Patterns of Post-Divorce Parental Alliance and Children's Self-Esteem in Hong Kong

Abstract

With the traditional practice of excluding the nonresident parent from post-divorce families in Chinese societies, the importance of post-divorce parental alliance has largely been ignored. Patterns of post-divorce parental alliance in Hong Kong have been explored in this study, re-conceptualizing post-divorce families as binuclear families. Based on the data of 62 resident parents and their children, a typology with six patterns was proposed. The six patterns include (1) harmonious co-parenting, (2) harmonious parallel parenting, (3) supportive parallel parenting with some conflicts, (4) disengaged parallel parenting, (5) enmeshed co-parenting, and (6) antagonistic conflicting parenting. In addition to the consistent findings with the West on the harmful effects of conflicting parental relationship on children's well-being, harmonious parental alliance was also negatively associated with children's self-esteem in the Hong Kong study. These negative associations were attributed to the strain on the children caused by the inadequate coordination across households and the conflict between children's perceived filial obligations and their need for autonomy.