Challenges to coparenting posed by military life and strategies used by fathers and mothers to overcome them

Abstract

Lay Summary Military life is known to challenge family member well-being, as well as parent-child and marital relationships. Although coparenting predicts parenting quality, parent-child and marital relationships, and family member well-being, research has rarely considered how it is challenged by military life and how parents overcome these challenges. Interviews with 15 fathers and 15 mothers from Canadian families headed by a military father and a civilian mother revealed various aspects of military life that impacted or complicated coparenting (absences, relocations, military culture, values and career, mothers’ occupations, and financial issues), mostly challenging parents’ abilities to jointly manage families and division of labour. Strategies to overcome challenges valued and encouraged father involvement, promoted agreement and joint decision-making, and adjusted coparenting dynamics, thoughts, and perceptions. Although temporary or permanent maternal solo-parenting was reported, most strategies supported coparental collaboration. Findings suggest ways to support coparenting and the resilience of military families.