Maternal gatekeeping, coparenting quality, and fathering behavior in families with infants.

The present study examined the role of maternal gatekeeping behavior in relation to fathers' relative involvement and competence in child care in 97 families with infant children. Parents' beliefs about fathers' roles were assessed prior to their infant's birth. Parents' perceptions of maternal gatekeeping behavior (encouragement and criticism) and coparenting relationship quality were assessed at 3.5 months postpartum. The authors assessed fathers' relative involvement and competence in child care using a combination of parent report and observational measures. Results suggest that even after accounting for parents' beliefs about the paternal role and the overall quality of the coparenting relationship, greater maternal encouragement was associated with higher parent-reported relative father involvement. Moreover, maternal encouragement mediated the association between coparenting quality and reported relative father involvement. With respect to fathers' observed behavior, fathers' beliefs and parents' perceptions of coparenting relationship quality were relevant only when mothers engaged in low levels of criticism and high levels of encouragement, respectively. These findings are consistent with the notion that mothers may shape father involvement through their roles as "gatekeepers."

Parent characteristics as antecedents of maternal gatekeeping and fathering behavior.

The present study examined the role of prebirth parent characteristics as predictors of maternal gatekeeping (mothers' attempts to encourage or discourage fathers' interaction with their infant) and fathering behavior. Parents' idealization of their relationships within their families of origin, beliefs about the roles of fathers, and personality attributes (negative emotionality and communion) were assessed before their infant's birth. At 3.5 months postpartum, maternal gatekeeping behaviors (negative control, facilitation) and fathers' involvement and competence with their infants were assessed during observation of triadic play and child care. Results suggest reciprocal relations between maternal gatekeeping and fathering behavior. Furthermore, greater paternal communion was associated with greater paternal competence during play, whereas greater maternal communion was associated with lower paternal competence during child care. Greater maternal communion and greater maternal idealization related to fathers' lower relative involvement during play. As for maternal gatekeeping behavior, high negative emotionality in 1 parent was only accompanied by high levels of inhibitory maternal gatekeeping when the other parent had less progressive beliefs about the father's role. The implications of these findings for clinicians and practitioners are discussed.

Goodness-of-fit in family context: Infant temperament, marital quality, and early coparenting behavior.

This study examined the contributions of infant temperament and marital relationship quality to the quality of the early coparenting relationship for couples parenting 3.5-month-old infants. Marital quality was assessed observationally during the third trimester of pregnancy. When infants were 3.5 months old, infant temperamental characteristics (fussiness and unadaptability) were rated by parents and observers and coparenting behavior was assessed observationally in play and child care contexts. Results indicated that associations between infant temperament and coparenting behavior depended on marital quality: couples with high marital quality showed more optimal coparenting behavior when faced with a challenging infant, whereas couples with low marital quality showed less optimal coparenting behavior when caring for a challenging infant.

Mothers' representations of their infants and parenting behavior: Associations with personal and social-contextual variables in a high-risk sample.

Associations between mothers' psychological distress, experiences of verbal and violent relational conflict, representations of the relationships with their infants, and parenting behavior were examined in 100 African American mothers of 17- to 20-month-old infants. Maternal representations of infants were assessed via the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; Zeanah, Benoit, Hirshberg, & Barton, 1986). Results showed that mothers who experienced more conflict with their own mothers had increased odds of having disengaged representations of the relationship with their infants. Mothers who experienced more conflict with their infants' fathers had increased odds of having distorted views of their infants. Mothers who reported more hostile psychological symptomalogy had greater odds of not having a balanced representation of their infants (distorted or disengaged). Additionally, mothers with disengaged representations were less sensitive, more passive, and used less encouragement and guidance with their children. Maternal hostility and conflict were directly related to parenting and were not mediated by representations. Results show that representations and parenting behavior are linked and multiply determined.