Toward an integrative framework of intergenerational coparenting within family systems : a scoping review

Abstract

Intergenerational coparenting has become increasingly prevalent globally. Based on 42 papers identified from a comprehensive search of published studies in five databases, this scoping review identified five major themes related to intergenerational coparenting: power and authority, division of labor, conflict, coping and adaptation, and reciprocity. Guided by family systems theory and an intersectionality perspective, we developed an integrative intergenerational coparenting framework that covers five key themes, illustrates their interrelationships, and links them to influential factors at the individual, familial, sociocultural, and policy levels. This framework can guide future studies on intergenerational coparenting and inform the development of interventions for effectively addressing pragmatic needs of joint childcare, preventing conflict in intergenerational and coparenting relationships, devising useful coping and adaptation strategies for obtaining desirable coparenting outcomes, and nurturing cooperation and reciprocity in the process of coparenting to safeguard the well-being and functioning of the entire family system.