Abstract
This study examined associations between Mexican-origin parents’ cultural values in relation to supportive and undermining coparenting behavior. Data were collected from 80 sets of parents, 160 parents total, with a preschool-age child (M = 63.60 months old; 39 boys, 41 girls) who were of Mexican origin (22% of mothers and 28% of fathers born in Mexico). Mothers and fathers independently completed questionnaires assessing their cultural values of (a) familismo (i.e., loyalty to family), (b) machismo (i.e., adherence to masculine/feminine gender roles), (c) respeto (i.e., respect for self and others), and (d) simpatía (i.e., maintenance of interpersonal harmony). Mother–father–child triads were observed during a structured play session from which supportive and undermining coparenting behavior was coded. Mothers and fathers who held stronger familism beliefs were characterized by more supportive coparenting behavior. Mothers and fathers who held stronger simpatía beliefs were characterized by less undermining coparenting behavior. Fathers who held stronger respeto beliefs showed more supportive coparenting behavior, whereas mothers who held stronger machismo beliefs were characterized by more undermining coparenting behavior. Mother–father dyads with higher agreement on familism displayed more supportive coparenting behavior, and mothers and fathers who had higher agreement on simpatía beliefs engaged in less undermining coparenting. Results suggest that the cultural values held by both mothers and fathers of Mexican origin are significantly associated with the quality of their coparenting relationship.
In recent years, coparenting has been recognized as an important family relationship dynamic in nondivorced two-parent families, representing mothers’ and fathers’ coordination of their parental roles, support for one another in the performance of child-rearing duties, level of agreement, and working together collaboratively to raise a child (Caldera & Lindsey, 2006; Solmeyer, Killoren, McHale, & Updegraff, 2011). Empirical findings have made it clear that in two-parent families, coparenting that is characterized by partner’s efforts to endorse or complement each other’s child-rearing efforts is linked to a more positive family climate (Lindsey & Caldera, 2005; Schoppe-Sullivan, Mangelsdorf, Frosch, & McHale, 2004) and better adjustment outcomes for children (Caldera & Lindsey, 2006; Schoppe-Sullivan, Mangelsdorf, & Frosch, 2001). In contrast, coparenting characterized by a lack of coordination between partners, as well as competitive, hostile, and adversarial behaviors, has been linked to family conflict (McHale & Rasmussen, 1998) and child behavioral problems outside the home (McConnell & Kerig, 2002; Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2001).
Although most of the empirical database examining coparenting within the United States focuses on non-Hispanic, Caucasian families (McHale, Kuersten-Hogan, Lauretti, & Rasmussen, 2000; Van Egeren & Hawkins, 2004), efforts have been made to consider the roles of ethnicity, culture, and context in coparenting. Particular attention has been devoted to delineating coparenting processes in families of Mexican origin (Lindsey & Caldera, 2015; Merrifield, Lucero-Liu, & Gamble, 2014), the largest Latino ethnic subgroup in the U.S. population (Ennis, Ríos-Vargas, & Albert, 2011; U.S. Office of Management and Budget Standards, 2012). Both qualitative and quantitative studies focusing exclusively on Mexican-origin families indicate that coparenting qualities appear very similar to those observed in European American families (Caldera, Fitzpatrick, & Wampler, 2002; Lindsey & Caldera, 2015). Furthermore, coparenting quality appears to be related in similar ways to family functioning and child adjustment outcomes in Mexican-origin families (Merrifield et al., 2014). Questions remain, however, regarding what cultural characteristics unique to Mexican-origin families account for differences in coparenting quality across families.
Culture is multidimensional, involving values and observable practices (Cabassa, 2003), both of which play a role in family dynamics (Buriel, 1993; Parke, 2004). When culture is a focus, most studies test between-group differences (e.g., Mexican origin versus Anglo) and rely on proxy markers of culture, such as language, ethnicity, or nativity. These status variables, however, provide little insight into the cultural processes underlying variations in family functioning within a cultural group (McLoyd, 1998). In an effort to understand factors that may be associated with individual differences in coparenting quality across Mexican-origin families, researchers have begun to focus on the role of cultural beliefs and values that relate to how fathers and mothers negotiate and manage child-rearing activities. In a recent review of empirical findings, Lindsey and Caldera (2015) identify four values inherent to the cultural background of Mexican Americans that may be linked to coparenting: (a) familismo, the valuing of family closeness (Becerra, 1998), (b) machismo, the valuing of traditional gender roles (Goldwert, 1985), (c) respeto, the valuing of showing respect for others (Garcia, 1996), and (d) simpatía, the valuing of interpersonal harmony (Triandis, Marin, Lisansky, & Betancourt, 1984).
Familismo
Familism or familismo refers to an emphasis on duty to one’s family, as well as cooperation, cohesion, and nonconflictual family interactions (Baca Zinn, 1994; Rodriguez, Mira, Paez, & Myers, 2007). The term familismo references an emphasis on maintaining strong family ties, holding expectations that instrumental and emotional support will be derived primarily from one’s family, and upholding commitment to the family over individual needs and desires (Lugo Steidel & Contreras, 2003; Sabogal, Marin, Otero-Sabogal, VanOss-Marin, & Perez, 1987). In relation to coparenting, mothers and fathers who endorse principles of familismo may be more likely to coordinate their parenting to preserve family unity (Caldera et al., 2002). To the extent that norms of familism are adopted within Mexican American families, one might expect to see coparenting subsystems characterized by high levels of agreement and cooperativeness. Pinto and Coltrane (2009) directly assessed the relationship between familism beliefs and coparenting quality in a sample of Mexican American families and found that even though Mexican-origin mothers and fathers reported stronger beliefs in familism than European American mothers and fathers, and that Mexican immigrant mothers reported stronger familism beliefs than Mexican American mothers, there was no association between familism beliefs and coparenting quality, as assessed based on parents’ report of joint participation in housework. However, the very narrow measure of coparenting quality used by Pinto and Coltrane (2009) may account for the lack of association between familism beliefs and coparenting quality. Therefore, additional investigation of the theoretical support for associations between familism values and coparenting is needed.
Machismo
Another value ascribed to Mexican-origin culture is that of adhering to traditional male/female gender roles, more specifically labeled machismo, the gender-role construct of male dominance and female submissiveness within the family (Becerra, 1998; Goldwert, 1985; Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2007; Phinney & Flores, 2002). A manifestation of machismo values often is the strict division of child-rearing responsibilities along gender lines, with the mother assuming primary responsibility for parenting and the father taking a peripheral role in children’s lives (Mirandé, 1986). Based on this representation of machismo beliefs, coparenting in Mexican American families might be expected to take on patterns of inequality and disjointed participation by mothers and fathers. Evidence suggests, however, that the stereotypical meaning of machismo does not accurately capture the behavior of Mexican American fathers (Cabrera & Garcia Coll, 2004; Felix-Ortiz, Abreu, Briano, & Bowen, 2001). Specifically, Mexican American fathers have been found to actively play with their children, to be highly affectionate, and be emotionally supportive toward children (Davis & Chavez, 1995; Mirandé, 1991). Toth and Xu (1999) reported that a combined sample of 135 Mexican American, Cuban American, and Puerto Rican fathers spent more time in direct interactions with their children than a comparison group of 999 non-Hispanic White fathers. Together, this evidence suggests that among Mexican American families, the link between the cultural value of machismo and coparenting may be more complex than suggested by existing stereotypical perspectives of the meaning of machismo. To date, however, to the best of the author’s knowledge, no study has examined connections between machismo beliefs and coparenting quality in Mexican-origin families.
Respeto
A third cultural value attributed to Mexican American families is that of respeto that reflects a mental orientation toward sustaining amicable interpersonal relationships based on the demonstration of respect for self and others (Arcia & Johnson, 1998; Livas-Dlott et al., 2010) and an appreciation of each family member’s unique role (Valdes, 1996). High levels of respeto in Mexican American families may be conducive to more coordination in the behaviors of mothers and fathers, and parents and children, in that there is a hierarchical structure in patterns of deferring to the opinions and suggestions of other family members. Support for a link between respeto and coparenting quality comes from a study by Yu et al. (2008) who collected data from 45 mother–father dyads with a preschool-age child who were predominantly first generation Mexican American. The authors found that in families where fathers placed a high value on respeto, mothers reported less concurrent parental agreement. In turn, in families where mothers placed a high value on respeto, fathers reported greater coparenting coordination. These findings suggest that there may be different consequences to coparenting quality associated with mothers’ and fathers’ adherence to the cultural value of respeto. Given the limited scope of Yu et al.’s (2008) study, additional research is needed to examine mothers’ and fathers’ respeto beliefs in relation to coparenting quality.
Simpatía
Mexican American culture has also been characterized as adhering to the value of simpatía defined as “a permanent personal quality where an individual is perceived as likable, attractive, fun to be with, and easy going” (Triandis et al., 1984, p. 1363). At a behavioral level, the term simpatía refers to the demonstration of a willingness to conform to authority, an ability to empathize with the feelings of others, and the concentrated effort to avoid interpersonal conflict so as to maintain harmony in interpersonal relationships. Consequently, individuals who embody the value of simpatía maximize agreeableness in their relationships, place others’ needs before their own, and avoid conflict even when disagreeing (Yu et al., 2008). Within the family, a belief system or cultural script grounded in the value of simpatía would likely translate into a coparenting relationship characterized by high agreement, sharing responsibilities, and cooperative decision making. Likewise, parents who conjointly strive to adhere to the value of simpatía would likely manifest low levels of conflict in their coparenting relationship. Yu et al. (2008) found that in families with fathers who placed a high value in simpatía, mothers reported greater parental agreement on child-rearing, whereas mothers’ valuing of simpatía was not related to their own or to fathers’ reports of parental agreement or coparenting. It remains unclear whether parents’ value of simpatía relates to other dimensions of coparenting quality.
Based on this review, both theoretical and empirical evidence suggest that the cultural values of (a) familismo, (b) machismo, (c) respeto, and (d) simpatía are related to coparenting processes in Mexican American families. Parents’ similarity in cultural values is likely to represent an important process associated with coparental functioning within Mexican American families. Researchers have established a link between interparental agreement on child-rearing beliefs and higher quality parental alliances (Margolin, Gordis, & John, 2001), as well as more synchronous parent–child interaction (Lindsey & Mize, 2001). Parental agreement in child-rearing requires consensus on basic ideals of care and culturally preferred socialization strategies (McHale et al., 2003). The ability to establish such a consensus may allow parents to lay a foundation of stability and predictability in the child-rearing environment of the home that contributes to optimal adjustment outcomes for children (Lindsey & Mize, 2001). Consequently, in studying coparenting among Mexican American families, it is necessary to assess the values of both parents and to evaluate the degree of similarity between mother’s and father’s beliefs as a potential correlate of coparenting quality.
The goal of the present study was to advance understanding of the association between cultural values and the display of supportive and undermining coparenting in two-parent Mexican American families with a preschool-age child. Specifically, four cultural values attributed to individuals of Mexican-origin (a) familismo, (b) machismo, (c) respeto, and (d) simpatía were examined in relation to supportive and undermining behavior among Mexican-origin parents in mother–father–child triadic play session. It was predicted that greater adherence to familismo values, lower adherence to machismo values, greater adherence to respeto values, and greater adherence to simpatía values would be associated with more supportive and less undermining coparenting behavior. The study also examined whether mothers’ and fathers’ adherence to the four cultural values differentially related to their supportive and undermining coparenting behavior. In addition, the association of interparental agreement on cultural values and supportive and undermining coparenting behavior was investigated.
Method
Participants
Participants were 80 Mexican-origin two-parent families with a preschool-age child. Families were recruited from various community locations: Hispanic community center (36), churches (33), and retail stores (11). Only families with a first-born child between the age of 3 and 7, in which both biological parents resided in the home, both parents were of Mexican origin, and who met the inclusion criteria were recruited (exclusions: multiple births, adopted child, family expects to move from area within the year, child medical exclusions [Down syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc.], parent medical exclusions [visual and hearing impairments]). The families represent 71% of the total number of eligible families who were approached and asked to participate in the study. Families were called within 2 weeks after the initial recruitment to enroll in the study and schedule the first visit.
The majority of parents 67 (83%) were married, with the remainder 13 (17%) being unmarried and cohabitating. Mother’s average age was 25.69 (SD = 5.9), father’s average age was 28.21 (SD = 5.2), and families had an average of 2.5 children in the home (SD = 1.2). Forty-three (54%) mothers had a high school education or less, 25 (31%) had some college, 11 (17%) had a bachelor’s degree, and one mother had a graduate degree. Forty-seven (59%) fathers had a high school education or less, 23 (29%) had some college, and 10 (15%) had a bachelor’s degree. Annual family income ranged from $16,500 to $93,000 (M = $32,175, SD = 14,477). Children averaged 5.30 years of age (SD = 1.22; range 3.63-6.34) at the time of data collection, and about half (n = 39) were boys.
Ten (13%) mothers were born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States before the age of 15, seven (9%) mothers were born in Mexico and immigrated after age 15, and 63 (78%) mothers were born in the United States. Twelve (15%) fathers were born in Mexico and immigrated before the age of 15, 10 (13%) fathers were born in Mexico and immigrated after age 15, and 58 (72%) fathers were born in the United States. The average number of years in the United States was 16.24 (SD = 8.38) for immigrant mothers and 14.82 (SD = 7.82) for immigrant fathers. Of those who were born in the United States, 14 (21%) mothers and 20 (30%) fathers had one or both parents who were born in Mexico, whereas all other participating parents had parents who were also born in the United States. All of the children were born in the United States. Only two families elected to complete questionnaires written in Spanish and to communicate with researchers in Spanish.
Procedure
All home visits were conducted by trained undergraduate research assistants who spoke fluent Spanish. At the beginning of the 1-hr home visit, parents independently completed a series of self-report instruments. After parents completed the questionnaires, mother, father, and child were videotaped as a triad while playing for 15 min with a laundry basket full of toys (i.e., set of wooden blocks, set of plastic zoo animals, toy cooking utensils, a baby doll with bottle and diaper, toy cars, a pair of hand puppets, and a set of Nerf foam baseball bats and foam ball). The researcher placed all the toys equidistant from parents and child and asked parents to play together with their child with the toys in any way that they wished for 15 min. A triadic free play task was chosen as a context to assess coparenting behavior because similar, although not identical, triadic interaction sessions have been widely used in previous research to assess the quality of coparenting (e.g., McConnell & Kerig, 2002; McHale et al., 2000; Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2004). Theoretical models of coparenting argue that mother and father behaviors toward each other with reference to the child or parenting lie at the core of coparenting and can only be observed in a context in which mother, father, and child are interacting together (Feinberg, 2003; McHale et al., 2003). A duration of 15 min was selected as being comparable to the length of time used in other studies to observe coparenting quality (e.g., McHale et al., 2000; Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2004) and in consideration of parents’ time commitment, as well as to reduce the likelihood that the preschool-age children would become bored or restless. At the end of the home visit, parents were given a US$40 gift card to a local retail store as compensation.
Measures
Demographic characteristics
During the home interview, parents reported their age; ethnicity and race; country of birth for self, mother, father, and grandparents; years living in the United States; years of education completed; annual household income; marital status; and the number of children living in the home. Family income information was used to calculate an income-to-needs ratio (reversed) to be used as an index of family economic resources. It was calculated from U.S. Census Bureau tables as the ratio of family income to the appropriate poverty threshold for each household size and number of children below 18, with higher scores indicating greater financial resources in the household. For the purposes of this study, mothers’ and fathers’ reports of education and family economic resources were used as control variables.
Cultural values
Mothers and fathers were asked to complete the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale (MACVS: Knight et al., 2010), a survey designed to measure adherence to Mexican American values and mainstream values. Three of the four subscales of the MACVS were used in the present study: Familism (16 items, e.g., “parents should teach their children that the family always comes first”; “if a relative is having a hard time financially, one should help them out if possible”; “a person should always think about their family when making important decisions”); Respeto (eight items, e.g., “children should always be polite when speaking to any adult”); Machismo (five items, e.g., “Men should earn most of the money for the family so women can stay home and take care of the children”). The Religiosity subscale of the MACVS was not pertinent to the research questions of the study and thus was not included in analyses. Parents indicated their endorsement of each item by responding with a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from (1) not at all to (5) very much. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the items for each subscale fit best on the respective subscale. Knight et al. (2010) provided evidence of the validity of the MACVS subscale scores. For this study, three variables were created for both mothers and fathers by averaging the items within the respective scales: Familism values (α = .73 and .77, for mothers and fathers, respectively), Machismo values (α = .74 and .79, for mothers and fathers, respectively), and Respeto values (α = .81 and .83, for mothers and fathers, respectively).
Simpatía
Parents also were asked to complete a modified version (Sotomayor-Peterson, De Baca, Figueredo, & Smith-Castro, 2013; Sotomayor-Peterson, Figueredo, Christensen, & Taylor, 2012) of the Simpatía Scale developed by Griffith, Joe, Chatham, and Simpson (1998). The scale is composed of 10 items worded as goal statements (e.g., “To be able to openly share your feelings,” “To avoid conflict at all costs,” and “To make others feel comfortable”) to which respondents indicate the level of importance each item has for them and their interactions with other people using a 5-point scale, not important (1) to extremely important (5). Mothers’ and fathers’ responses to all items were averaged separately to create a Simpatía values variable for each parent, α = .84 and .76, for mothers and fathers, respectively.
Interparental agreement on values
Because it was of interest to assess the degree of similarity or level of agreement between mother and father cultural values, intraclass correlations were selected as the means to create agreement indices for each couple. Intraclass correlation is useful for addressing questions concerning similarity between two members of a dyad because it accounts for the actual match between two separate scores, rather than simply assessing the linear combination of scores as in Pearson’s correlation, and because the resulting score can be used as a variable in analyses (Galovan, Holmes, & Proulx, 2017; Maguire, 1999). Using procedures outlined by Maguire (1999), all scores on a particular scale for one parent were entered into SPSS and compared with all matching scores on that scale for the other parent to generate an interclass correlation for the dyad using the complete agreement option. This procedure was carried out separately for each dyad in the sample for mother’s and father’s Familism values, Machismo values, Respeto values, and a Simpatía values. The resulting intraclass correlation score for each dyad was entered as a variable representing a measure of mother–father Familism agreement, Machismo agreement, Respeto agreement, and a Simpatía agreement. The scores for each agreement measure ranged from 1 to −1, with a 1 indicating perfect similarity between mother and father and a −1 indicating perfect dissimilarity.
Observational measures of coparenting interaction
Video records of the mother–child–father interaction session were coded using a behavioral rating system developed based on theoretical and empirical evidence that support and cooperation, as well as undermining and competition, represent important dimensions of coparenting that account for individual differences across parent dyads (McHale, 1995). Eight research assistants who spoke fluent Spanish, who were blind to all other information about the families, and who had not participated in conducting the home visits, received 15 hours of training prior to coding the videotapes. Training included study and discussion of coding categories, and observation of videotaped family interaction. After completing training, one of the research assistants was randomly selected to serve as the reliability coder and the other seven research assistants were designated as primary coders. The family videos were randomly divided among the seven primary coders. To assess ongoing coding reliability, three videos from each primary coder (N = 21, 26% of all videos) were randomly selected to be coded by the reliability coder. Kappa coefficients were calculated using the scores of the primary and reliability coders.
The rating system contained four behavioral categories: (a) Active cooperation (M = 2.85, SD = .95; parents are working toward a goal of enhancing play), (b) Active competition (M = 1.52, SD = .57; parents attempt to engage the child in different activities at the same time and appear to vie for the child’s attention); (c) Verbal sparring (M = 1.75, SD = 1.06 disagreements between parents, expression of sarcasm, use of verbal insults); and (d) Coparental warmth (M = 2.31, SD = .94; amount of warmth, positivity, enjoyment of each other’s company, and humor between parents. Each behavior was rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1) uncharacteristic of interaction to (5) highly characteristic of interaction. Reliability for these four variables was κ = .76, .68, .71, and .78, respectively.
Correlation analysis of the four coparenting codes revealed a significant positive association between active cooperation and coparental warmth, r = .74, p < .001, which were subsequently averaged into a single Coparenting Support variable, with high scores reflecting parents’ effort to collaborate during interaction with their child and to engage in supportive coparenting behavior. Similarly, there was a significant association between active competition and verbal sparring, r = .68, p < .001, which were subsequently averaged into a single Coparenting Undermining variable with high scores reflecting efforts by parents to dominate the interaction with their child and engage in one-upmanship in the coparenting relationship.
Results
Descriptive statistics for all variables used in analyses are reported in Table 1. Preliminary analyses examined demographic characteristics, parental cultural beliefs, and coparenting behaviors. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the associations between parental cultural beliefs and coparenting behaviors. The final analyses examined the prediction of supportive and undermining coparenting quality by different cultural beliefs and parents’ similarity in cultural beliefs.
Descriptive Statistics.
Preliminary Analyses: Parent Gender Differences and Associations With Demographic Characteristics
To discern differences in cultural beliefs based on parent gender (mother vs. father), paired comparison t-tests were conducted. There was a significant difference between mothers and fathers for machismo beliefs, t(79) = 2.84, p = .02, d = .32, with fathers reporting higher machismo beliefs (M = 3.33) than mothers (M = 3.19). There were no other significant differences between mothers and fathers.
Analysis examining associations between demographic variables, cultural beliefs, and coparenting behaviors (see Table 2) revealed seven significant correlations out of 42 (17%), indicating that caution should be exercised in interpreting these results given that the number of significant correlations did not exceed chance levels. Fathers’ familism beliefs were positively related to annual family income. Fathers’ machismo beliefs were negatively related to fathers’ education level and mothers’ education level. Coparenting support was negatively associated with annual family income but positively related to mothers’ education level. Coparental intrusiveness was significantly positively associated with annual family income and fathers’ education level. After Bonferroni adjustments were conducted, only the correlations between fathers’ familism beliefs and annual family income, fathers’ machismo beliefs and mothers’ education level, coparenting support and annual family income, coparenting support and mothers’ educational level, and coparenting intrusiveness and fathers’ education level remained significant.
Correlations Between Mother and Father Cultural Beliefs, Agreement on Cultural Beliefs, and Coparenting Support and Undermining.
p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Correlations Between Cultural Beliefs and Coparenting Behavior
There was a significant positive relation between mothers’ and fathers’ familism beliefs and coparenting support (see Table 2). Likewise, mother and father familism agreement was significantly positively related to coparenting support. Mothers’ machismo beliefs were positively related to coparenting undermining, whereas fathers’ machismo beliefs were negatively related to coparenting undermining. Mother and father agreement on machismo beliefs was negatively related to undermining coparenting. Fathers’ respeto beliefs were positively related to coparenting support. There was a significant positive relation between mothers’ and father’ simpatía beliefs and coparenting support. Likewise, mother and father agreement on simpatía beliefs was significantly positively related to coparenting support. There was a significant negative relation between mothers’ and fathers’ simpatía beliefs and coparenting undermining. Likewise, mother and father agreement on simpatía beliefs was significantly negatively related to undermining coparenting.
Cultural Beliefs as Predictors of Coparenting Behavior
Stepwise multiple regressions were performed using family demographic and mother and father cultural beliefs as predictors of observed coparenting behavior. All variables were entered into the stepwise regression analyses to examine the contributions of demographic variables and cultural beliefs in explaining variance in coparenting quality. In the analysis, demographic variables were entered in the first step, in the second step mother and father cultural beliefs were entered, and in the final step the variables representing mother–father agreement on cultural beliefs were entered.
Table 3 presents the results of these analyses. In the analysis predicting coparenting support, a significant 22% of the variance was explained. Family demographic variables did not account for a significant proportion of the variance in coparenting support. With the addition of mother’s and fathers’ cultural beliefs, a significant 12% of the variance in coparenting support was explained. Specifically, mothers’ and fathers’ familism beliefs and fathers’ respeto beliefs were significantly positively associated with coparenting support. Parental agreement on cultural beliefs explained 9% of the variance in coparenting support. The beta weights revealed that interparental agreement on familism beliefs and simpatía beliefs was significantly positively associated with coparenting support.
Stepwise Regression Analysis Predicting Supportive and Undermining Coparenting Behavior.
p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
In the analysis predicting coparenting, undermining 18% of the variance was accounted for, with the majority (15%) being attributed to mothers’ and fathers’ cultural beliefs. Demographic variables did not account for a significant proportion of the variance in undermining coparenting. Mothers’ and fathers’ individual cultural beliefs variables accounted for a significant 8% of the variance in undermining coparenting. Mothers’ simpatía beliefs and fathers’ simpatía beliefs were significantly negatively associated with undermining coparenting, whereas mothers’ machismo beliefs were significantly positively associated with undermining coparenting. Mother and father agreement on cultural beliefs accounted for 7% of the variance in undermining coparenting, with agreement on simpatía beliefs being significantly negatively related to undermining coparenting.
Discussion
The major goal of this study was to examine the connections cultural values have to supportive and undermining coparenting behavior in Mexican-origin families. Based on existing literature (Lindsey & Caldera, 2015), the study focused on the values of (a) familismo (b) machismo, (c) respeto, and (d) simpatía. Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ cultural values were associated with the quality of coparenting behavior, but that the specific pattern of associations varied based on the gender of parent, the particular dimension of cultural values, and the specific quality of coparenting. In addition, interparental agreement on specific cultural values was found to be associated with coparenting quality.
Mothers and fathers who scored higher on familismo beliefs were members of parenting dyads who displayed higher levels of supportive coparenting behavior. Familismo, as defined and measured in this study, taps into a belief system wherein duty toward family is viewed as the foundation for family functioning (Baca Zinn, 1994; Rodriguez et al., 2007). As such, adherence to familismo values may be linked to supportive coparenting by motivating parents to align their behavior as parents and to maintain unity in their child-rearing practices. Parents who hold strong familism beliefs may work harder to coordinate as coparents and to reach consensus when interacting with their child, as opposed to focusing on individualized parenting agendas. Although familismo beliefs are considered to be more characteristic of Mexican-origin parents than parents from other ethnic groups (Pinto & Coltrane, 2009), the results of this study demonstrate that among Mexican-origin families there are individual differences in adherence to familism beliefs that relate to variations in coparenting. Identifying these individual differences provides a more nuanced understanding of the role that culture plays in family functioning compared with a perspective of homogeneity among Mexican-origin families. It is also worth noting that other studies have found familism to be associated with less optimal psychological outcomes, such as distress (Youn, Knight, Jeong, & Benton, 1999), depression (Losada et al., 2010), and stress (Rozario & DeRienzis, 2008). Future research should consider how familism and coparenting support relate to other domains of parents’ psychosocial adjustment.
The only other individual-level cultural belief that was significantly associated with higher levels of coparenting support was fathers’ respeto beliefs, indicative of an emphasis on maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationships through respect (Arcia & Johnson, 1998; Livas-Dlott et al., 2010). This finding is similar to a gender-specific link between respeto beliefs and coparenting quality found by Yu et al. (2008) but differs in that the previous study found that fathers’ respeto beliefs were linked to mothers’ report of lower coparenting agreement, and mother’s respeto beliefs were linked to father’s report of more coparenting coordination. The discrepancies between studies may be accounted for by the fact that Yu et al. (2008) assessed coparenting quality using self-report measures, whereas in the present study coparenting behavior was observed. It is possible that mothers’ and fathers’ respeto beliefs may be linked to different dimensions of coparenting, both behaviorally and in terms of parents’ cognitive interpretations of coparenting. Future investigation should consider links between parents’ respeto beliefs and both self-report and observational assessments of coparenting quality, as well as coparenting behavior in multiple contexts.
In the analysis of coparenting undermining behavior, mothers and fathers who held stronger simpatía beliefs were in parenting dyads characterized by lower levels of undermining behavior. Simpatía is the belief that individuals should strive for interpersonal harmony in their relationships with others by being agreeable and avoiding contradicting others’ ideas (Triandis et al., 1984). Thus, it appears that mothers and fathers in the present study who endorsed simpatía beliefs make more of an effort to avoid engaging in competitive interaction and verbal disagreements in their coparenting relationship. These findings are consistent with those of Yu et al. (2008) who found that father’s simpatía beliefs were associated with mother’s reports of parental agreement on child-rearing.
Of the other cultural beliefs examined, only mothers’ machismo beliefs demonstrated a significant positive relationship with coparenting undermining. It is of interest to note that although not significant, fathers’ machismo beliefs were negatively associated with undermining coparenting, as was interparental agreement on machismo beliefs, and yet there was a significant positive association between mothers’ and fathers’ machismo beliefs. At the same time, there was a significant mean difference in machismo scores for fathers and mothers, with fathers scoring higher on average than mothers. This pattern suggests that the mismatch of machismo beliefs between father and mother may be associated with undermining behavior. However, caution should be exercised in the interpretation of findings pertaining to the machismo measure used in this study as it is based on questions about parental beliefs regarding the importance of adhering to traditional gender norms, with an emphasis on males adhering to masculine gender roles. Framing the cultural belief of machismo in this way has been criticized as a stereotypical, generally negative view of traditional Latino masculine gender norms (Becerra, 1998; Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2007; Phinney & Flores, 2002), and as not accurately representing the behavior of Mexican American fathers (Arciniega, Anderson, Tovar-Blank, & Tracey, 2008; Cabrera & Garcia Coll, 2004; Felix-Ortiz et al., 2001). It is recommended that future research examining cultural beliefs of machismo in relation to coparenting quality avoid measures focusing on adherence to masculine gender roles, such as that used in this study, and instead employ measures that better capture the complexity of the cultural meaning of machismo.
Following symbolic interactionist arguments that shared beliefs and interpretations of information contribute to consistency in familial and parental functioning (Berger & Kellner, 2003; LaRossa & Reitzes, 1993), the study also examined parent’s similarity in cultural values as a potential process associated with coparental functioning within Mexican-origin families. Results indicated that couples were generally interdependent in their culture values, in that one parent’s level of endorsement of a specific cultural value was similar to the other parent’s level of endorsement of that value. However, results also indicate that individual differences in level of agreement on values across dyads accounted for variations in coparenting quality. Specifically, mother–father dyads who were in more agreement regarding familismo beliefs demonstrated more supportive coparenting behavior, whereas mothers and fathers who were in agreement regarding simpatía beliefs engaged in less undermining coparenting behavior. Connections between parental agreement on cultural beliefs and coparenting quality emerged even when considered with each individual parent’s cultural values scores. Consistent with a symbolic interactionist perspective, this finding indicates that agreement in cultural values is an emergent quality of the coparenting relationship that is distinct from the characteristics of each individual parent. Thus, to understand factors that influence the quality of coparenting, it is important to assess the co-constructed nature of the coparenting relationship.
The majority of parents in this sample had been born in the United States. Although level of acculturation was not specifically assessed, given the length of time parents had lived in the United States and the fact that only two families requested that Spanish be used in the data collection process, it is likely that they were highly acculturated. Thus, the results of this study may not generalize to less acculturated Mexican-origin parents and the hypotheses guiding this study should be examined with samples that have a wider range of acculturation status. Moreover, future work considering cultural differences in coparenting quality should include multidimensional assessment of acculturation.
Although triadic free play sessions similar to that used in the current study have been employed to assess coparenting quality in families with preschool-age children (Caldera & Lindsey, 2006; McConnell & Kerig, 2002; McHale et al., 2000; Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2004) and coparenting measures derived from observations of mother–father–child triadic play have been linked in consistent ways with parental self-reports of coparenting quality (McHale et al., 2000), such procedures have not previously been used with Mexican-origin families. Moreover, research suggests that there are differences in the value that Mexican-origin parents assign to parent–child play and in the frequency of parent–child play in Mexican-origin families relative to European American parents (Farver & Howes, 1993). Rogoff and her colleagues (Morelli, Rogoff, & Angelillo, 2003; Rogoff, Mistry, Göncü, & Mosier, 1993) have found significant differences in the percent of time that mothers in the United States play with their children compared with mothers of Mayan descent in Guatemala. Consequently, the triadic free play session used in the present study may not have been an ecologically valid context to assess coparenting quality in Mexican-origin families. Given this limitation, all interpretations regarding the connections between Mexican-origin parents’ cultural beliefs and coparenting quality found in this study should be considered with caution. Additional research is needed to examine the validity of the triadic free play session for use in assessing coparenting quality among Mexican-origin families.
The goal of the present study was to contribute to an understanding of the adaptive significance of differences in the coparenting practices of Mexican-origin families. Cultural values such as familismo, machismo, respeto, and simpatía represent proximal cultural constructs that give insight into how culture may influence family processes given their relevance to current definitions of coparenting. The findings and limitations of the study make clear that further development and refinement of measures to assess coparenting quality is critically needed and will help to extend existing theorizing and model development regarding coparenting. In reference to the more immediate family context, it is also important for research to explore the distinction between coparenting and other relationships within the Mexican-origin family. Given the demographic characteristics of Mexican-origin families, it will be helpful to study the possible coparenting role of siblings, grandparents, and members of the extended family.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
