The Actor-Partner Interdependence Effects of Co-Parenting and Harsh Parenting on Parenting Engagement

Overview: This study examines the effects of each parent's harsh parenting and co-parenting on the parental engagement of both parents. Findings suggest that parental engagement was interdependent on both fathers’ and mothers’ harsh parenting and co-parenting behaviors, suggesting a better way to strengthen cooperative family relationships among low-income couples.Proposal text: Background and Purpose
Evidence suggests that harsh parenting practices may negatively disrupt parent-child relationships (Wang et al., 2021). The effect of positive co-parenting on parent engagement has also been documented (Lee et al., 2020). As parenting behaviors are interdependent within parent dyads and closely associated with interactions within parent-child dyads, this study utilizes an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model [APIM] to 1) examine the effects of both parents' harsh parenting and co-parenting on maternal engagement; 2) examine the effects of both parents' harsh parenting and co-parenting on paternal engagement, and 3) compare the effects of a parent's parenting behaviors on his/her own parenting engagement (actor-effects) to the effects of his/her partner's parenting behaviors (partner-effects).

Methods
This study uses a 12-month follow-up dyadic dataset from a Supporting Healthy Marriages evaluation study. Both parents responded to questions that measured perceptions of their own parenting behaviors (N = 4,049 couples).
Harsh parenting was calculated by two questions reflecting the level of parenting hostility. A sum of six items was used to measure a co-parenting relationship reported. The parental engagement was measured by summing up four age-specific questions reflecting the parent's level of involvement in daily care for the child. Higher scores reflect higher levels of parental engagement, harsh parenting, and co-parenting behaviors, respectively. The analysis controlled for children's and parents' ages, participation in the Supporting Healthy Marriage
Evaluation program, and parents' race/ethnicity. The APIM was performed to examine hypothesized actor and partner effects using structural equation modeling in Amos28.

Results
Fathers’ more frequent harsh parenting were related to mothers’ higher parental engagement (β = .047, p < .01). However, the mother's harsh parenting did not significantly affect the mother's parental engagement. Therefore, only the partner's effect on the maternal engagement (father's harsh parentingmother's parental engagement) was significant.
Both fathers’ and mothers’ co-parenting were positively associated with the level of maternal engagement (β = .038, p < .05 for partner-effect; β = .082, p < .001 for actor-effect). However, the bootstrap analysis confirmed that mothers' co-parenting effect on mother's engagement (actor-effect) was significantly higher than the father's effects on mother's engagement (partner-effect) (b = .548, p = .026).
In contrast, both father's and mother's harsh parenting were not significantly associated with father's engagement. However, both fathers’ and mother’s co-parenting behaviors were positively associated with the paternal engagement (β = .191, p < .001 for actor-effect; β = .070, p < .001 for partner-effect). Fathers' co-parenting effect on father's engagement (actor-effect) was significantly higher than the mother's effects on father's engagement (partner-effect) (b =.308, p < .001).

Conclusions and Implications
The results showed that parental engagement was interdependent on both parents' harsh parenting and co-parenting behaviors. Mother's parental engagement was more dependent on fathers' harsh parenting than mothers' own harsh parenting. However, actor-effects of co-parenting were more important than partner effects among both fathers and mothers.
Results highlight the importance of understanding the family's interdependent dynamics influencing active parental engagement. These findings will serve to boost the effectiveness of stable marriage education and intervention in low-income couples.