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

Springer Nature
Journal of Child and Family Studies
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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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... 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. ...
Article
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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.
... 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). ...
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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.
... 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. ...
Article
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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.
... 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). ...
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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.
... 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). ...
Article
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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.
... 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. ...
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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). ...
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