Transition to a new baby: Exploring the association between couple leisure, coparenting and parenting practices

While engagement in couple leisure has been identified as an essential factor in helping maintaining couples' relationship and get through relationship transitions, limited knowledge is known about how couple leisure may impact coparenting relationships and parenting behaviors. This study investigates the association between couple leisure before the birth of the child and both parents' parenting practices when child was three years old. Coparenting relationship quality at child's one year of age was examined as a potential mediator. Results reveal that the coparenting relationship significantly mediated the link between couple leisure and parenting stress for both parents. Further, the significant mediating effect of the coparenting relationship between couple leisure and parental involvement was observed only for fathers but not for mothers. Findings highlight the essential role of couple leisure in enhancing coparenting relationship and effective parenting during the transition to a new baby and offer valuable implications for parenting and education programs.