Family Men: Fathers as Coparents in Diverse Contexts and Family Structures

Significant contextual changes over the past few decades have suggested that mother-focused models of developmental science do not accurately capture fathers’ involvement as caregivers and coparents. Extant research has debunked myths that paint fathers solely as secondary caregivers, “hands off” parents, and absent fathers. To the contrary, recent studies have suggested that fathers exert significant direct and indirect influences on child development and partner relationship quality via coparenting – how parents work with or against each other to care for their children. Coparenting has been of interest to family systems researchers, as well as intervention and preventionists, due to this construct capturing whole-family dynamics. Much of coparenting literature has focused on gender differences in the roles and involvement of opposite sex coparents. However, we know less about coparenting in alternative family structures, particularly gay father coparents, as mothers are heavily emphasized in extant literature.

Trends of coparenting research on fathers suggests that fathers’ involvement exerts a positive influence on family dynamics, and when family dynamics turn negative, fathers tend to retreat. However, data on coparenting behaviors of fathers has been studied almost entirely with opposite-sex parents, in which mothers are likely to be primary caregivers and take the leading role in coparents’ decision-making. In some cases, this may lead to maternal gatekeeping, in which mothers criticize or limit fathers’ access to caring for the child. In addition, coparenting in opposite-sex couples has also primarily focused on fathers who are the genetic parent of their child. Fathers’ role in coparenting is beginning to be explored with fathers as research participants, within same-sex couples, as well as in broader contexts that are more reflective of contemporary families and actual, representative familial experiences, such as fathers of multiple children, across family transitions, as well as from diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. The goal of this research topic is to solicit input from researchers that explores the role of contemporary fathers as coparents in diverse contexts.

We welcome articles addressing the following subtopics and other challenges that investigate the role of fathers in coparenting and its effects on child development and partner dynamics:

• resident and non-resident fathers
• same- and opposite-sex couples
• genetically-related, adoptive, and fostering fathers
• fathers with one or multiple children
• fathers’ adjustment patterns across family transitions (e.g., transition to parenthood, transition to having a second child)
• fathers in divorced and in-tact families
• fathers from diverse socioeconomic contexts
• fathers from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds