Until recently, studies on co-parenting were manly focused on conflict in divorcing families and its influence on child healthy adjustment. More recently researchers have tried to understand how co-parenting plays a central role in nuclear families: for both parents adjustment; romantic relationships and parenting; as well as for children’s outcomes (e.g., Belsky et al., 1995; Feinberg, 2003; Lamela et al., 2008). Co-parenting includes four overlapping domains: childrearing agreement, co-parental support/undermining, division of labor, and joint management of family dynamics. During the last years progressive changes on how gender roles are perceived, with women as having fulfilling careers and men as able and sensitive caregivers, it has became “modern” to share economic, domestic and parental responsibilities (e.g., Cabrera et al., 2009; Raley et al., 2012). Are higher levels of father’s involvement, particularly in care activities related to the quality of co-parenting relationships (in nuclear families)? Very few studies address this question. In families, with pre-school age children, father’s involvement seems to be a significant predictor of co-parenting quality (e.g. Buckley & Schoppe-Sullivan, 2010), although we should take into account different domains and activities where fathers participate (Fagan & Cabrera, 2012). More involvement in childcare seems to be associated with higher levels of conflict and undermining behavior, while involvement in play/leisure activities was associated with co-parenting support behaviors (Buckley & Schoppe-Sullivan, 2010; Jia & Schoppe-Sullivan, 2011). Our study focus on 90 mothers and 70 fathers perceptions of co-parenting quality and its associations with father involvement in different activities (Direct Care; Indirect Care; Teaching/Discipline; Play; Outdoor Leisure). Socio-demographic variables (age, education, working hours, income, child age and sex) were considered in the analyses. All parents were from nuclear families and worked full time. Mothers responded to a Socio-Demographic questionnaire and described father’s involvement using the Parental Involvement Scale: Participation in Care and Socialization Activities (Monteiro et al., 2009). Both parents responded to The Coparenting Relationship Scale (Feinberg et al., 2012; Lamela et al., 2012). Preliminary results show for example that mother’s perception on father’s involvement in Direct and Indirect were significantly associated with co-parenting Support; and that Care activities, Teaching/Discipline and Play were positively associated with Endorsement of Partner’s Parenting. Both type of Care activity were also related with Division of Labor. Father involvement in Direct Care was positive and significantly associated with co-parenting agreement, Support, Closeness and Division of Labor, and negatively associated with undermining. Play was positively associated with Closeness, and negatively with undermining. Results will be discussed within the Co-parenting and father Involvement frameworks, exploring differences between mothers and fathers, and implications for intervention.

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Coparenting,nuclear families,Father involvement