Links between mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of infant temperament and coparenting

This study examined the contributions of infant temperament, marital functioning, and the division of parenting on the quality of the coparenting relationship for couples parenting 6-month-old infants. Marital functioning was assessed prenatally. When infants were 6 months old, infant temperamental characteristics (i.e., distress to limits, distress to novelty, and soothability), division of parenting, and coparenting were rated by parents. Results indicated that the reactivity dimension of temperament was only associated with reduced coparenting quality if other stressors were present and these effects were different for mothers and fathers. Mothers who perceived their infants as more reactive only reported more negative coparenting if their infants were also not easily soothed or if mothers were dissatisfied with how parenting tasks were divided and performed given their prior expectations. Whereas fathers reported more negative coparenting when faced with a more reactive infant and they reported a low quality marital relationship.