Pathways linking depressive symptoms, financial stress, constructive conflict, and coparenting alliance in primarily unmarried, low-income mothers and fathers

Following an adapted vulnerability stress adaptation (VSA) model, we used the Building Strong Families (BSF) project data to examine how mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms and financial stress relate to adaptive processes, namely, constructive conflict and coparenting alliance. The sample consisted of racially diverse, low-income parents who were unmarried at the conception of their child (N = 3,027 couples). All study variables were measured when children were 36 months old. Some results were in line with the theory: For both mothers and fathers, higher depressive symptoms were associated with (1) lower constructive conflict and lower coparenting alliance (direct effects) and (2) lower constructive conflict via higher financial stress (indirect effects). Contrary to theoretical predictions, there was no support for the proposed indirect effects for mothers’ and fathers’ coparenting alliance. Implications of the findings include the value of adapting the VSA to focus on both depressive symptoms and financial stress as vulnerabilities and stressors when working with populations similar to the BSF to promote relational adaptive processes, such as constructive conflict and coparenting alliance.