The Roles of Mothers' Perceptions of Grandmothers' Gatekeeping and Fathers' Parenting Competence in Maternal Gatekeeping

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Jingyi Wang,Sarah J. Schoppe‐Sullivan
• Date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12569

J W S J. S-SThe Ohio State University

The Roles of Mothers’ Perceptions of

Grandmothers’ Gatekeeping and Fathers’ Parenting

Competence in Maternal Gatekeeping

Objective: This study investigated how new

mothers’ perceptions of maternal grandmoth-

ers’ gatekeeping behaviors and perceptions of

fathers’ parenting competence are associated

with maternal gatekeeping behaviors.

Background: In the development of coparent-

ing relationships at the transition to parenthood,

the roles of extended family members, although

important, have received little research atten-

tion. Grandmothers’ gatekeeping may serve as

a reference for maternal gatekeeping behaviors,

but its roledepends on mothers’ own perceptions

of fathers’ parenting competence.

Method: Mothers from 172 dual-earner,

different-gender couples reported their own

mothers’ gatekeeping behaviors and their own

perceptions of fathers’ parenting competence

at 3months postpartum. Maternal gatekeeping

behaviors toward fathers were reported by

mothers at both 3 and 9 months postpartum.

Results: When mothers perceived that maternal

grandmothers engaged in higher levels of gate-

keeping behaviors, mothers engaged in more

gate-opening behaviors but only when mothers

perceived fathers as highly competent. There

were no signicant associations between moth-

ers’ perceptions of grandmothers’ gatekeeping

and maternal gate-closing behaviors.

259 Psychology Building, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus,

OH, 43210 (wang.12699@osu.edu).

Key Words: fathers, maternal gatekeeping, maternal grand-

mothers, parenting competence, transition to parenthood.

Conclusion: Adult mothers, who likely have

developed their own sets of ideas about parent-

ing, are still susceptible to support and criticism

from their own mothers.

Implications: Practitioners would do well

to encourage expectant and new parents to

consider the role of extended family in the devel-

opment of their coparenting relationships and

to develop plans for support-seeking, boundary

management, and negotiation of conicts. To

help reduce maternal gate-closing and enhance

maternal gate-opening behaviors, practitioners

could support fathers’ development of parenting

skills and help mothers develop awareness of

fathers’ skills.

It is gradually being acknowledged and accepted

that parenting is not only the mother’s respon-

sibility. Today’s fathers are more involved

in childrearing compared with fathers 40 or

50 years ago (Schoppe-Sullivan & Fagan, 2020).

Accumulating evidence has shown that fathers’

involvement has positive effects on child devel-

opment (Jeynes, 2014; Karberg & Cabrera,

2017; Meuwissen & Carlson, 2015; Yogman

& Gareld, 2016). Despite fathers’ increasing

involvement in childrearing, however, mothers

are still typically children’s primary caregivers

and spend much more time in parenting than

fathers (Sayer, 2016).

According to the expanded ecological model

of the father–child relationship, fathers’ par-

enting behaviors are determined by multiple

Family Relations 70 (December 2021): 1435–14481435

DOI:10.1111/fare.12569