Father-Child Involvement in the Context of Multiple Partner Coparenting

• In Event: 2-013 - Nonresident Father Families: Correlates, Family Processes, and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Multiple partner fertility (MPF), or having biological children with multiple partners, is an increasing public health concern as nearly 60% of unmarried parents have MPF (Carlson & Furstenberg, 2006). MPF disproportionately affects African American parents and parents who are socioeconomically disadvantaged (Guzzo 2014; Manlove et al., 2008). MPF is associated with lower levels of father involvement with children from previous relationships (Tach, Edin, Harvey & Bryan, 2014) and is a risk factor for numerous negative outcomes including parental depression and parenting stress (Bronte-Tinkew, Horowitz & Scott, 2009; Fomby, 2009) and child behavior problems (Fomby & Osborne, 2017; Dorius et al., 2013).
Research Questions: In light of the negative outcomes associated with MPF, we sought to assess the trajectory of father involvement and coparenting processes across the lifespan in MPF families. Specifically, we sought to answer three research questions through in-depth interviews with nonresident fathers with MPF:
1) How does father involvement with each child change over time?
2) How do coparenting relationships change over time?
3) What strategies are used to sustain involvement with children from previous relationships?
Methods: Using a qualitative design, life course interviews were completed with 40 fathers (75% African American) with MPF recruited from head start, fatherhood programs, a work release program, and a community center in Illinois and Indiana. Fathers ranged in age from 17-42 years (M=20.20, SD=7.08), and had between 2 and 12 biological children (M=3.60, SD=2.14) with 2-6 (M=2.38, SD=0.83) mothers. Fathers provided information on their coparenting relationships, involvement with each child over time, and related child outcomes.
Results: Data was analyzed with Nvivo version 12. We used a modified grounded theory approach, an iterative process that builds concepts and theory from the data. These concepts are then explored within the data and developed and refined based on the continued facts that emerge during data analysis (Daly, 2007). Themes were identified that suggest that fathers’ involvement with children from previous relationships evolve in the context of increased parenting confidence, child development, the relationship with the child’s mother (former partner), and the relationship with the current partner.
Conclusions: In order to successfully maintain involvement with children from previous relationships, men negotiate their identities as fathers in various contexts and learn to navigate multiple coparenting relationships through a process we have termed multiple partner coparenting. Findings from this study may inform practitioners working with nonresident fathers with multiple partner coparenting on the successful strategies fathers have employed to sustain involvement with their children from previous relationships.

Authors

• C. Andrew Conway, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author

• Erica E Coates, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kevin Roy, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author