Paternal coparenting and preadolescent life satisfaction: Mediating roles of parent–adolescent attachment and externalizing problems

Drawing on family systems theory and the biosocial–cognitive model, this study examined whether paternal coparenting predicted life satisfaction (LS) directly and indirectly through (a) adolescent attachment to parents (father–adolescent attachment and mother–adolescent attachment) and (b) externalizing problems (EPs) among preadolescents. We conducted structural equation modeling using Amos 22.0 to analyze data from 667 father–mother–child triads during early adolescence in China. The results revealed that paternal coparenting had an indirect but not a direct relationship with preadolescent LS. Adolescent attachment to fathers and EPs played a serial mediating role in the association between paternal coparenting and adolescent LS. The indirect effect of paternal coparenting on preadolescent LS acted mainly through EPs, while that of maternal coparenting on preadolescent LS acted mainly through maternal attachment. Thus, preadolescents’ global LS is shaped not only by specific subsystems within a family environment but also by individual behavior systems.