Effect of grandparent-father coparenting on father’s marital satisfaction: mediating roles of parental coparenting and paternal depression
ZHANG Jingzhu1,2, GUO Fei1, CHEN Zhiyan1
1 . CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; 2. Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Abstract：Objective To explore the effects of grandparent-father coparenting, father’s performance in coparenting with child’s mother, and paternal depression on the father’s marital satisfaction. Methods Parents（both fathers andmothers）of children aged 3 -7 years were investigated by questionnaire. The mothers completed the parental coparenting questionnaire, and the fathers completed the grandparent-father coparenting questionnaire, paternal depression questionnaire, and father’s marital satisfaction questionnaire. A structural equation model was constructed with the grandparent-father coparenting as the independent variable, the father’s marital satisfaction as the dependent variable, and the parental coparenting and the father’s depression level as the mediating variables. The Bootstrap method was used to test the mediating effects. Results A total of 586 valid questionnaires（293parents）were collected. Correlation analyses showed that all the dimensions of grandparent-father coparenting, all the dimensions of parental coparenting, and father’s marital satisfaction positively correlated with each other. Father’s depression was negatively correlated with grandparent-father coparenting, parental coparenting, as well as with father’s marital satisfaction. The structural equation model analysis indicated that grandparent-father coparenting not only exerted direct effect on father’s marital satisfaction, but also had indirect influence via the mediating effects of parental coparenting and father’s depression. Conclusion Parental coparenting and paternal depression play multiple mediating roles in the relationship between grandparent-father coparenting and father’s marital satisfaction.
