THE COPARENTING RELATIONSHIP SCALE: THE FIRST CONTRIBUTION TO THE VALIDATION OF THE MEASURE IN ITALIAN MOTHERS AND FATHERS

This paper investigates the validity of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) among Italian parents. Moreover, we explored the role of coparenting as a mediator of the association between marital satisfaction on children’s adjustment. Specifically, the first study aims to test the reliability and validity of the Italian translation of the CRS among Italian parents. A total of 529 mothers and 529 fathers of children (49.3% males) aged 1-13 completed the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the theoretically grounded 7-factor structure of the original instrument was valid in explaining the structure of the Italian data. The 7-factor model also fits well across parents’ gender, as there is configural invariance. Besides, the likelihood ratio tests proved that the goodness of fit of the metric model did not significantly change from the configural model. Convergent validity was also tested, and results of correlations and regression analyses showed theoretically coherent links between the participants’ scores on the CRS, marital adjustment, parenting stress, and children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. The second study explores the indirect effects of marital satisfaction on children’s adjustment by considering negative coparenting and parenting stress as mediators. Participants were 371 mothers and 371 fathers. Results showed a pathway from marital satisfaction to children’s behavioral problems, with negative coparenting (M1) affecting parenting stress (M2), directly associated with children’s behavioral problems. (M1) affecting parenting stress (M2), directly associated with children’s behavioral problems.