The Maternal Gatekeeping Scale: Constructing a Measure

• Author: Kay Pasley,Daniel J. Puhlman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12287
• Published date: 01 December 2017
• Date: 01 December 2017

D J. P Indiana University of Pennsylvania

K P The Florida State University

The Maternal Gatekeeping Scale: Constructing

a Measure

Objective: To develop and test a measure that

comprehensively captures the concept of mater-

nal gatekeeping.

Background: Maternal gatekeeping encom-

passes the ways in which mothers restrict or

support father involvement with children. We

proposed a three-dimensional (Encouragement,

Discouragement, and Control) model of gate-

keeping to describe the nuances of the maternal

gatekeeping, but no measures have yet been

developed that provide scholars with a way to

empirically test the theoretical model.

Method: Data were collected from 256 moth-

ers and 204 fathers of children between 3 and

7 years of age. A panel of national experts and

parents established face validity, and a 3-factor

solution resulted in separate models for mothers

and fathers.

Results: Correlations between the subscales

and 2 established measures of gatekeeping

and coparenting were examined to establish

construct validity; the new measures correlated

in expected ways.

Conclusion: The use of different items for moth-

ers and fathers will allow scholars to account for

differences depending on whether the reporteris

engaged in gatekeeping or the recipient of gate-

keeping behavior.

Department of Human Development, Fashion, and Interior

Design, Ackerman Hall, Room 108, 911 South Drive, Indi-

ana, PA 15705 (daniel.puhlman@iup.edu).

Key Words: Coparenting, fathering, maternal gatekeeping,

mothering, parenting.

Implications: The new measure may be a useful

tool for researchers attempting to measure

maternal gatekeeping as a multidimensional

construct.

Over the past 3 decades, literature has increas-

ingly indicated that the involvement of both

parents contributes to children’s healthy devel-

opment, and many studies have found a link

between positive coparenting relationships and

positive child outcomes (e.g., Bascoe, Davies,

Sturge-Apple, & Cummings, 2009; Belsky,

1984; Doohan, Carrere, Siler, & Beardslee,

2009). Although coparenting—the ways in

which parents work together to care for and rear

their children (Feinberg, 2002)—clearly inu-

ences children, research explicating coparental

relationships remains in its infancy. Even as

policies and interventions continue to encourage

cooperative parenting, a better understanding of

coparenting processes is needed.

Coparenting is a multifaceted process com-

prising unique relationship dynamics and

subject to a variety of contexts that make each

parenting dyad distinctly different (Feinberg,

2002; Minuchin, 1974). Although scholars

discuss coparenting as a complex reciprocal

process (Jia & Schoppe-Sullivan, 2011), many

recognize that due to historical trends in family

life, mothers tend to have a primary inuence

on the ways in which fathers interact with chil-

dren and participate in child-rearing (Doherty,

Kouneski, & Erickson, 1998). Thus, mater-

nal inuence is an important starting place to

824 Family Relations 66 (December 2017): 824–838

DOI:10.1111/fare.12287