Journal of Family Psychology

2001, Vol. 15, No. 1, 3-21

Copyright 2001 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

0893-3200/01/35.00
DOI: 1O.1O37//0893-32O0.15.1.3

Coparenting: A Link Between Marital Conflict and

Parenting in Two-Parent Families
Gayla Margolin, Elana B. Gordis, and Richard S. John

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University of Southern California

Coparenting is examined as an explanatory link between marital conflict and
parent-child relations in 2-parent families. Data were collected from 3 samples
(pilot sample, n = 220 mothers; preadolescent sample, n = 75 couples; preschool
sample, n = 172 couples) by using the Coparenting Questionnaire (G. Margolin,
1992b) to assess parents' perceptions of one another on 3 dimensions
cooperation, triangulation, and conflict. Main effects for child's age and for parents'
gender were found for cooperation, and an interaction between parent and child
gender was found for triangulation. Regression analyses were consistent with a
model of coparenting mediating the relationship between marital conflict and
parenting. Discussion addresses the theoretical and clinical importance of viewing
coparenting as conceptually separate from other family processes.

Coparenting may be the most daunting yet

significant experience that two adults share. It is
through this relationship that parents negotiate
their respective roles, responsibilities, and contributions to their children. This relationship is
characterized by the extent to which parents
either support or undermine one another's parenting efforts. When parents divorce, the coparenting relationship often is the only arena in

which the parents continue to relate. According

to Aydintug (1995), parents are "expected to
discuss children, to reach major child-related
decisions together, to keep to themselves what
happened between them, not to share private
matters with (especially younger) children, not
to badmouth each other, not to fight in front of
the children, not to manipulate children to obtain favors from the former spouse" (p. 152).
The coparenting relationship has been identified
as an important key to understanding children's
Gayla Margolin, Elana B. Gordis, and Richard S. immediate reactions to divorce and their wellJohn, Department of Psychology, University of being following divorce (Buchanan, Maccoby,
& Dornbusch, 1991; Dozier, Sollie, Stack, &
Southern California.
Preparation of the manuscript was supported by Smith, 1993; Garrity & Baris, 1994; Maccoby,
National Institute of Mental Health Grants 1 RO1 Depner, & Mnookin, 1990).
36595 and 10947.
Although coparenting has played a less
Earlier versions of these data were presented at the prominent role in theories about two-parent
University of Washington Conference on "Toward a
Common Definition of a Successful Couple: Criteria families as contrasted with postdivorce families,
for Evaluating Couple Interventions," Seattle, De- this relationship surely deserves attention in uncember 1997, and at the 4th International Conference derstanding influences within the family syson Children Exposed to Family Violence, San Diego, tem. When parents reside together, as opposed
October 1998.
to separately, additional arenas exist for effecWe wish to thank Leslie Morland, Betsy Morris, tive coparenting, such as assisting each other
Victoria Van Wie, and our University of Southern with parenting responsibilities, lending support
California Family Studies Center colleagues for their
to the other's authority, and conveying an atassistance in collecting these data.
Correspondence concerning this article should be mosphere of mutual respect and affection. As
addressed to Gayla Margolin, Department of Psy- suggested by Belsky, Crnic, and Gable (1995),
chology, SGM 930, University of Southern Califor- coparenting may help to unravel the connecnia, Los Angeles, California 90089-1061. Electronic tions between marriage, parenting, and child
mail may be sent to margolin@ref.usc.edu.
adjustment. In this study we examined whether

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MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

coparenting mediates the association between
the marital relationship and parent-child relations. We explored a mediating effect for two
dimensions of parenting: overall parenting
stress and specific caretaking behaviors. In addition, in this investigation we introduced a
questionnaire for assessing spouses' coparenting from the perspective of each spouse, and we
examined whether dimensions of coparenting
vary as a function of parents' gender, child's
gender, and age of child.
Increasing attention is being paid to the ways
that relationships affect one another within the
overall family unit (Hinde & Stevenson-Hinde,
1988; Margolin, Christensen, & John, 1996;
Parke, 1993), with particular attention being
paid to the association between marital relations
and parent-child relations. Family systems literature highlights the link between marital adjustment and parenting, and several reviews
(Easterbrooks & Emde, 1988; Engfer, 1988)
have supported the hypothesis that marital quality is associated with parenting quality. Erel and
Burman's (1995) meta-analysis of 68 studies
portrayed a spill-over, or transfer, of mood,
affect, and interactional style from the marital
relationship to parent-child relationships. Although effects from parenting to the marriage
are not ruled out, most theories point to ways
that the marital relationship has a positive or a
negative effect on parenting (e.g., Belsky, 1984;
Christensen & Margolin, 1988; Easterbrooks &
Emde, 1988; Engfer, 1988). Little is known
about the mechanisms underlying this association. We suggest here that the coparenting alliance, or how spouses relate around issues and
functions of parenting, may mediate the association between marital and parent-child relationships. That is, coparenting may be a link
that explains the relation between marital functioning and parenting. Specifically, conflict in
the marriage may spill over and be reflected in
the coparenting relationship, which, in turn, affects the level of efficacy and the amount of
stress experienced in the parenting relationship.
Coparenting is not simply one dimension of
the marital relationship, but conceptually plays
a distinct role in the family system. According
to Gable, Belsky, and Crnic (1992), coparenting
is a dimension characterizing the family system,
not just a dyadic system. A major difference
between coparenting and marital relationships
is that effective coparenting is motivated by

concern for the welfare of the child, whereas a

strong marital relationship is motivated by concern for the welfare of the partner, for oneself,
or for the two-person marital relationship. Certainly feelings toward the spouse are likely to
influence the coparenting relationship such that
good marital relations are reflected in positive
coparenting and bad marital relations are reflected in negative coparenting. However, conceptual and clinical perspectives would suggest
the possibility of differentiation between the
marriage and coparenting, particularly for conflictual couples and their children. Some conflictual couples, motivated by a desire to protect
their children from repeated exposure to interparental conflict, collaborate in child rearing
regardless of their strong feelings of disdain and
animosity toward one another. Thus, despite
anticipated overlap between the marriage and
coparenting, the potential for separation between these two constructs is relevant for understanding the impact of marital conflict on
parenting. To the extent that marital conflict and
coparenting are distinct, coparenting may help
explain the association between marital conflict
and parenting. Coparenting is a likely intervening variable because the collaboration between
spouses specifically with regard to parenting
may influence the way parents interact with
their children and the parenting stress they
experience.
Coparenting is also different from what frequently is referred to as marital conflict about
child-related topics. Considerable evidence exists that marital conflict about child-related topics is more salient for children than is general
marital conflict (Grych & Fincham, 1993;
Jouriles et al., 1991; Mahoney, Jouriles, &
Scavone, 1997). Coparenting conflict, however,
not only encompasses conflict about the children or even overt marital conflict observed by
children, but also encompasses spouses' undermining of one another's parenting efforts. Although the coparenting relationship frequently
is reflected in dyadic processes between the two
parents, it may also be demonstrated in the way
one parent talks about the other parent to the
child. One parent may support or sabotage the
other parent regardless of whether the second
parent is present. As such, indexes of general
marital conflict, overt marital conflict that the
child observes, or even child-specific marital

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COPARENTING, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, AND PARENTING

conflict do not fully capture the coparenting
construct.
Similarly, sensitive coparenting goes beyond
good parenting. Cowan and McHale (1996)
stated that coparenting "is uniquely characterized by the parents' connection as parents (a
connection that endures even if the marriage
does not). A well-functioning coparental relationship accomplishes parenting tasks but also
conveys to the child a sense of solidarity and
common purpose" (p. 99). Thus, a parent may
display excellent child management skills and a
high level of emotional responsiveness to a
child but still be disparaging of the other partner
to the child. Measurements of parenting, which
generally focus on discipline style, emotional
attunement, and specific caretaking behaviors
typically do not assess the coparenting dimension of family relations.
On the basis of our reading of the coparenting
literature regarding divorced families as well as
two-parent families, we chose to highlight three
general dimensions of coparenting. One dimension is the amount of conflict between parents
surrounding parenting issues, specifically in
terms of how often the parents argue or disagree
about the child, how much hostility there is
surrounding child-rearing issues, how much
each parent undermines the other's parenting,
and how much they disagree about overall standards and household rules (Gable et al., 1992;
Maccoby, Buchanan, Mnookin, & Dornbusch,
1993). A second dimension, cooperation, is the
extent to which mothers and fathers support,
value, and respect each other as parents and the
degree to which they ease one another's parenting burden (Frank, Hole, Jacobson, Justkowski,
& Huyck, 1986; Weissman & Cohen, 1985).
Cooperation reflects a shared sense of the responsibilities of parenting and assurance that
the partner is physically and emotionally available to the child. Belsky and colleagues (Belsky, 1984; Belsky & Volling, 1986) have suggested that the instrumental and emotional
support that spouses provide for each other may
be a key factor in effective parenting.
The third coparenting dimension, triangulation, reflects the extent to which parents distort
parent-child boundaries by attempting to form
a coalition with the child that undermines or
excludes the other parent. This process draws
children into the parents' conflict through pressure by one parent to side against the other

(Minuchin, Rosman, & Baker, 1978). The divorce literature describes children's experience
of being "caught between," such that one parent
encourages the child not to comply with the
other parent or sends communications to the
other parent via the child rather than directly
(Garrity & Baris, 1994; Maccoby et al., 1993).
Adolescents' reports of feeling "caught between" parents are related to parents' overall
levels of conflict and to the adolescents' own
indexes of maladjustment (Buchanan et al.,
1991). Even children who are residing with both
parents may feel pressure to form an alliance
with one parent against the other or to deliver
messages from one parent to the other.
Research on coparenting, as well as on parenting roles more generally, shows that coparenting may be affected by children's age,
parents' gender, and children's gender. Maccoby et al. (1990, 1993) reported that families
with younger children were more likely to be
conflicted, whereas those with older children
were more likely to be disengaged. The coparenting of younger children, compared with
that of older children, may require a higher level
of cooperation and teamwork to meet the
moment-to-moment demands of parenting
young children. The parents of older children,
on the other hand, may be more likely to engage
in triangulation because successfully enlisting
the child as an ally against the other spouse may
require a certain level of verbal skill and emotional maturity on the part of the child. Although children's age has received some attention in studies of divorced families, it has not
received similar attention in studies of coparenting in two-parent families. In the present study
we included parents of preschool children and
parents of preadolescent children to examine
whether coparenting varies by children's age.
Mothers and fathers may function differently
in the coparenting relationship. Floyd and
Zmich (1991) found that mothers rated the parenting alliance less positively than did fathers
among parents of mentally impaired children as
well as among parents of normally developing
children. The authors attributed this finding to
the view that mothers generally carry a heavier
load of parenting responsibilities. Russell and
Russell (1994) similarly indicated that mothers
report more overall involvement with their children than do fathers. These studies imply that
mothers, compared with fathers, may be higher

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MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

on the cooperation dimension of coparenting
but do not suggest differences on either conflict
or triangulation. Parents' gender has also been
identified as a potentially important variable in
the linkage between marital relations and parenting. Individual studies indicate that negative
marital relations are associated with negative
relations in the father-child relationship more
than in the mother-child relationship (Belsky,
Youngblade, Rovine, & Volling, 1991; Brody,
Arias, & Fincham, 1996; Jouriles & Farris,
1992; Margolin, John, Ghosh, & Gordis, 1996),
although this gender difference did not hold up
in Erel and Burman's (1995) meta-analysis. To
further explore differences based on parents'
gender, in the present study we compared
mothers' and fathers' coparenting ratings and
separately examined, for mothers and fathers,
coparenting as a mediator between marital conflict and parent-child relations.
In this study we also explored whether coparenting varies as a function of the child's gender. Data from divorced families indicate that
girls, more than boys, are likely to feel caught
between parents or triangulated (Buchanan et
al., 1991). Some studies on two-parent families
indicate that parental agreement about standards
of behavior is higher for sons than it is for
daughters (Russell & Russell, 1994), although
other studies show no differences based on the
child's gender (Lamb, Hwang, & Broberg,
1989). Moreover, links between the marriage
and other dimensions of the family system are
not necessarily the same for boys and girls.
McHale (1995) reported that high marital distress is reflected in conflictual coparenting in
families with boys but is reflected in discrepancies in parental engagement in families with
girls. Moreover, a poor parenting alliance is
associated with increases in negativity in the
father-daughter relationship but not in the
father-son relationship (Floyd, Gilliom, &
Costigan, 1998).
In the present study we introduced the Coparenting Questionnaire (CQ; Margolin, 1992b),
which is used to assess spouses' perceptions of
one another as coparents. Previous assessments
of coparenting have been obtained through the
following: (a) indirect reports of coparenting,
for example, spousal similarity versus discrepancy scores on child-rearing practices and attitudes (Russell & Russell, 1994); (b) direct observation of support versus undermining in

time-limited family interaction, usually with

very young children (Belsky et al., 1995; Katz
& Gottman, 1996; McHale, 1995); (c) children's reports of marital conflict or triangulation (Grych, Seid, & Fincham, 1992); (d) interviews on a wide range of coparenting
dimensions (Maccoby et al., 1990); and (e) subscales of larger parenting questionnaires, for
example, the General Alliance scale of the Family Experiences Questionnaire (Frank et al.,
1991). Abidin and Brunner (1995) developed a
brief questionnaire that assesses support and
involvement with the child in the coparenting
alliance but does not measure overt conflict or
triangulation. McHale (1997) also developed a
brief questionnaire that measures behaviors that
reflect family integrity, disparagement of the
partner, overt conflict, and coparental discipline, but does not include triangulation. Our
objective was to include cooperation, triangulation, and conflict in a brief questionnaire that
standardizes, streamlines, and focuses exclusively on the assessment of coparenting. The
procedures we used in this study rely on spouses
as reporters of the coparenting relationship and
reflect the assumption that parents can provide
the most comprehensive perspective of coparenting. As with many marital conflict and
family assessment measures, we used individual
perceptions to measure the family systems phenomenon of coparenting.
In the present study we first examined the
association between parents' perceptions of coparenting and reports by children and outside
observers on related constructs. We then examined coparenting as a function of children's age,
parents' gender, and children's gender. Next,
we evaluated whether coparenting mediates the
relationship between marital conflict and parenting. We assumed that coparenting is an intervening variable that helps explain the association between marital conflict and parenting.
The extent to which one spouse undermines
versus supports the other's parenting is likely to
affect the second spouse's experience of stress
in the parent-child relationship and his or her
actual parenting practices. We explored the following specific hypotheses: (a) the coparenting
dimensions of conflict and cooperation will be
rated higher by parents of preschool, compared
with preadolescent, children; (b) conflict will be
higher in parents of boys, whereas triangulation
will be higher in parents of girls, particularly in

COPARENTING, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, AND PARENTING

the preadolescent sample; (c) mothers will be

higher on cooperation than will be fathers; and
(d) coparenting will mediate the relationship
between marital conflict and parenting.

Method

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Participants

Table 1
Demographics of the Three Samples
Demographic variable

SD

Pilot mothers sample

(n = 220; 146 girls, 74 boys)
Girls' age
Boys' age
Mothers' age
Years together with partner

6.5
6.5
36.3
11.3

1.4
1.4
4.4
3.7

Data for this study were obtained from three comPreadolescent parent samplea
munity samples of two-parent families. The first
(n
=
75 families; 40 girls, 35 boys)
group, the pilot sample, involved 220 mothers without their partners and was used only to explore the Girls' age
11.2
1.1
multidimensional structure of the coparenting mea- Boys' age
11.4
1.2
sure. The second and third groups, the preadolescent Mothers' age
39.9
4.9
sample (n = 75 families) and the preschool sample Fathers' age
42.8
6.0
16.3
3.9
(n = 172 families), involved both spouses of the Years together with partner
4,656.7
2,239.2
couple and were used to test the relationship between Monthly income ($)
child's age, child's gender, and parents' gender and
Preschool parent sample1"
the coparenting dimensions. The preadolescent sam(n = 172 families; 92 girls, 80 boys)
ple additionally was used to examine the association
5.0
0.6
of the coparenting measure with measures from other Girls' age
4.9
0.6
reporters, whereas the preschool sample was addi- Boys' age
33.7
5.5
tionally used to test whether there was support for Mothers' age
36.2
6.2
coparenting mediating the relationship between mar- Fathers' age
Years together with partner
9.6
3.5
ital adjustment and parenting. Table 1 provides a Monthly income ($)
3,945.8
2,305.2
summary of the demographic characteristics of the a
67% Caucasian, 24% African American/Black; 1%
three samples.
Latino, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, 8% other/mixed.
Pilot sample of mothers. The pilot sample in- b 54% Caucasian, 16% African American/Black; 6%
cluded 220 mothers who brought their children (146 Latino, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, 23% other/mixed.
girls, 74 boys) to a toy manufacturer to participate in
product testing. Because the mothers had unstructured time while their children were in another room
playing with a new toy, we left a stack of blank pleted by the last 75 couples in the sample. At the
questionnaires that parents could choose to complete. time of their participation in Stage 2, each couple had
An information sheet indicated that these question- a child age 9 to 13 years old. Criteria for participation
naires would be used as part of a study on how during the initial phase included the following: (a)
parents work out their joint parenting roles. Partici- having a child age 8 to 11 years old inclusive; (b)
pation in this study was entirely voluntary and en- both parents living in the home; (c) both parents
tailed no direct contact with the experimenter. biologically related to the child, or one nonbiological
Mothers who chose to fill out the questionnaires were parent who has lived with the child since the child
included in this sample as long as they also met the was 2 years old; (d) both parents able to read and
following criteria: (a) had a child 4 to 9 years old; (b) speak English fluently; and (e) having a telephone in
were reporting on a biological child; (c) were cur- the home. Families received $70 for participation in
rently married; and (d) completed each item of the the full Stage 2 procedures, which involved one laboratory visit.
questionnaire.
Preadolescent parent sample. Participants were
Preschool parent sample. The 172 participant
75 families (40 girls, 35 boys) who were part of a families (92 girls, 80 boys) for this sample were
larger study on family interaction and were recruited recruited through similar procedures as the preadothrough public notices and flyers announcing a study lescent sample and comprised a community sample
on family communication and interaction. This larger of volunteer families for a study on family relationstudy involved two stages, and the 75 families were ships. To participate, families needed to meet the
part of those who were invited and agreed to partic- following criteria: (a) having a child age 4 or 5 years
ipate in the second phase. (See Margolin, John, and old currently living with her or his biological parents
Foo [1998] for further details about the sample at in a two-parent home; (b) both parents able to read
Stage 1, and Gordis, Margolin, and John [1997] for and speak English fluently; and (c) having telephone
details about the sample at Stage 2.) Although 90 in the home. For participating in the one laboratory
families participated in Stage 2, the CQ was corn- visit, the family received $90.

MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

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Procedures
Participants in the pilot sample had only one questionnaire to complete in addition to some basic
demographic information, whereas participants in the
preadolescent and preschool samples completed a
number of questionnaires. Participants were informed (verbally and in writing for the preadolescent
and preschool samples and in writing only for the
pilot sample) that they could choose to end their
participation and withdraw from the study at any time
with no penalty.
For the pilot sample, there was a stack of questionnaires displayed along with other reading material in the waiting area of the product testing office of
a toy manufacturer. The 4-page packet, which included the CQ as well as some demographic questions, was designed to take no more than 15 min to
complete. Mothers who chose to fill out the packets
put the forms in a box upon completion.
For the preschool sample, parents were sent a
packet of questionnaires, including the CQ, the two
parenting questionnaires, and an initial consent form,
to be filled out at home prior to their lab meeting. For
both the preschool and the preadolescent samples,
after an initial introduction and lab based consent
procedures, spouses were seated in separate rooms to
complete the questionnaires independently. A graduate student researcher periodically checked in with
each spouse, answering any questions, reading aloud
the directions to the Domestic Conflict Index (DCI;
Margolin, Burman, John, & O'Brien, 1990), and
making sure that the participant understood the format for responding to that questionnaire.
Procedures for the preadolescent sample also included a marital discussion that was coded by trained
observers. As one component of a series of interactional tasks, each spouse was individually asked to
identify a child issue that was the source of serious
concern in his or her household and about which the
spouses disagreed. Spouses were then brought together and instructed to spend 12 min discussing the
two child-related topics. The discussion was videotaped and then coded by trained observers using the
Marital Coding System (Gordis, Margolin, & Garcia,
1996). Preadolescent children completed a number of
questionnaires, including the Child's View Questionnaire (Margolin, 1992a). This questionnaire was read
aloud to children as they followed along to circumvent any reading problems that the children might
have.

Measures
CQ. The CQ was developed to assess various
dimensions of coparenting for parents currently living together. An item pool of 27 items was constructed from interview questions from Maccoby's
Stanford Child Custody Study interviews (Buchanan

et al., 1991; Maccoby et al., 1990; Maccoby &

Mnookin, 1992). Each item begins "My spouse" and
then has a different ending (e.g., "uses our child to
get back at me"; "undermines my parenting").
Spouses rate each item on a 5-point scale {never,
rarely, sometimes, usually, or always). On the basis
of feedback from early use of the questionnaire, the
initial item pool was reduced to a questionnaire consisting of 14 items determined to be both usable and
representative of our definition of coparenting. Items
were eliminated because of any of the following
reasons: (a) they were stated in an ambiguous fashion
(3 items); (b) they appeared to measure parents'
individual involvement in parenting rather than the
dimension of cooperation (4 items); (c) they described a parenting style more than a coparenting
quality (4 items); or (d) they had a different meaning
for male and female respondents (2 items). Each of
the remaining 14 items, which are listed in Table 2,
was interpretable to respondents and conceptually fit
the overall coparenting construct.
Coparenting scores reflect parents' perceptions of
one another. Thus, mothers' coparenting scores were
derived from the fathers' questionnaires and, vice
versa, fathers' coparenting scores reflected the
mothers' questionnaires. Parents were instructed to
fill out the CQ with a specific child in mind. Mothers
in the pilot sample completed the CQ with respect to
the child they brought in to do the product testing.
Parents in the preadolescent and preschool families
filled out the CQ for their one child who participated
in the overall study, generally the oldest child within
the designated age range.
Exploratory factor analysis was performed on the
14 coparenting items with the pilot sample. The factor scree plot of eigenvalues was consistent with our
expectation that the 14 coparenting items could be
grouped into a three-factor structure. The three extracted factors accounted for 58% of the total variance for the 14 coparenting items. As correlations
among the three hypothesized factors of coparenting
were expected, an oblique transformation was applied to the three-factor solution, resulting in three
correlated factors accounting for 47% of the variance.
Table 2 presents the factor pattern matrix of loadings.
All 14 of the coparenting items were grouped into the
three factors, including 5 cooperation items, 4 triangulation items, and 5 conflict items. All items loaded
greater than .40 on one factor and less than .40 on the
other two factors.
Table 3 presents data on the internal consistency
of the three factors. Cronbach alphas for the three
factors are presented for wives in the pilot sample
and for husbands and wives in the preadolescent and
preschool samples. Alphas ranging from .69 to .87
reflect good internal consistency for the three factors
and the total scale.
To assess associations among the three factors,
correlations between each pair of factors were run for

COPARENTING, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, AND PARENTING

Table 2

Rotated Factor Pattern Matrix of Loadings for the 14 Items of the

Coparenting Questionnaire in the Pilot Sample
Coparenting factor
Cooperation
Triangulation

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Item
My spouse . . .
tells me lots of things about this child,
fills me in on what happens during this child's day.
says nice things about me to this child,
asks my opinion on issues related to parenting.a
shares the burden of discipline.
says cruel or hurtful things about me in front of this child.'
uses this child to get back at me.
tries to get this child to take sides when we argue,
delivers messages to me through this child rather than say
them to me.a
and I have different rules regarding food, chores, bedtime
or homework.8
and I have different standards for this child's behavior.11
argues with me about this child.a
supports my discipline decisions."
undermines my parenting."

Conflict

.50

.43
-.03
-.07
.12

-.04
-.09
.35
.10
-.08
-.70
-.69
-.58

.04
-.05
.13
-.15
-.38
.02
-.05
.14

-.10

-.49

.15

.80
.77
.63

-.03
.75
.09
.62
-.08
.04
-.17
.04
.54
-.47
.15
.16
-.12
-.34
.43
Note. Numbers in boldface represent factor loadings with absolute value > .40.
a
Item is adapted from a lecture by E. Maccoby at the 1990/1991 meeting of the Southern California
Consortium on Family and Social Development.

pilot sample wives, preschool and preadolescent

sample wives, and preschool and preadolescent sample husbands. The correlations between conflict and
triangulation for the three groups were .56, .56, and
.52, respectively; the correlations between conflict
and cooperation were .48, .47, and - . 5 1 , respectively; and the correlations between triangulation
and cooperation were .37, .36, and .45,
respectively.
DCI. The DCI is a 51-item questionnaire assessing physical abuse, emotional abuse, and general
anger. Margolin et al. (1998) reported data reflecting
good test-retest reliability. This index was reported
for the spouses in the preschool sample to test
whether the data were consistent with a model
whereby coparenting mediates the relationship between marital conflict and parenting. The index contains 26 general anger items (e.g., "screamed or
yelled at your spouse" and "called your spouse

names"), 11 emotionally abusive items (e.g., "tried

to prevent spouse from seeing/talking to family
or friends" and "purposely damaged or destroyed
spouse's clothes, car, or other personal possessions"),
and 14 physically abusive items including the 8 physically abusive items found in the Conflict Tactics
Scale (Straus, 1979) as well as 6 additional items
(e.g., "choked or strangled spouse," "physically
twisted spouse's arm," and "physically forced sex on
spouse").
Each respondent completed the entire listing of
DCI items with respect to the spouse's behavior and
then completed the items a second time with respect
to his or her own behavior. After reading an individual item, the respondent reported whether spouse or
self ever had engaged in that behavior in the history
of the relationship ("yes" or "no"). For every item
endorsed with a "yes," the respondent then reported
how many times the behavior occurred during the

Table 3
Alphas for Coparenting Factors

Factor
Cooperation
Triangulation
Conflict
Total coparenting

Pilot
sample
Husband
.80
.73
.79
.85

Preadolescent
sample
Wife
Husband
.72
.69
.80
.84
.84
.77
.84
.87

Preschool sample
Husband
Wife
.77
.73
.80
.74
.82
.74
.85
.87

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10

MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

past year, using the following six frequency ranges:

none, 1 per year, 2 to 5 per year, 6 to 12 per year, 2
to 4 per month, more than once per week. Each
frequency range is assigned a rating between 0 and 5,
reflecting how often the behavior occurred during the
past year. For the purposes of this study and to
minimize error variance due to different reporters, we
used only spouses' reports on each other. For parents
in the preschool sample, the mean conflict score, summing across all items, for wives' reports on husbands
was 23.3 (SD = 20.3; range = 0 to 92), and for
husbands' reports on wives was 25.5 (SD = 24.1;
range = 0 to 133); 51% of the couples reported some
physical aggression in the marriage in the previous year.
Parenting Stress Index (PSI). The PSI (Abidin,
1986), completed by parents in the preschool sample,
was developed to identify parent-child systems under stress. The instrument consists of 101 items, most
of which are answered through a 5-point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Reliability and validity data for this questionnaire are
provided in Abidin (1986). Abidin and Brunner
(1995) reported modest associations between their
Parenting Alliance Inventory and total PSI scores
(-.26 for mothers and - . 2 9 for fathers). One scale in
the parenting domain of the PSI, Relationship With
Spouse, shows an expected overlap with Parenting
Alliance (.45 for mothers and - . 3 9 for fathers).
For this study, scores on the parenting domain of
the PSI were used for an evaluation of parents' sense
of comfort and competence in their parenting roles.
Parenting domain subscales, scored in the direction
of stress and dysfunction, include the following: (a)
Depression (difficulty mobilizing psychological and
physical energy to fulfill parenting responsibilities);
(b) Attachment (lack of emotional availability, closeness, and bonding with the child); (c) Restriction of
Role (parenting role experienced as restricting parents' freedom and frustrating them); (d) Sense of
Competence (sense of lacking knowledge or skill
regarding parenting, or reinforcement from the parenting role); (e) Social Isolation (lacking an emotional support system for parenting role); (f) Parental
Health (deterioration in parental health as a result of
stress or an additional stressor in the parent-child
system); and (g) Relationship With Spouse (lacking
the emotional and active support of the other parent
in the child management). A parent domain score
greater than or equal to 153 is considered high (Abidin, 1986). Mean parent domain scores in the preschool sample were 122.2 for mothers (SD = 23.7,
range = 73 to 202) and 118.3 for fathers (SD = 23.0,
range = 65 to 195). Toward the objective of conceptually separating coparenting from parenting, the domain of Relationship With Spouse was omitted from
all further analyses, resulting in slightly lower mean
scores for mothers (M = 104.0, SD = 19.9, range =
66 to 173) and fathers (M = 101.1, SD = 19.3,
range = 59 to 168). For the preschool sample, alphas

on the total PSI scale (excluding Relationship With

Spouse) were .89 for wives and .90 for husbands.
Parenting Practices Questionnaire. The Parenting Practices Questionnaire (PPQ; Strayhorn &
Weidman, 1988), completed by preschoolers' parents, is a 34-item self-report instrument of parents'
patterns of interaction with their young children.
Items on this questionnaire reflect the following types
of positive goal behaviors for parents of preschoolers: (a) eliminate unnecessary commands; (b) enforce
commands that are given; (c) look for the positive;
(d) do not inadvertently reward negative behavior; (e)
expose the child to a high ratio of positive to negative
models; (f) cultivate the ability to enjoy doing things
with your child; (g) avoid harsh punishment; (h)
be consistent in meeting the child's needs; and (i)
avoid attributing negative traits to the child. With
high scores indicating positive parenting, Strayhorn
(1989) reported mean scores for two preschool samples of 140 (SD = 15.7) and 138 (SD = 15.0). For the
preschool sample examined in this study, the mean
scores were 145.7 for mothers (SD = 12.5, range =
105 to 173) and 142.4 for fathers (SD = 11.9,
range = 106 to 168). Alphas on the PPQ for this
sample were .77 for wives and .73 for husbands.
Child's View Questionnaire (Margolin, 1992a).
This 45-item questionnaire assesses children's perceptions of various dimensions of their family process such as parents' conflict, triangulation of the
child, overall family chaos, parents' monitoring of
child, time spent together, and emotional attunement.
The child responds to each item using a 5-point scale
anchored at never and always. For purposes of validating the CQ, the conflict and triangulation items
were used in this study. Conflict items include the
following: "My parents argue or criticize each other
in front of me," "When one parent says 'no,' I can get
my other parent to say 'yes,' " and "My parents argue
with each other about me or things I do." Triangulation items were adapted from a lecture by E.
Maccoby at the 1990/1991 meeting of the Southern
California Consortium on Family and Social Development; the items include the following: "My parents
ask me to convey messages that they should say
directly to each other," and "I feel caught in the
middle of my parents' disagreements." The mean
score for parents' conflict was 4.55 (SD = 2.55,
range = 0 to 10) and for triangulation was 2.04
(SD = 2.04, range = 0 to 8).
Marital Coding System (Gordis et al., 1996). An
observational system was used to code dyadic marital
conflict discussions about a child-related topic by the
parents of preadolescents. This coding system requires coders to judge each speaker turn for affect/
style and verbal content and to classify it into 1 of 21
codes. Two summary categories were used for the
current analyses. Hostility/Defensiveness includes
hostile, angry, exasperated, blaming, and contemptuous behavior. Agreeableness/Problem Solving con-

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COPARENTING, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, AND PARENTING

tains behaviors reflecting a willingness to be flexible
about one's point of view, to be agreeable to the
partner's point of view, to accept responsibility, to
disclose vulnerable feelings or thoughts, to reflect or
rephrase the other's point of view, and to engage in
productive problem solving. Each discussion was
coded by 2 out of 14 trained undergraduate and
postbaccalaureate-level students, using both a verbatim transcript and a videotape playback. For each
participant, the total number of speaker turns identified by each coder as belonging to a code category
was divided by the total number of speaker turns to
calculate frequency percentages. Intraclass correlation coefficients (Shrout & Fleiss, 1979) provided
reliability estimates for Hostility/Defensiveness (.86
for wives and .75 for husbands) and Agreeableness/
Problem Solving (.81 for wives and .76 for husbands). Means were taken across coders. Because of
the distributional properties of frequency percentages, we reexpressed the data as logits, as recommended by Mosteller and Tukey (1977).

Results
Correlations Between Coparenting
Dimensions and Reports of Behavior
by Children and Trained Coders
Table 4 presents cross-reporter correlations
for the preadolescent sample between spouses'
reports of the coparenting dimensions and children's reports on the Child's View Questionnaire as well as trained coders' observations of

11

marital communication samples. Data from the

Child's View Questionnaire were an indication
of the validity of the CQ, as the children were
reporting on two of the coparenting constructs.
Children's reports of triangulation correlated
significantly with both parents' triangulation,
husbands' conflict, and both parents' total coparenting on the CQ. Children's reports of conflict correlated with both parents' conflict behaviors, triangulation, and total coparenting on
theCQ.
We also examined the association between
data from the CQ and husbands' and wives'
objectively observed behaviors when discussing
a marital conflict about a child-related problem.
Wives' coded hostile and defensive behaviors
correlated in predicted directions with their
own and their husbands' coparenting behaviors.
Similarly, wives' coded agreeableness and
problem solving correlated with their own and
their husbands' coparenting. Both types of
coded behaviors correlated strongly with wives'
triangulation. That is, wives who showed high
levels of hostility and defensiveness in marital
discussions, and low levels of agreeableness
and problem solving, were those rated by their
husbands as high in triangulation.
Husbands' coded behaviors, in contrast,
showed more consistent associations with the
wives' coparenting than with their own co-

Table 4
Correlations Between Coparenting Dimensions and Reports of Behavior by Children
and Trained Coders in the Preadolescent Sample
Coding by trained observers
Husbands ' behavior
Wives' behavior
Agreeableness/
Agreeableness/
Problem
Hostility/
Problem
Hostility/
Solving
Defensiveness
Solving
Triangulation Conflict Defensiveness
Coparenting
-.44**
.34**
.34**
-.36**
-.18
-.11
Wives' cooperation
Husbands'
-.18
.37**
.29*
-.24*
-.19
-.16
cooperation
.41**
-.46**
-.46**
.53**
Wives' triangulation
.48**
.44**
Husbands'
-.28*
-.36**
.25*
.37**
.24*
32**
triangulation
-.27*
.34**
-.29*
.33**
.33**
Wives' conflict
.21
.18
-.24*
.36**
.38**
.24*
-.30*
Husbands' conflict
Wives' total
-.50**
44**
-.48**
.44**
-.41**
-.31**
coparenting
Husbands' total
-.26**
.35**
-.36**
44**
-.35**
-.35**
coparenting
Child'sj report
Parents' behavior

*p < .05. **p < .01.

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12

MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

parenting. Husbands' hostility and defensiveness during the marital discussions correlated
with their wives' coparenting, but only weakly
with husbands' coparenting triangulation and
not with their conflict or cooperation. Husbands' agreeableness and problem solving correlated with the wives' and their own coparenting. In general, these data from trained coders
suggested that couples' communication processes were related to coparenting, particularly
for wives, but the variables were predominantly
nonoverlapping.

Coparenting, Children's Age, Parents'

Gender, and Children's Gender
To examine how coparenting scores vary by
children's age, parents' gender, and children's
gender, we conducted 2 (age) X 2 (parents'
gender) X 2 (children's gender) mixed model
analyses of variance on the coparenting factors.
Children's age was a between-groups variable
comparing parents in the preadolescent versus
the preschool samples. Parents' gender was a
within-couple variable, whereas children's gender was a between-groups variable comparing
parents who reported on coparenting of a
daughter versus a son.
As displayed in Figure 1, we found a significant main effect for children's age on cooperation, F(l, 243) = 5.93, p < .05. Parents of
preschool children, compared with parents of
preadolescent children, reported more cooperation from one another. The significant main
effect for parents' gender on cooperation, F(l,
243) = 71.41,/? < .001, indicated that mothers
were rated higher on cooperation than were
fathers. We found an interaction between
child's gender and parents' gender for triangulation, F(l, 243) = 4.88, p < .05. Post hoc
analyses showed that mothers of boys were
rated higher on triangulation than were mothers
of girls, f(193.22) = -2.39, p < .05, but that
fathers of boys were not rated differently on
triangulation than were fathers of girls, f(245) =
0.07, ns. We found no significant main effects
or interactions for the conflict dimension, although there was a trend for parents of preschoolers, compared with parents of preadolescents, to report more conflict, F(l, 243) = 2.81,
p < .10.

Coparenting as a Mediator Between

Marital Conflict and Parenting
Each analysis of the mediational model explored how one spouse's report of the other's
marital conflict and coparenting was related to
the reporting spouse's own parenting. Table 5
presents the correlations for the two predictors,
marital conflict and total coparenting, and the
two parenting outcomes in the preschool sample. To compute total coparenting, we reverse
scored items in triangulation and conflict to
reflect a positive direction. High total coparenting scores were indicative of low conflict, low
triangulation, and high cooperation.
The first step in the mediational analyses
required demonstrating significant correlations
between marital conflict and parenting. These
correlations for both husbands and wives were
significant, ranging from .26 to .33. The second
step required demonstrating a linear relationship between marital conflict and coparenting
and between coparenting and parenting. The
correlations between marital conflict and total
coparenting were significant, indicating approximately 37% shared variance between these two
constructs for husbands and 44% shared variance for wives. The correlations between coparenting and parenting were also significant,
ranging from .35 to .40.
The final step in the analyses of the mediational model was to examine whether marital
conflict still was a significant predictor of parenting when entered simultaneously with coparenting. Table 6 presents a series of regression
analyses exploring whether total coparenting
mediated the relationship between marital conflict and parenting in the preschool sample.
There are four sets of analyses, with regressions
run separately for husbands and wives on parenting stress and parenting practices. Two models were presented for each analysis; first marital conflict was entered alone and then both
total coparenting and marital conflict were simultaneously entered.
For wives and husbands alike, the data were
consistent with a mediational model. Wives'
marital conflict, as reported by husbands, was a
significant predictor of husbands' own parenting when entered alone but then no longer was
significant when entered with coparenting. Husbands' report of wives' coparenting was a significant predictor of husbands' parenting practices and parenting stress when entered in

COPARENTING, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, AND PARENTING

Preadolescent Sample

3.5.

13

Preschool Sample

321.5:
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1Mothers
Fathers

0.5n.

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

0.50.40.3:
0.20.1Girls

Boys

0
1.5-1

1.251:
0.750.50.250
Girls

Boys

Figure 1. Analyses of variance examining effects of child's age, parents' gender, and child's gender on
coparenting dimensions.

Model 2 simultaneously with marital conflict.

Likewise, husbands' marital conflict, as reported by the wives, was significant when entered alone but not when entered with coparenting. Wives' report of husbands' coparenting
predicts wives' parenting practices and parenting stress above and beyond the predictive contribution of marital conflict. Although not presented in the Table 6, mediational analyses run
separately for boys and girls showed similar
patterns.

Coparenting Factors, Marriage,

and Parenting
Because the factor analysis suggested that the
three factors were assessing slightly different
constructs, Table 7 is presented to examine how
each separate factor relates to marital conflict
and parenting in the preschool sample. Each of
the separate coparenting factors for wives and
husbands was moderately correlated with both
marital conflict and parenting.

MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

14
Table 5

Correlations Between Predictor and Outcome Variables

in the Preschool Sample
Wife as reporter

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1.
2.
3.
4.

-.61**

-.27**
.39**

.32**
-.35**
-.47**

Variable
Husbands' marital conflict
Husbands' coparenting
Wives' parenting practices
Wives' parenting stress

Husband as reporter
5
5. Wives' marital conflict
6. Wives' coparenting
7. Husbands' parenting
practices
8. Husbands' parenting stress

-.66**

-.33**
.39**

.26**
-.37**
-.45**

**p < .01.

Table 6
Mediating Model for Marital Conflict and Parenting in the Preschool Sample
Regression model

Adjusted R

Total equation F

.10

19.27***

.13

13.97***

.06

12.88***

.14

15.19***

.06

12.40**

.13

13.54***

.11

21.18***

Wives' total parenting stress8

Model 1
Husbands' marital conflict
Model 2
Husbands' marital conflict
Husbands' coparenting

.32
.16
-.25

4.39***
1.82
-2.81**

Wives' total parenting practices0

Model 1
Husbands' marital conflict
Model 2
Husbands' marital conflict
Husbands' coparenting

-.27

-3.59***

-.04
.36

-0.49
4.04***

Husbands ' total parenting stress1"

Model 1
Wives' marital conflict
Model 2
Wives' marital conflict
Wives' coparenting

.26
.03
-.35

3.52**
0.31
-3.71***

Husbands' itotal parenting practices'"

Model 1
Wives' marital conflict
Model 2
Wives' marital conflict
Wives' coparenting
Note. For Model 1 F values,, df =
" Based on wives' reports. b Based
* * p < . 0 1 . ***/>< .001.

-.33

-4.60***

.15
-.14
-1.45
.30
3.22**
1, 70; for Model 2 F values, df = 1, 169.
on husbands' reports.

16.34***

COPARENTING, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, AND PARENTING

15

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Table 7
Correlations Between Coparenting Variables, Marital Conflict,
and Parenting in the Preschool Sample

Coparenting variable
Husbands' cooperation
Husbands' triangulation
Husbands' conflict

Wives' cooperation
Wives' triangulation
Wives' conflict
**p< .01.

Husbands'
marital
conflict
-.34**
.67**
.53**
Wives'
marital
conflict
-.43**
.66**
.53**

Discussion
In this study we examined perceptions of
coparenting as a family system construct that
can help elucidate the link between the marital and parent-child family subsystems. The
CQ offers a highly efficient measure of this
clinically relevant construct. Data on the CQ
are consistent with a three-factor model, consisting of conflict, cooperation, and triangulation. Correlations among the factors indicate that, although correlated, they are not
totally overlapping. Results from this study
also show that coparenting dimensions are
affected by child's age, parents' gender, and
child's gender. Coparenting appears to exist
in a developmental context in that parents of
preschool children report more cooperation
than do parents of preadolescent children. Coparenting also reflects a stereotypic gender
pattern in that wives are reported to cooperate
with their husbands more than husbands do
with their wives. Triangulation shows an interaction between parents' gender and children's gender, with high triangulation reported for mothers with sons.
With most of the published studies on coparenting in two-parent families done on families of young children, there is little information
about the relevance of child's age. However,
data presented here indicate that cooperation
experienced by parents varies by age of child.
Higher scores on cooperation reported by parents of preschool, compared with preadolescent,

Wife as reporter
Wives'
parenting
practices
.32**
-.26**
-.37**
Husband as reporter
Husbands'
parenting
practices
.37**
-.24**
-.34**

Wives'
parenting
stress
-.32**
.21**
.32**
Husbands'
parenting
stress
-.26**
.26**
.38**

children may reflect the greater moment-tomoment demands when parenting young children and the need for more coordination in
parenting roles. Alternatively, parents of preadolescents may have devised ways to parent in a
more parallel rather than cooperative fashion.
The lack of significance of child's age on triangulation was unanticipated given the clinical
and theoretical attention to triangulation for
children who are school age and older. Although the overall means for triangulation are
relatively low for both groups of children, these
data alert us to the possibility that parents may
use even very young children to get back at each
other. Moreover, the low scores for triangulation in the preadolescent sample could be due to
a selection effect, in that couples with high
triangulation may be less likely to remain together and, thus, to participate in a study of
two-parent families.
In addition to findings associated with children's age, another descriptive finding reported
here reflects gender differences in coparenting,
which proves remarkably consistent with results
reported by Floyd and Zmich (1991). Similar to
the Floyd and Zmich finding that wives rated
the general parenting alliance less positively
than did husbands, we find in the current study
that women report less cooperation from their
husbands than vice versa. General parenting
alliance defined by Floyd and Zmich reflects the
positive dimension of coparenting, namely mutual respect, support, and satisfaction with

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16

MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

shared responsibilities. The negative coparenting dimensions examined here, triangulation

and conflict, show no gender differences just as
the Floyd and Zmich measurement of spouses'
denigrating of one another's parenting showed
no differences.
Although research comparing family influences on boys versus girls has had inconsistent
findings, there is some evidence here of intensified parenting relationships with boys more
than with girls. The significant interaction effect
between child's gender and parents' gender reveals high triangulation for mothers with sons.
According to fathers' perceptions, mothers tend
to draw sons into interparental conflict. Other
research also points to an intensified parenting
relationship with boys, more than with girls,
particularly in families in which there is marital
conflict. Fathers' aggression toward their wives
is associated with fathers' authoritarian, controlling, and physically abusive behavior toward
their sons more than toward their daughters
(Jouriles & Norwood, 1995; Margolin et al.,
1996). It is possible that mothers' triangulation
of the son and attempts to form a special alliance with the son could be either the stimulus or
the result of fathers' punitive relationship with
the son.
The specific question of whether child's gender has an impact on the relation between marital conflict and parenting has received mixed
support in previous literature. When Erel and
Burman (1995) limited their meta-analysis to a
subset of studies with high methodological
quality, they failed to find effects for child's
gender or for parent-child gender combinations
in the linkage between the marital and parentchild relations. Similarly, in the present study,
child's gender does not appear to be a consideration in the link between marital conflict and
parenting or in the role of coparenting as a
mediator. Floyd et al. (1998) also reported no
significant main effects for child's gender and
only one interaction between child's gender and
parenting alliance in predicting change in parenting experiences.
The major theoretical finding of this study
is that coparenting potentially functions as a
link in the relationship between marital conflict and parenting. Specifically, the data are
consistent with a mediational model indicating that coparenting is an important mechanism by which marital relations affect parent-

child relations. The substantial reductions in

the magnitude of the relation between marital
conflict and parenting, when controlling for
coparenting, suggest that coparenting may account for the association between marital conflict and parenting. These findings are very
similar to those recently reported by Floyd et
al. (1998) on a sample of families who have
children with mental retardation. In their data,
significant path coefficients portraying marital quality as a predictor of parenting competence and negative mother-child interaction
no longer are significant after accounting for
the indirect path through parenting alliance.
Hence, data from two independent samples,
representing families having a child either
with or without a disability, are consistent
with the hypothesis that coparenting mediates
the effects of marital conflict on parenting.
Findings consistent with a model that coparenting mediates the relationship between
marital conflict and parenting lend further definition to the ongoing debate as to whether
marital conflict directly affects children or indirectly affects children through altered parenting
(Emery, Fincham, & Cummings, 1992; Fauber
& Long, 1991). According to a direct effects
model, exposure to conflict and aggression between one's parents can create a family environment that is frightening, confusing, and
potentially dangerous (Margolin, 1998). According to an indirect model, changes in the
parent-child relationship may be the critical
mechanism by which marital conflict affects
children (Erel & Burman, 1995; Fincham,
Grych, & Osborne, 1994; Margolin & John,
1997).
The findings presented here include still a
further step in this indirect model, inserting
perceptions of coparenting as a possible mediator between marital conflict and parenting.
This revised indirect model separates the marital relationship from the coparenting relationship. In support of this model, the present data
show that, despite relatively high correlations
between marital conflict and coparenting, there
still is a considerable amount of unshared variance between these two constructs. Finding that
the negative impact to parenting stems from
coparenting more than from general marital
conflict is an example of Rutter's (1994) distinction between risk indicators and risk mechanisms. According to Rutter, whereas risk indi-

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COPARENTING, MARITAL ADJUSTMENT, AND PARENTING

cators are variables statistically associated with
a particular outcome, risk mechanisms are factors that explain the association. With longitudinal research we may find more conclusive
evidence that marital distress and conflict are
associated with impaired parenting, but coparenting dimensions actually explain the processes underlying higher levels of parenting
stress and impaired parenting practices.
In light of the multiple dimensions that affect
parenting (Belsky, 1984; Sabatelli & Waldron,
1995), the coparenting relationship most likely
is not the only mechanism through which marital relationships affect parent-child relationships. Another important mechanism may be
the individual adjustment of each parent. Depression, for example, has been linked to both
marital relations as well as to parent-child relations (e.g., Beach, Smith, & Fincham, 1994;
Gotlib & Hammen, 1992). Because individual
psychological functioning is connected with
support received in close relations (Vondra &
Belsky, 1993), linkages between coparenting
and individual adjustment are also anticipated.
Belsky et al. (1995), for example, reported that
individual personality differences between the
spouses have a direct relationship with coparenting. Theoretical interest in various family
influences points to the importance of examining multiple, bidirectional pathways to identify
the mechanisms underlying associations among
individual, dyadic, and triadic family variables.

Implications for Application and Public

Policy
A focus on the coparenting relationship highlights important targets for intervention and
prevention. Although coparenting is related to
marital conflict, emphasis on the conceptual
distinction between marital conflict and coparenting could prove to be an important strategy in marital and family therapy. Clinical experience suggests that parents undergoing
severe marital distress are concerned about the
effects of marital conflict and distress on their
children. A frequently expressed goal of parents
in this situation is to promote effective parenting. Clinical interventions that focus strictly on
parenting skills do not address the problems of
parents undermining one another's efforts. Similarly, clinical interventions that focus strictly
on the marital relationship may become stymied
by wide-ranging and often irreconcilable differ-

17

ences that go beyond the child. Alternatively,

clinical interventions that focus on the coparenting relationship could disentangle coparenting
from overall marital conflict and prioritize
maintenance or repair of the coparenting relationship, regardless of the state of the marriage.
This separation of the coparenting relationship
from the marital relationship creates opportunities for spouses to develop a collaborative relationship with the circumscribed objective of
supporting one another's parenting. Given that
even highly conflictual spouses generally tend
to understand the importance of promoting their
child's welfare, an intervention that focuses on
coparenting may be acceptable to spouses
who are not willing to undergo other types of
therapy.
The data from this study also point to the
importance of routinely assessing the coparenting relationship in distressed couples who have
children. The strong association between marital conflict and negative coparenting suggests
that the coparenting relationship may be at risk
with many couples who are experiencing marital conflict. A child advocacy perspective would
point to the importance of evaluating the coparenting relationship even if the spouses themselves do not identify coparenting as a major
concern.

Limitations and Future Directions

Certain limitations of the study leave important questions still to be explored regarding the
role of coparenting and parenting. As noted by
Baron and Kenny (1986), the causal sequence
that generally is described in a mediational
model cannot be proved on the basis of crosssectional data. With all the data presented here
being cross-sectional, we cannot identify directional effects or causal links. In light of the
abundant literature on how marital relations affect parenting, this study assumed a unidirectional effect from the marriage and coparenting
to parenting. Alternatively, however, a problematic parent-child relationship may negatively influence both the coparenting relationship and the marriage. Without measuring
marital conflict, coparenting, and parenting
across time, this study cannot draw conclusions
about directional effects. Two recent studies
with longitudinal designs begin to address directional effects regarding coparenting. Floyd et
al. (1998) provided evidence that marital quality

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18

MARGOLIN, GORDIS, AND JOHN

and parenting alliance affect parenting but little

evidence for reciprocal effects in which parenting affects either marital quality or parenting
alliance over time. McHale and Rasmussen
(1998) demonstrated how observed interactional processes in families with infants (e.g.,
hostility-competitiveness, parenting discrepancies) relate to coparenting 3 years later, although no comparison was made with effects in
the reciprocal direction.
To identify pathways of influence in family
processes requires measuring change over time
in each construct of interest. Just as the quality
of marriage and parenting changes over time
(Kurdek, 1996), the coparenting relationship is
also likely to fluctuate across time. To conclude
that marital conflict influences coparenting requires demonstrating that coparenting actually
deteriorates as a function of increased marital
conflict. Causal inferences about how marital
conflict undermines parenting, and how coparenting mediates those processes require that
all of these constructs be measured repeatedly
across time and with enough time between measurements to allow for the hypothesized influences to occur.
The use of self-report data could also be
perceived as a limitation. Although reliance
on spouses' perceptions of coparenting is subject to the limitations of all global, self-report
data, this assessment strategy was deliberately selected to create a broad construct of
coparenting. Compared with behavioral observations of coparenting, which reflect specific interactional moments, the construct assessed here includes behaviors that do not
necessarily occur when both spouses are together or when the child is present. This measurement of coparenting is based on an accumulation of relationship events that unfold
over days, weeks, and months and, at the time
of assessment, are mentally weighted and
summed by the participants into overall impressions. It is these impressions that are most
likely to have an impact on parenting.
The data presented here offer mixed results
in terms of the three separate dimensions. The
factor analyses and correlations suggest that
cooperation, conflict, and triangulation are related but still distinct. Support for discriminant validity is less compelling when these
scales are compared with other measures of
triangulation and conflict. The rationale for

examining separate coparenting dimensions is

to develop a basis for further delineating parents' coparenting strengths and weaknesses.
Additional research is recommended to evaluate the utility of these separate dimensions
and to assess whether they have a differential
impact on children.
Despite certain limitations, the findings of the
present study draw attention to the construct of
coparenting, identify how it is not simply an
extension of the marital relationship, and offer
an efficient means of measuring this important
construct. Findings from this study are consistent with the hypothesis that coparenting mediates the relationship between overall marital
conflict and parenting. Whereas previous literature frequently has focused on static variables,
such as parents' gender or children's gender, as
having an impact on the linkage between marital and parent-child relationships, the data presented here identify the coparenting relationship
as a mechanism accounting for variance in the
connection between marital and parent-child
relations. Coparenting provides a modifiable
variable that might be targeted to interrupt the
linkages between deteriorated marital relations
and impaired parenting.
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Adolescent psychiatry: Developmental and clinical

studies (Vol. 12, pp. 24-45). Chicago: University
of Chicago.
Received January 11, 1999
Revision received August 31, 2000
Accepted September 18, 2000