User Profiles in Supervised Family Centers and Their Relationship With Childhood Symptomatology

Abstract

ABSTRACT High‐intensity interparental conflict constitutes a major risk factor for children's emotional and behavioral adjustment, especially in families using Supervised Family Centers (SFCs) after separation or divorce. This study aimed to identify parental profiles among SFC users in Spain and to examine their association with children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms over time. A person‐centered latent profile analysis was conducted on 504 separated parents (54.8% mothers) from 10 autonomous communities, with 84 participants completing the 1‐year follow‐up. Measures included interparental conflict, co‐parenting, family violence, parental physical and psychological symptoms, and resilience. Three profiles emerged: (1) moderate conflict and resilience, (2) adaptive adjustment with low conflict and moderate co‐parenting quality, and (3) high conflict and symptomatology. Children of parents in the third profile presented significantly higher levels of emotional distress, peer difficulties, and child‐to‐parent violence (p < 0.001). Longitudinal analyses showed no significant changes in symptomatology over 1 year, with minor improvements in emotional sensitivity among children in families with an adaptive profile. The findings highlight the interplay between interparental conflict, parental well‐being, and co‐parenting dynamics in shaping children's outcomes. From a theoretical standpoint, results emphasize the need to understand children's distress within systemic family frameworks. In practice, they underscore the importance of implementing early, comprehensive assessments in the SFCs to identify high‐risk families and design tailored interventions to reduce children's symptoms.