Perceptions of Coparenting in Foster Care

• Published in: Family process 2010-12, Vol.49 (4), p.530-542
• Main Authors: LINARES, LOURDES ORIANA, RHODES, JENNIFER, MONTALTO, DANIELA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Behavioral Research; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Behavior - psychology; Child Care Services; Child clinical studies; Child Problems; Child Rearing - psychology; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Communication; Conflict (Psychology); Conflict Resolution; Coparenting; Empathy - ethics; Families & family life; Family - psychology; Family environment. Family history; Female; Foster Care; Foster Home Care - ethics; Foster Home Care - psychology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Parent-Child Relations; Parents & parenting; Personality Development; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Self Report; Social behavior disorders; Social Perception; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Studies; Surrogate Parents
• ISSN: 0014-7370; 1545-5300
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01338.x

All s are available in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese on Wiley Online Library (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1545‐5300). Please pass this information on to your international colleagues and students. Although literature supports the association between harmonious coparenting practices and lowered child problems, little is known about coparenting influences among family constellations in the foster care system. Via a compilation of a new coparenting practices measure, we examined similarities and differences on foster parent‐derived perceptions of support/flexibility, shared communication, conflict/triangulation, and total coparenting between foster and biological parents and their independent contribution to child internalizing and externalizing problems. Self‐reports were gathered from foster parents (N=80) in 2 groups: kin and nonkin. As compared with nonkin, kin foster parents reported higher perceived support/flexibility, shared communication, and total coparenting. A tendency for higher conflict/triangulation among kin foster parents was also found. After considering foster parent group, psychological distress, and harsh discipline, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceived total coparenting and conflict/triangulation contributed to child internalizing and externalizing problems. Results support the linkage between perceptions of coparenting and child problems among caregivers (foster and biological alike) in kin and nonkin arrangements and highlight training in coparenting in general, and conflict management in particular, as an important intervention focus to reduce the high level of child problems in this vulnerable population. RESUMEN Aunque existe documentación que respalda la asociación entre prácticas armoniosas de cocrianza y menos problemas en los niños, se sabe muy poco sobre las influencias de la cocrianza entre constelaciones de familias en el sistema de cuidado tutelar. Mediante la recopilación de una nueva escala de prácticas de cocrianza, estudiamos las similitudes y diferencias de las percepciones derivadas de los padres sustitutos con respecto a apoyo/flexibilidad, comunicación compartida, conflicto/triangulación, y crianza total entre padres sustitutos y biológicos, y su contribución independiente a problemas internalizadores y externalizadores en los niños. Se reunieron autoinformes de padres sustitutos (N=80) en dos grupos: emparentados y no emparentados. Comparados con los padres sustitutos no e