The investigation of predictive situation of marital adjustment and coparenting relationship on externalizing problem behaviors in children

In this study, which was carried out with a quantitative research design, it was aimed to examine the prediction of externalizing problem behaviors in children by marital adjustment and coparenting variables. Parents with children between the ages of 6-11 participated in the study and the data were collected by using "Personal Information Form", "Revised Couple Adjustment Scale", "Coparenting Scale" and "Behavior Assessment Scale for Children and Young People/6-18". As a result of the analysis of the data, it was found that the marital adjustment of the parents differed significantly according to the gender of the parents, their working status, the situation of talking about child rearing and the gender of the children. Also, it was found that the levels of coparenting relationship of the parents differed significantly according to the gender of the parents, the situation of talking about child rearing issues, the intervention of grandparents in the child-rearing process and the age of the children. In addition, according to the perception of parents, externalizing problem behaviors in children differed significantly according to the gender of the parents, their working status, talking about child rearing issues and the intervention of grandparents in the child-rearing process. When the results of Pearson correlation analysis were examined, it was concluded that marital adjustment was negatively related to externalizing problem behaviors and negative coparenting dimensions (coparenting conflict and underestimation of spouse's parenting) and positively related to positive coparenting dimensions (coparenting agreement, support, division of labor and joint management of family relationships). On the other hand, it was found that externalizing behavior problems in children were positively related to negative coparenting dimensions and negatively related to positive coparenting dimensions. Finally, when the model obtained as a result of statistical (stepwise) regression analysis was examined, it was determined that predictor variables (coparenting conflict, satisfaction and consensus variables) explained 43.1% of the variance in the predicted variable (externalizing problem behaviors in children). The results obtained from the research are discussed in the light of the relevant literature. Keywords: Coparenting, Marital Adjustment, Problem Behaviors in Children, Parenting Relationship