factor and achieved satisfactory goodness-of-fit criteria upon the inclusion of the method factor with reverse-worded (RW) items. We also attempted to test measurement invariance by gender and across two cultural contexts: comparing with the USA and Switzerland. In all cases, at least scalar invariance was achieved, allowing for comparisons between the mentioned groups. We also verified construct validity, which allowed us to demonstrate convergent validity when the CRS was correlated with the Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale and Parental Distress Scale, as well as discriminant validity when the CRS was correlated with the Lie Scale from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised. The results of statistical analyses show that the Polish CRS is a valid and reliable measure of the coparenting relationship.
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Daily Coparenting Quality Is a Key Mediator Between Daily Couple Relationship and Individual Parenting Quality
Poster
Full-text available
  • Nov 2024
Past studies have provided evidence supporting how the coparenting relationship functions as a causal risk mechanism explaining the association between couple relationship quality and parenting practices both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. While scholars have argued that the coparenting relationship fluctuates daily, less is known about how the coparenting relationship mediates the effect of the association between the couple relationship and parenting practices on a day-to-day basis. Drawing on the daily diary data from 68 couples (717 person-days), we explore how daily coparenting relationship quality mediates the association between daily intimate couple relationship quality and parenting practices on the same day. Using within-couple mediation models, we found that the daily coparenting relationship fully mediates the association between the daily intimate couple relationship quality and daily individual parenting practices. The findings contribute to the potential benefits of employing coparenting relationship quality in interventions or preventions.
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The association between marital satisfaction and perceived coparenting in infancy: A longitudinal dyadic approach
Article
  • Nov 2024
Healthy marital relationships and coparenting are vital elements of a well‐functioning family, serving as the foundation for promoting optimal child development. By analyzing four waves of dyadic data collected from 236 Chinese parents during the early years of their child's life, our study sought to (a) examine the links between marital satisfaction and coparenting and (b) explore the actor and partner effects between fathers and mothers by constructing corresponding time‐averaged and time‐specific components of these two variables. Our study revealed that there might be bidirectional associations between marital satisfaction and coparenting. Furthermore, we found that fathers and mothers influence each other in terms of their marital satisfaction and coparenting, both at the average level over time and to some extent at specific time points. This highlights the need for interventions and support programs that address both marital satisfaction and coparenting, as improving one aspect can potentially have a positive impact on the other.
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The Ups and Downs of Dating: Fluctuations in Satisfaction in Newly Formed Romantic Relationships
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2001
This research examined the association between relationship satisfaction and later breakup status, focusing on the temporal changes in satisfaction ratings of individuals in newly formed dating relationships. Growth curve analytic techniques were used in 2 longitudinal studies to create 4 predictors: each participant's initial level of satisfaction, linear trend in satisfaction over time, degree of fluctuation in satisfaction over time, and mean level of satisfaction. Consistent with hypotheses, individuals who exhibited greater fluctuation in their repeated satisfaction ratings were more likely to be in relationships that eventually ended, even after controlling for overall level of satisfaction. Individuals with fluctuating levels of satisfaction also reported relatively lower commitment. The results are discussed in terms of conditions that promote versus undermine relationship stability.
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Remember that? A comparison of real-time versus retrospective recall of smoking lapses.
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  • Apr 1997
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  • Jan 2008
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Psychometric properties of microlongitudinal assessments: Between- and within-person reliability, factor structure, and discriminant validity of daily cognitive interference
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  • Jan 2014
Establishing the psychometric properties of self-reported scales and constructs is vital to social and behavior sciences. This task is more challenging for researchers interested in withinperson variability. The psychometric qualities of within-person variability require statistical approaches that differ from traditional between-person approaches. This chapter provides a description and tutorial on how to assess the reliability, factor structure, and discriminant validity of a construct simultaneously at the between-and within-person levels of variability using the example of daily cognitive interference.
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Book
  • Oct 2018
This special edition of the classic text includes a new introduction from Professor Arlene Vetere exploring its continuing influence on contemporary practice. One of family therapy's foundational texts, Families and Family Therapy is as relevant today as it has ever been. Examining the therapist's role, Dr. Minuchin presents the views and strategies of a master clinician in a clear and practical form. Transcripts of actual family sessions-both with families meeting their problems fairly successfully and those seeking help-are accompanied by a running interpretation of what is taking place. The book constructs a model of an effectively functioning family and defining the boundaries around its different subsystems, whether parental, spouse, or sibling. It then explores the ways in which families adapt to stress from within and without, as they seek to survive and grow. Combining vivid clinical examples, specific details of technique, and mature perspectives on both effectively functioning families and those seeking therapy, this is an important text for all those interesting in the theory and practice of family therapy. This book can be used on courses such as Family Therapy, Family Interventions, Systemic Practice, and Systemic Counselling within departments of Psychology, Mental Health, and Counselling; and by undergraduate students on Social Work qualifying courses. Salvador Minuchin is a renowned and influential child psychiatrist and family therapist, most famous for developing Structural Family Therapy, a method of psychotherapy which addresses problems in functioning within a family.
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Coparenting: A link between marital conflict and parenting in two-parent families.
Article
  • Mar 2001
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