Supportive co-parenting may reduce some child behavio...(d emotions. Children who have troub...),Health

"Children who have trouble controlling their behavior often find it hard not to act out when they are in a situation where they are provoked, or frustrated or angry," she said. "It helps when they have that supportive family environment, and parents who are sending the same messages to the child, and reinforcing each other along the way."

She cautioned that this study was done with relatively affluent, well-functioning families, and few children who had severe problems regulating their attention and behavior. Still, the results showed new benefits to supportive co-parenting.

These findings extend previous work by Schoppe-Sullivan and others that showed supportive co-parenting also strengthens marital relationships and leads to better individual parenting.

"Co-parenting has a central role in families with children," she said. "If you can improve that relationship, there are all kinds of positive effects on the children and on the other family relationships."

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