Adaptive and Maladaptive Gatekeeping Behaviors and Attitudes: Implications for Child Outcomes After Separation and Divorce

• Published date: 01 April 2017
• Author: Leslie M. Drozd,Michael A. Saini,Nancy W. Olesen
• Date: 01 April 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12276

ADAPTIVE AND MALADAPTIVE GATEKEEPING BEHAVIORS AND

ATTITUDES: IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILD OUTCOMES AFTER

SEPARATION AND DIVORCE

Michael A. Saini, Leslie M. Drozd, and Nancy W. Olesen

Gatekeeping has been used as a theory and a measure to describe and assess family dynamics within the context of separation

and divorce. In this article, we explore adaptive and maladaptive gatekeeping behaviors and attitudes that can affect the other

parent’s relationship with the child. Implications are presented for connecting adaptive and maladaptive gatekeeping responses

to child outcomes of safety, well-being, and positive parent–child relationships following separation and divorce. We build on

the recent attention to gatekeeping as a potential framework within the child custody context.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Gatekeeping is a useful framework for assessing parental behaviors and attitudes that can facilitate, protect, or restrict

the involvement of the other parent with the child.

Gatekeeping originally focused on maternal behaviors that facilitate or restrict the involvement of fathers with the

children,

Attention has shifted toward a more gender-neutral framework for assessing how parents’ attitudes and actions affect

the involvement and quality of the relationship between the other parent and child.

Rather than a set of hardline rules that govern behaviors, gatekeeping requires working hypotheses to consider the vari-

ous factors that may contribute to both adaptive and maladaptive gatekeeping responses.

Keywords: Adaptive and Maladaptive; Child Custody Disputes; Co-Parenting; Gatekeeping; Parent–Child Relationships;

and Separation and Divorce.

CASE STUDY

Rob (age 38) and Anne (age 37) were married for 7 years and have one child named Emily (age 4)

from their union. Nearing the end of the marriage, Anne became increasingly dissatisfied with Rob’s

substance use (both in the presence of Emily and outside the matrimonial home). Rob’s use of alcohol

and crack cocaine created strain on the family. Anne filed for divorce when she foundout that Rob was

involved in an affair with her best friend. Following the separation, Rob did not have contact with

Emily for a period of 4 months. He attended a 30-day addiction program and he began doing random

drug testing once a week (where Anne received e-mails from the drug clinic indicating the outcome of

the test) in order to regain contact with Emily. Since being drug free, Rob has been visiting with Emily

every other weekend, supervised at hisparents’ home. Rob has recently purchased a home in proximity

to Anne’s home and he is wanting more contact with Emily. He said he eventually wants to share par-

enting time but at this time,he wants more time with Emily and he wants the opportunity to have unsu-

pervised visits in his new home. Anne wants to support the time that Rob spends with Emily but is

concerned about hispast substance use and his overall consistency as a parent.

PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE CASE STUDY

Gatekeeping has been used as a theory to describe family dynamics within the context of separa-

tion and divorce (Drozd, Olesen, & Saini, 2014). Although gatekeeping alone should not be the sole

Correspondence: michael.saini@utoronto.ca; leslie@lesliedrozdphd.com; nancywolesen@gmail.com

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 55 No. 2, April 2017 260–272

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C2017 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts