A Systematic Review On Co-parenting Pattern After Divorce And Children’s Well-being: Implication On Practice And Research

Abstract

Research purpose: Divorce rates in Asian countries have no signs of decline over the past decade. Co-parenting is the coordination between divorced parents to fulfil parental duties to buffer the negative impact of divorce on children. This paper will review literature about association between post-divorce co-parenting and children’s well-being and identify components to improve children development in Asian families. Methods: Systematic review of the literature on Web of Science and PsycINFO was conducted. Studies about post-divorce conflict/ co-parenting and their associations with children were included for further review. Review papers, evaluation studies, scale validation studies and irrelevant papers were excluded. Results: Forty-eight of the 640 screened articles met the inclusion criteria. Majority of studies showed that supportive co-parenting and low interparental conflict are linked with less children’s behavior and psychological problems and vice versa. Father’s post-divorce involvement also facilitates children’s development. Contrary to the Western findings, the only three Asian studies found lower self-esteem in children with supportive co-parenting and low conflict, while nonresidential fathering was negatively associated with children’s competence due to over-focus on discipline in Chinese context. Conclusion: Parenting education courses may be needed for nonresidential fathers because pre-divorce parenting work is often relied on mothers. Recommendations for future research will be discussed.