Paternal coparenting behavior and adolescent prosocial behaviors: Roles of parent-child attachment, peer attachment, and gender

Abstract Based on family system theory and the internal working model of attachment, this study explored how and when paternal coparenting behavior is related to adolescent prosocial behaviors. Eight hundred and ninety Chinese adolescents from nuclear families filled out questionnaires regarding paternal coparenting behavior, prosocial behaviors, father-child attachment, mother-child attachment, and peer attachment. Results showed that (1) Positive paternal coparenting behavior (coparenting integrity and consistency) was positively associated with adolescent prosocial behaviors, while negative paternal coparenting behavior (coparenting conflict and bias) was not significantly associated with adolescent prosocial behaviors; (2) Coparenting integrity was positively related to father-child attachment, while coparenting conflict was negatively related to father-child attachment, which supported spillover effect in family system; coparenting integrity and consistency were both positively related to mother-child attachment, while coparenting conflict was negatively related to mother-child attachment, which supported crossover effect in family system; (3) Mother-child attachment and peer attachment sequentially mediated the association between coparenting integrity and adolescent prosocial behaviors only for girls but not boys; (4) Peer attachment mediated the association between coparenting consistency and prosocial behaviors in both boy and girl groups. The results stressed the role of positive paternal coparenting behaviors in adolescent prosocial behaviors and encouraged to enhance the coparenting practice to foster adolescent positive development.