A coparentalidade no contexto da guarda compartilhada

Abstract

It is considered that, faced a conjugal separation, the family will experience a complex, painful process of mourning and readjustment of roles and functions. In the midst of the breakdown of the marital relationship, in cases which the couple have children, it is necessary to reflect how the father and mother will begin to exercise their parent functions in this new context of life. This study aimed to understand the experience of co-parenting from the perspective of separated parents who have shared custody of their children. To do so, a research was developed with three couples (three fathers and three mothers) who had lived together, but at the time of the research were separated and had at least one child up to 11 years old, with shared custody regulated by the Law. The participants resided in a city in the interior of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). To collect data, the participants were asked to respond to a sociodemographic questionnaire and an individual interview divided into two moments, the first one addressed questions concerning post-divorce co-parenting, while the second dealt with aspects of co-parenting linked to marriage and the separation of the couple. Through the results it is believed that the way of conflictive coexistence by living togheter in marital relations has affected the quality of the development of coparental exercise in post-divorce. It is understood that aspects of the conjugal relationship influence and compromise the way of performing the co-parent relationship. Psychology can contribute to the broadening of the discussion about coparental exercise through shared guarding, implementing the theme in group and individual spaces and through means of dissemination and exchange of information. Not least, advances in research related to the theme will bring further clarification.