Coparental Communication With Nonresidential Parents as a Predictor of Children’s Feelings of Being Caught in Stepfamilies

Abstract

This study tested the degree to which remarried couples’ coparental communication with nonresidential parents predicted young adult children’s feelings of being caught between their parents (i.e., the ex-spouses). Participants included 120 stepfamily triads from the United States. Results indicate that residential parents’ and stepparents’ antagonistic coparental communication with the nonresidential parent are positively associated with young adults’ feelings of being caught, whereas parents’ supportive coparental communication is inversely associated with feeling caught. When combined, coparents’ reports of antagonistic coparental communication account for 22.5% of the shared variance in young adults’ feelings of being caught.

Keywords:

• Coparental Communication
• Feeling Caught
• Nonresidential Parent
• Stepfamily