Constructing family climates: Chinese mothers' reports of their co-parenting behaviour and preschoolers' adaptation

This report examines how contemporary middle class urban mothers in Beijing , People's Republic of China (PRC), characterise their own co-parenting con duct in the family. One hundred mothers of 4-year-old preschoolers (95% of whom were only-children) estimated how frequently they engaged in several d ifferent activities hypothesised to contribute to co-parenting solidarity. Mothers also reported on their children's academic competence and behaviour al adaptation. Self-reported co-parenting activities factored into three ma jor dimensions: behaviours promoting family integrity, co-parental conflict , and frequency of co-parental limit-setting or reprimand activities. Child ren whose mothers reported more frequent and active efforts to promote fami ly integrity were rated as more academically competent than their peers. Ch ildren whose mothers acknowledged more frequent interparental discord and c onflict were described both as showing more conduct problems, and as more a nxious than their peers. Child conduct problems were also associated with m others' reports of more regular reprimand activities by the co-parenting pa rtners. These co-parenting variables accounted for significant proportions of the variance in child behaviour measures over and above the contribution s of maternal parenting practices. The implications of these findings for s tudies of co-parental conflict and solidarity within the PRC, and direction s for future co-parenting research with Chinese families, are discussed.