Coparenting, Parenting Stress, and Authoritative Parenting among Hong Kong Chinese Mothers and Fathers

SYNOPSIS

Objective.This paper examines whether the effects of spousal coparenting on authoritative parenting are mediated through parenting stress. Design. A total of 166 married, heterosexual couples in Hong Kong with a preschool child provided information about their spouse’s level of cooperation and triangulation in their coparenting relationship at Time 1; their own parenting stress at Times 1 & 2; and their authoritative parenting at Times 1, 2, and 3. Results. Cooperation at Time 1 affected fathers’ authoritative parenting at Time 3 completely mediated through fathers’ parenting stress at Time 2. There were no mediated or direct effects on authoritative parenting for mothers, although triangulation at Time 1 predicted mothers’ parenting stress at Time 2. Conclusion. Parenting stress mediates the relation between coparenting and authoritative parenting for fathers, suggesting the need to encourage cooperation from mothers. In this way fathers’ stress related to their role as parent will decrease, helping to promote their authoritative parenting.

ADDRESSES AND AFFILIATIONS

Eva Y. H. Lau, Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong. Email: [email protected]. Thomas G. Power is at Washington State University.

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Conflict of Interest Disclosures

Each author signed a form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No authors reported any financial or other conflicts of interest in relation to the work described.

Ethical Principles

The authors affirm having followed professional ethical guidelines in preparing this work. These guidelines include obtaining informed consent from human participants, maintaining ethical treatment and respect for the rights of human or animal participants, and ensuring the privacy of participants and their data, such as ensuring that individual participants cannot be identified in reported results or from publicly available original or archival data.

Role of the Funders/Sponsors

None of the funders or sponsors of this research had any role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the families who participated, as well as the research assistants and participating students. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone; endorsement by the authors’ Institutions or the funding agency is not intended and should not be inferred.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research Grant Council [ECS 28401914] to Eva Y. H. Lau.