Negative Parental Disclosures as Mediators of Coparental Communication and Relational Outcomes in Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

This study explored the associations among young adult children's perceptions of coparental communication (i.e. supportive and antagonistic), parents' negative disclosures, and relational outcomes in parent-child relationships (i.e., closeness and satisfaction). Participants included 241 emerging adult children who completed online surveys. As hypothesized, the results revealed that supportive coparental communication is positively associated with young adults' closeness and satisfaction with both parents, whereas antagonistic coparental communication is inversely associated with both outcomes. Parents' negative disclosures to their children mediated the associations between both dimensions of coparental communication and both relational outcomes. For mothers, indirect effects of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication through their own negative disclosures emerged for children's closeness, but not satisfaction. For fathers, however, indirect effects of both forms of coparental communication through mother's negative disclosures emerged for children's closeness and satisfaction. Ultimately, the results underscore the importance of disclosure as an explanatory mechanism for the associations between coparental communication patterns and relational quality in parent-child relationships. The implications of the findings, limitations, and possibilities for future research are discussed.