The mother domain: Mediated model of maternal gatekeepers and depressed fathers among newlyweds with children

• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Author: Clare R. Thomas,Erin K. Holmes,Kevin Shafer,Jeremy Yorgason
• Date: 01 April 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12629

RESEARCH

The mother domain: Mediated model of maternal

gatekeepers and depressed fathers among newlyweds

with children

Clare R. Thomas

1

|Erin K. Holmes

2

|Kevin Shafer

3

|

Jeremy Yorgason

2

1

Department of Human Development and

Family Science, University of Georgia, Athens,

Georgia, United States

2

School of Family Life, Brigham Young

University, Provo, Utah, USA

3

Department of Sociology, Brigham Young

University, Provo, Utah, USA

Correspondence

Clare R. Thomas, School of Family Life and

Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2086

JFSB, Provo, UT 84602.

Email: clare.thomas3@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective: To understand how the marriage relationship is

related to paternal depression and maternal gatekeeping

perceptions.

Background: Paternal depression is an understudied topic,

and research connecting it to maternal gatekeeping is still

in its infancy. Research has found that the marriage rela-

tionship can be associated with both depression and mater-

nal gatekeeping. This study focuses on how these three

areas are related.

Method: A subsample of the the Couple Relationships and

Transition Experiences project was used including 507 cou-

ples, or 1014 married parents. Two separate structural

equation modeling mediational models were tested to

examine father depression as a predictor of maternal gate-

keeping, with marital instability as the mediator in one

model and partner connectedness as the mediator in the

other. Both parent reports were used for maternal gate-

keeping, marital instability, and partner connectedness.

Results: No direct association between father depression

and maternal gatekeeping was found, nor did partner con-

nectedness mediate this relationship. However, father

depression was associated with maternal reports of marital

instability and, in turn, mother reports of maternal

gatekeeping.

Conclusion: These mixed findings suggest a need for future

longitudinal research to better understand the nature of

the relationship between father depression and maternal

gatekeeping.

Implications: These results suggest that therapists and

researchers examine father depression through a wholistic

family lens, acknowledging potential indirect effects

Received: 22 July 2020Revised: 1 February 2021Accepted: 22 May 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12629

© 2021 National Council on Family Relations.

766 Family Relations. 2022;71:766–782.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

associated with paternal depression, and the importance of

assessing partner connectedness.

KEYWORDS

depression, fatherhood, marital stability, maternal gatekeeping, partner

connectedness

Men’s mental health plays an important role in families. For example, a father’s depression can

negatively affect marital quality (Trump et al., 2015) and the parent–child relationship (Bronte-

Tinkew et al., 2007; Shafer et al., 2017). From this perspective, depression is as much a family

experience as it is an individual one. Associations between mental health and individual and

dyadic features of the family system demonstrate how the family system is influenced by each

member within the family unit (Bowen, 1974). In this context, a father’s negative behaviors

from his depression (aggression, emotional isolation, etc.) could result in decreased marital

quality, which could, in turn, lead a mother to limit or control the father’s interactions with

their children.

This maternal regulation of paternal interaction is termed maternal gatekeeping (Allen &

Hawkins, 1999). It taps into the idea of a mother feeling the need to be involved in father–child

interactions. Research has shown that maternal gatekeepers often gain control within the family

system by permitting or denying a father’s access to their children and household (Allen &

Hawkins, 1999), and certain gatekeeping behaviors have been associated with the mother’s feel-

ings of instability in her romantic relationship with the father (Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2015).

Maternal gatekeeping can begin to have negative effects on father involvement as early as the

first month of the shared child’s life (Barry et al., 2011). However, little research exists examin-

ing the timing of the parental relationship with regard to maternal gatekeeping. For example,

newlywed parents face unique challenges and opportunities as they develop coparenting habits

and potentially modify their other relationship patterns to accommodate a new child. The tran-

sition into marriage could be an opportunity for couples either to develop new habits or solidify

old ones, including patterns of maternal gatekeeping behaviors.

Because families are interdependent and interactional, paternal mental health can have a

substantial influence on family functioning (Holmes et al., 2013). This type of interdependence

has two forms called spillover and crossover. Spillover is considered a within-person experience,

whereas crossover is interpersonal (Brough & Westman, 2018). Each implies that a specific

aspect of one partner’s life can spill into another aspect of their life or cross over into aspects of

their partner’s life. In this context, spillover would be evidenced when a depressed father’s

behaviors change how he perceives family processes, such as feeling that his spouse is more

likely to gatekeep him when he acts a certain way. Using this same example, crossover would

be seen when the mother changes her parenting behaviors because of the father’s depressive

symptoms. However, few studies include gatekeeping reports from both mother and father;

thus, it is difficult to discern how or when spillover or crossover occur.

One important interpersonal process that deserves more attention in the gatekeeping litera-

ture is how paternal depressive symptoms may crossover to affect his partner’s parenting and

perceptions of the romantic relationship. Symptoms of depression can include externalizing as

well as internalizing expressions (Magovcevic & Addis, 2008), including feelings of worthless-

ness and hopelessness (Radloff, 1977). This could cross over into the marriage relationship and

influence the stability or connectedness of that partnership. As such, maternal gatekeeping

could represent a mother’s attempt to cope with or control the father’s behaviors (Thomas &

Holmes, 2019). When researchers understand the intrapersonal and interpersonal processes that

impact maternal gatekeeping and father depression in the family system, they can better under-

stand the effects on children, parent–child relationships, and marital relationships. In our

THE MOTHER DOMAIN767