What is important to us? Parents’ individual and couple values and coparenting

Recent research has focused on couple values, namely what the partners perceive as important for their couple as a whole. In Study 1, we investigated whether respondents’ couple values, as perceived by each partner, when controlling for individual values, were related to coparenting among 546 individuals, all being parents (54.1% mothers; Mage = 41.52 years, SD = 7.19). Results showed the relevant role of both couple self-transcendence and self-enhancement values, over and above the respective individual values. In Study 2, we focused on the discrepancy between couple values of heterosexual parents (167 couples; Mage of mothers = 42.14 years, SD = 6.78; Mage of fathers = 45.41 years, SD = 7.57), that is the extent to which partners have different perceptions of what is relevant for their couple, in relation to their coparenting. While couple values are more strongly related to coparenting compared to individual values, the couple value discrepancy between the two partners is not. It appears that each partner’s perception of which values are relevant for the couple is more important for a supportive coparental relationship than the actual similarity in couple values between partners. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.