Coparental conflict, competition, and cooperation and parents' perceptions of their children's social-emotional well-being following marital separation

The first purpose of this study was to test a conceptual model that postulated that coparental conflict (disagreements between divorcing spouses over child-rearing issues), competition (triangulation of their children in coparental conflicts), and cooperation (supportive behaviors) are three interrelated but distinct dimensions of the quality of the former spouse relationship (QFSR). The second purpose was to examine the relative, unique direct effects of the three coparental variables on parents' perceptions of their children's social-emotional wellbeing (CSEWB) following marital separation. It was hypothesized that CSEWB is affected negatively by coparental competition and, to a lesser degree, positively by coparental cooperation, but is unrelated to coparental conflict. Data were collected a median of 6 months following separation using self-administered questionnaires completed by 193 parents identified through court records. Children's aggression, dependency, anxiety/depression, and productivity were measured with a revised version of the Personal Adjustment and Role Skills scale (Ellsworth, 1979; Pett, 1982). The coparental variables were measured with scales developed from the work of Ahrens (1981) and Kurdek (1987).