The role of parenting and coparenting in the development and prevention of child behaviour problems

Abstract

Background

Coparenting describes the relationship between two caregivers and the way they work together to provide care for a child. Research is increasingly demonstrating the importance of coparenting as a predictor of child and parent outcomes. However, less is known about the determinants of this relationship and whether it is a suitable target for intervention. Video-feedback interventions have been shown to be effective at improving parenting, but the effectiveness of these interventions in improving child outcomes has not been systematically explored.

Aims 1. Chapter two is a meta-analysis investigating the effectiveness of video-feedback interventions in improving child socio-emotional development. 2. Chapter three is a longitudinal study exploring the contributions of early child temperament and parental depression on the development of mothers’ and fathers’ coparenting (N = 138). 3. Chapter four is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a video-feedback intervention (VIPP-Co), investigating whether the intervention improves coparenting, and whether these potential changes mediate the effectiveness of the intervention in improving child behaviour problems (N = 45).

Results 1. The results of chapter two found mixed effects of video-feedback on child outcomes, with short-term effects seen for externalising behaviour (d = -0.20), child initiated interaction (d = 0.45 – 0.64) and one measure of attachment security (pOR = -0.58). No long-term effects were found. 2. The results of chapter three suggest that some families can compensate for an early difficult child temperament and parental depression, leading to more cooperative coparenting. 3. The trial in chapter four was underpowered to detect intervention effects, but showed a trend towards a possible effect of the intervention on fathers’ cooperation.

Conclusions This thesis has shown that video-feedback is effective at improving some child-socio-emotional outcomes. It has contributed to our understanding of how the coparenting relationship is affected by early family characteristics. Some evidence was found to suggest that coparenting is an acceptable target for intervention.