A coating composition is provided comprising (a) a polymer containing reactive functional groups; (b) a curing agent having reactive functional groups that are reactive with the functional groups in the polymer in (a); and (c) a polymeric material different from (a) and (b) having functional groups. The functional groups in components (a) and (b) are more reactive with each other than with the functional groups in component (c) such that upon curing, at least a portion of the functional groups on component (c) remain unreacted. A coating layer formed from the composition upon application to a substrate has surface regions and a bulk region, and the concentration of component (c) at one or more surface regions is greater than the concentration of component (c) in the bulk region of the coating layer. The composition can be used in multi-layer composites containing two or more coating layers.