Coparenting communication and hybrid masculinity in a fatherhood program

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Amy C. Hammock,Alexander Jack McKillop,R. Anna Hayward,Ekta Kohli,Melissa L. Bessaha
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12621

RESEARCH

Coparenting communication and hybrid masculinity

in a fatherhood program

Amy C. Hammock

1,2

|Alexander Jack McKillop

1

|

R. Anna Hayward

1

|Ekta Kohli

1

|Melissa L. Bessaha

1

1

School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook

University, Stony Brook, New York, USA

2

Program in Public Health, Stony Brook

University, Stony Brook, New York, USA

Correspondence

Amy C. Hammock, School of Social Welfare

and Program in Public Health, Stony Brook

University, Stony Brook, New York

11790-8338 USA.

Email: amy.hammock@stonybrook.edu

Funding information

Funding for this project was provided by the

Administration for Children and Families,

U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services (Grant No. 90FK0104). Any

opinions, findings, conclusions, or

recommendations expressed in this material are

those of the authors and do not necessarily

reflect the views of the Administration for

Children and Families, U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services. We thank the

entire staff at the Suffolk County Fatherhood

Initiative for their dedicated service to fathers

and families.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine how

involvement in a responsible fatherhood program affected

participants’perceptions of masculinity and coparenting

communication.

Background: Responsible fatherhood programs emphasize

the importance of being a nurturing and emotionally

expressive father, challenging norms of hegemonic mascu-

linity. This study examined how fathers described this

hybrid masculinity and its impact on coparenting

communication.

Method: Thematic analysis of 37 semistructured in-depth

interviews with a racially diverse sample of men enrolled

in a responsible fatherhood program was conducted.

Multiple investigators, researcher reflexivity, and an audit

trail enhanced credibility, transferability, and dependabil-

ity of the findings.

Results: Fathers reported three types of communication

with the mothers of their child(ren): confrontation,

detachment, and engaged perspective-taking. The latter

approaches were learned in the fatherhood program.

Fathers described several beliefs and skills affecting these

approaches, including the importance of fatherhood,

modeling effective communication, controlling one’s emo-

tions, and listening and speaking respectfully.

Conclusion: Participation in the fatherhood program was

useful in deescalating negative interactions and improving

communication; however, beliefs about essential gender

differences permeated participants’narratives.

Implications: Future programming for fathers should

include curricula and peer mentoring to challenge norms

of traditional masculinity and encourage multiple forms of

egalitarian coparenting communication.

Received: 2 January 2020Revised: 4 March 2021Accepted: 9 May 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12621

© 2021 National Council on Family Relations.

1122 Family Relations. 2022;71:1122–1141.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

KEYWORDS

coparenting communication, hybrid masculinity, responsible fatherhood

Families have long been understood as being interconnected and interdependent (Bowen, 1993;

Whitchurch & Constantine, 2009). According to family systems theory, a family unit’s emo-

tional functioning can influence the health and well-being of all family members (Bowen, 1993);

the relationships within and among a family’s various subsystems (e.g., mother–father, parent–

child, sibling dyads) “affect the lived experience of each family member”(Palkovitz et al.,

2014, p. 411).

Fathers, in particular, can play an important role in children’s lives outside of economic and

material support, including by their direct interconnected relationship with their children

(e.g., play, socialization, emotional support; Lamb & Lewis, 2013). Nonresident fathers can

continue to play these important roles, even when no longer intimately involved with the

mother of their children (Palkovitz, et al., 2013); however, the nature of the coparenting rela-

tionship between mother and father affects how and if this fathering occurs. A functional cop-

arenting relationship with the mother facilitates nonresident fathers’engagement with their

children (Cowan & Cowan, 2019; Fagan et al., 2016; Jamison et al., 2014; Lamb &

Lewis, 2013).

Given the association between nonresident fathers’support and improved child outcomes,

federal funding has been made available for the past 30 years for programs to improve fathers’

engagement with their children and families. The three goals of the federally funded Healthy

Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood programs are to (a) improve parenting skills, (b) foster

healthy relationships (including, in some programs, marriage promotion), and (c) promote eco-

nomic stability, including child support participation, employment, and skills training

(Tollestrup, 2018). Improving the coparenting relationship between the nonresident father and

the mother of the child(ren) is a key ingredient to achieving each of these goals, as mothers are

often intermediaries in establishing the visitation schedules, types of activities, and financial

needs of their children.

COPARENTING BETWEEN MOTHERS AND NONRESIDENT

FATHERS

A positive coparenting relationship is defined as a cooperative and supportive relationship

between parents that is focused on the tasks of childrearing, and includes ongoing communica-

tion, shared responsibilities, and a sense of solidarity between parents (Palkovitz et al., 2013).

Effective coparenting reduces risks to children of developing emotional and behavioral prob-

lems, which may affect their friendships and school performance (Fine, 2003; Frieman et al.,

2000). Cooperative relationships and positive communication between divorced, separated, or

nonresident parents is associated with positive child developmental outcomes (Cabrera & Brad-

ley, 2012; Choi et al., 2018; Frieman et al., 2000;Y



arnoz-Yaben & Garmendia, 2015). A study

of 401 low-income men enrolled in various fatherhood programs across the United States found

that a coparenting alliance with the mother of their child(ren) was positively associated with

fathers’parenting self-efficacy and sense of father–child closeness (Fagan et al., 2016).

Boundary renegotiation

Research with largely White, middle-class samples has found that men tend to view their rela-

tionship with their child(ren) as an extension of their relationship with their significant other

COPARENTING AND MASCULINITY IN A FATHERHOOD PROGRAM1123