Actor and Partner Effect of Young Children-Parents’ Coparenting of Children, Marital Satisfaction, and Human Happiness

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to validate the actor effect and partner effect of the relationship between coparenting, marital satisfaction, and happiness of parents with children of early childhood, and also provide data for parents’ education in the field of early childhood education as well as the enhancement of the parents’ marital satisfaction and happiness. Method: 1305 people from the 7th year (2014) data of the Korean Children’s Panel were selected as the subjects of the analysis, and the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) was applied by using the SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 for the analysis. Results: First, the parents’ coparenting turned out to have a positive effect on happiness, and in terms of the effect of coparenting on happiness, both father’s and mother’s actor effect and partner effect turned out to be significant. Second, the parents’ coparenting turned out to have a positive effect on marital satisfaction, and in terms of the effect of coparenting on marital satisfaction, both the father’s and mother s actor effect and the counterpart effect turned out to be significant. Conclusion: Implications were provided through the characteristics of the parents intra-individual and marital dimensions on coparenting, marital satisfaction, and happiness of the parents with the children of early childhood, and the im-portance of coparenting within the family was discussed.