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Instructions | Search | Help The Co-Parenting Library represents the breadth of research surrounding the issues identified in NCOFF's Core Learning V: A growing number of young fathers and mothers need additional support to develop the vital skills to share the responsibility for parenting. The Library collapses literature from a variety of disciplines and domains. In creating the Library and the encompassing Database, NCOFF's goal is to compile into one on-line service the broad array of interdisciplinary research and program reports and to make these items accessible to the widest audience of stakeholders in children's development including practitioners, researchers, policymakers, educators, community members, and parents themselves. The works cited include empirical, conceptual, and clinical research which ranges in depth of analysis and whose intended audiences vary. Each library in the Database is updated regularly through searches in libraries and contact with different agencies, individuals, and organizations. Most of the research studies and reports cited are located through the University of Pennsylvania's libraries. Studies and reports are identified using databases in education, psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, and social work, among others. A variety of keywords are used in these searches: "Alternative family forms," "division of household labor," "never-married parents," "parenting in nuclear families," "postdivorce parenting," and so forth. As a second strategy, reference lists of articles abstracted and annotated are reviewed to identify additional studies or materials. Third, other research studies are identified in and obtained from various centers and agencies which address issues such as poverty, child development, child welfare, and family support. Fourth, authors send soon-to-be-published drafts of studies directly to NCOFF. Fifth, studies are identified through government reports. The studies described in the library are obtained from books, journal articles, theses, dissertations, reports, working papers, and conference proceedings. In addition, several other approaches are used, e.g., Internet links with research institutes, publishers, and associations. The Co-Parenting Library covers the following general areas: (1) antecedents and consequences of paternal participation, (2) co-parenting in intact families versus families of divorce, (3) fathers' contribution to co-parenting, and (4) impact of joint custody. Research in the Co-Parenting Library provides an understanding of how married, divorced, and never-married parents cooperate to raise their children and identifies the elements that contribute to the success or failure of the co-parenting relationship. Co-parenting, or shared caregiving, assumes that fathers will take a substantial amount of responsibility for the direct care of their children, and, like the Fathers Care Library, the Co-Parenting Library identifies antecedents and (to some extent) consequences of paternal participation. More specifically, Co-Parenting addresses the experiences of working wives, the impact of work on both parents, and policies that are intended to help parents balance work and family demands. Because the provider role is so strongly associated with men's self-worth, the implications of this role for fathering is a recurrent theme throughout the seven volumes of the FatherLit Database. Whereas the Joblessness and Unemployment Library examines how joblessness can interfere with paternal participation, the Co-Parenting Library attempts to address how having a job influences a father's ability to parent. The literature currently cited focuses on co-parenting in intact families and families of divorce. Studies examining the co-parenting relationship among unmarried couples are scarce. Many of the studies cited in the Co-Parenting Library suggest that co-parenting in intact families is almost exclusively the domain of dual-earner couples. Some studies focus on the relationship between work and family demands while other studies examine co-parenting independent of how it relates to work. In other words, while some research addresses how co-parental relationships have arisen in response to increased work demands (due to women's increased participation in the paid workforce), other research focuses on couples who have adopted flexible work schedules in an attempt to share equally in childcare. There is relatively little research on these nontraditional families, as they are commonly referred to in the literature. In addition, research on co-parenting in intact families examines the kinds and amounts of household labor performed by each parent. Most studies have found that although co-parenting fathers contribute significantly to domestic work, they still view their role as "helpers" to their wives and do not contribute equally to household labor or childrearing. Other research in this Library examines the impact of work on childcare. Employer benefits such as paternal leave and employer-sponsored daycare are discussed, including the relative importance of these benefits for parents. Other potential areas of support for co-parents are also examined, such as community supports and social networks. A substantial body of research in the Co-Parenting Library focuses on the co-parenting relationship postdivorce. Many researchers argue that joint custody will alleviate a great deal of the stress that children experience after divorce and will improve outcomes for children, such as in school adjustment. Despite the enthusiasm for joint custody on the part of some researchers, others have warned that joint custody is not the ideal arrangement for all families of divorce. Even proponents of joint custody assert that joint custody is not appropriate for every family, particularly not for those who are unwilling to set aside their grievances with the former spouse in the interests of the child. Several researchers have identified the conditions that will lead to a successful co-parenting relationships. Return to NCOFF Database Index

	National Center on Fathers and Families | University of Pennsylvania | Graduate School of Education | 3700 Walnut Street, Box 58 | Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216
	Date Posted: 9/25/97; Date Revised: 9/25/97 | http://www.ncoff.gse.upenn.edu/ | NCOFF Copyright, (c) 1997 | National Center on Fathers and Families