Ouderlijke conflicten en coparenting na scheiding en probleemgedrag bij jongeren

Abstract

Research has shown that a parental divorce is related to an increased risk of externalizing and internalizing problem behavior in children. Rather than the divorce itself, conflicts between parents are an important cause of these problems. The role of coparenting after divorce in the relation between parental conflicts and problem behavior by youngsters is barely examined. However, this is pertinent, since the way fathers and mothers jointly manage to parent their children after divorce is an important aspect in their children’s adjustment. The aim of this study is to investigate the direct relation between parental conflict and child problem behavior after divorce, and to examine whether coparenting mediates this relation. In this study a cross-sectional dataset ‘Students and Families’ is used from 2016. We selected only youngsters of divorced parents (N = 252, Mage = 13.4, SD = 1.09, Age range 11 – 17 ), who filled in questionnaires about conflicts between parents, fathers’ and mothers’ parenting, and adjustment. Results indicated that both conflict between parents and the way in which fathers and mothers fulfill their parentship after divorce is linked to increased levels of internalizing problems of their youngsters. Further, parental conflicts are directly relate to decreased quality of coparenting after divorce, but coparenting does not play a mediating role in the link between conflicts and problem behavior by youngsters. These results can add to improved support for parents and youngsters after divorce.