An Interpretative Synthesis of Coparenting Among New Parents in Diverse Sociocultural Contexts

Abstract

Although primarily a practical matter in a family, coparenting is strongly modified by the existing culture and surrounding society. The development of coparenting, especially in its early stages is highly affected by existing gender ideologies, work cultures and family policies. Despite the widely agreed importance of socio-cultural embeddedness of coparenting, less is known about the interplay between coparenting systems and wider social and policy contexts. This study analyzed how existing work and family policies and underlying sets of values and beliefs frame the meaning, form, and construction of coparenting during early parenthood. To better understand how the sociocultural context frames the construction of coparenting, a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) method was applied for searching, sampling, analyzing, and synthesizing the coparenting literature. The interpretative review process included the following phases: a broadly defined search strategy, applying systematic inclusion and exclusion criteria, and conducting a descriptive mapping and an in-depth process analysis and synthesis of all the selected articles ( N = 24). The review yielded three frameworks, in which new parents construct their coparenting in diverse socio-cultural contexts: gender equality, family solidarity, and social support. The studies falling into these frameworks see the effects of the form of the coparenting relationship (parents only/parents plus) and the role of institutional support (high/low) and cultural and religious beliefs (high/low) on coparenting differently. The literature synthesis indicated that coparenting is a dynamic system in which parents and other parental figures adopt culturally appropriate practices and roles when taking care of children. These findings, which broaden the dominant western-centered perspective on coparenting, can be used in the development of family policies, services, and coparenting programs for today’s diverse, global multicultural families.