Final Project: Research ProposalIn Weeks 1 through 9, you have created all the sections to be included in the research proposal. This week, you will collate all these sections and create the final dra

Parents at-risk and their children: intersections of gender role attitudes and parenting practices Jordan E. Montgomery, Casey L. Chaviano, Allison D. Rayburn and Lenore M. McWey Department of Family and Child Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL Correspondence:

Jordan E. Montgomery, Department of Family and Child Sciences, The Florida State University, College of Human Sciences, 225 Sandels Building, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1491, US Email: [email protected] Keywords:at-risk, child welfare, feminist theory, gender, parenting Accepted for publication:

September 2016 ABSTRACT Existing research demonstrates that parent and child gender may inﬂuence important aspects of family relationships; however, most research in this area has been conducted with non-clinical samples. As clinicians, it is important to consider how gender impacts family relationships, particularly among vulnerable families. This study exam- ined the intersections of gender role attitudes and parenting practices among 34 parents involved with the child welfare system and referred for clinical intervention. Using a mixed methods design, themes regard- ing gender role beliefs and parenting practices were found through qualitative interviews with parents. Findings suggested that fathers felt responsible for financially providing for their families and expressed challenges in communicating with mothers, and mothers described challenges they face because of a lack of father involvement. Parents also discussed a perceived need to monitor daughters closely while fostering the independence of their sons. Results of the qualitative analyses were supported by quantitative findings indicating significant differences in harsh and inconsistent discipline practices and clear expectations for girls compared to boys. The discussion addresses implications for clinicians, including how a feminist family therapy perspective may help promote client inﬂuence over traditional gender norms by questioning gender role attitudes and exploring alternate narratives that may impact family dynamics.

When working with families, it is important to consider how gender inequality impacts relationships within the family system. Existing research has explored gender- based differences in men and women’s roles as parents and their parenting practices (Albritton et al. 2014).

Additionally, studies demonstrate that parents may use different parenting practices based on the gender of their child (McKee et al. 2007; Sunday et al. 2008). More speciﬁcally, parent and child gender may inﬂuence important aspects of family relationships such as percep- tions of nurturance (Sunday et al. 2008), discipline strategies (McKee et al. 2007) and the strength of parent–child relationships (Starrels 1994). Most research in this area has been conducted with non- clinical samples; however, clinicians are often called upon to work with parents and children where levels of concern are higher. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to build upon and extend past research byexamining gender role attitudes among a sample of mothers and fathers referred for clinical intervention because of involvement with the child welfare system (CWS).

GENDER ROLE NARRATIVES AND PARENTING Although some may dismiss the notion of gender stereo- types by suggesting traditional gender narratives are old-fashioned and no longer signiﬁcant in contemporary society, doing so may raise the potential for the inadver- tent replication of these gender-deﬁned patterns in their own relationships (Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 1999).

Some scholars suggest that within the subconscious ideals of a‘gender binary,’which is the duality of expressing oneself as masculine or feminine (Few-Demo et al. 2014; Wiseman & Davidson 2012), Child and Family Social Work 2017, 22, pp 1151–11 60 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 11 51 doi:10.1111/cfs.12332 bs_bs_banner there are rules and expectations for which individuals interpret and create their own identities (Diamond 2002; Hart 1996). These ideals inﬂuence how one acts and behaves in order toﬁt in with societal norms (Hart 1996; Wiseman & Davidson 2012). For example, from a young age females may be socialized to put the needs of others before themselves; whereas males may be encouraged to be the leader in their relationships, be independent and not express their emotions (Hart 1996). These gendered narratives become a part of the way in which individuals interact with others and are eventually perpetuated in adult relationships (Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 1999). In turn, gender role norms and attitudes may have an important inﬂuence on family relationships (Hart 1996; Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 1999; Toomey et al.

2015). Gender role narratives may place added pressure on both mothers and fathers. Women may feel responsi- ble for the nurturance and emotional wellbeing of their families (Albritton et al. 2014; Hart 1996; Walters 1988), and there is a tendency for mothers to be blamed when things go wrong in the family system (Walters 1988). Meanwhile, men describe stress associated with feelingﬁnancially responsible for their families (Albritton et al. 2014) and are more likely to be in charge of disciplining their children (McKee et al. 2007; Walters 1988). Indeed, scholars suggest‘the stereotypic gender structure perpetuates male dominance in broader society, replicates the unequal gendered division of labour, and can leave men outside mother- child relationships and less emotionally connected with their children’(Matta & Knudson-Martin 2006; p.

21). These dynamics can impact family systems by reinforcing rigid roles (Carter 1988).

In a recent study, researchers conducted focus groups with 35 low-income, young parents asking about parent- ing and their relationships (Albritton et al. 2014).

Findings supported several differences between mothers and fathers. Mothers reported feeling unprepared for parenting and a lack of balance in parenting responsibil- ities with their child’s father. Alternatively, fathers described stress associated with fulﬁlling theﬁnancial responsibilities of parenthood. Where mothers valued patience and tolerance, fathers placed emphasis on ﬁnancial stability (Albritton et al. 2014).

Parents may also interact differently with their children based upon their child’s gender (Raley & Bianchi 2006) and may have different expectations of sons compared to daughters (Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 1999). A review of extant literature cited empirical support for key differences in parental treat- ment of sons and daughters (Raley & Bianchi 2006).Speciﬁcally, parents tend to encourage greater auton- omy of boys compared to girls; however, parents tend to promote more gender stereotypical behaviour in the play (e.g. toys) and household activities of girls. Parents also tend to have higher educational expectations of girls, and spend more time conversing with girls (Raley & Bianchi 2006). McKee et al. (2007) sampled over 2000 parent–child dyads from the community to under- stand how parenting practices varied by both parent and child gender. Fathers reported signiﬁcantly higher levels of harsh physical discipline compared to mothers and used more harsh physical discipline with boys but were similar to mothers in their harsh physical discipline of girls (McKee et al. 2007). Unfortunately, research in this area has relied heavily on samples of white families, and therefore little is known about these gender differ- ences in parenting among other populations.

To understand differences in mothers’parenting practices based on child gender among African American families, Varner & Mandara (2014) examined 796 mother–adolescent child dyads. Consistent with previous research of racial majority samples,ﬁndings indicated that girls reported higher levels of monitoring and lower levels of autonomy and decision-making compared to boys, and mothers reported higher expec- tations for girls than boys. The authors concluded that African American mothers may hold more control over their daughters’lives compared to their sons (Varner & Mandara 2014).

Speciﬁc to a CWS population, researchers compared 96 adolescents documented as physically abused to 95 non-abused adolescents from the same community to understand gender differences in perceptions of family functioning and parenting (Sunday et al. 2008). Adoles- cents who experienced abuse reported feeling closer to their mothers than fathers, while those who had not been abused reported equal closeness to both parents.

Girls who had experienced abuse, however, reported feeling less close to both parents and the least amount of family cohesion compared with all other groups.

Additionally, boys who experienced abuse viewed fathers as less caring than mothers, and adolescents who had been abused viewed fathers as more controlling than mothers (Sunday et al. 2008). While the study made an important contribution by exploring gender differences in parent–child relationships among an at-risk sample, qualitative research may provide addi- tional information.

Taken together, research highlights the importance of gender role attitudes on parenting (Albritton et al. 2014; Varner & Mandara 2014). However, researchers have called for studies using racially and ethnically diverse Parent gender narrativesJE Montgomeryet al.

Child and Family Social Work 2017, 22, pp 1151–11 60 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 115 2 families in the study of gender and parenting (Toomey et al. 2015; Sang et al. 2014). Furthermore, while research identiﬁes parent and child gender as impor- tantly associated with parenting practices, some suggest that historical gender stereotypes may be more pronounced among distressed families (Carter 1988; Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 1999). To better serve families at-risk, it is important to expand our under- standing of the intersections of gender role attitudes and parenting to be more inclusive of a broader range of diverse family contexts. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore the intersections of gender role attitudes and parenting practices among parents referred for clinical intervention because of CWS involvement.

METHOD Data were collected as part of a larger study in which evidence-based parenting psychoeducation was provided to parents involved with the CWS. Parents in the study were all referred by case managers to attend a parenting psychoeducation group. As part of the initial intake, participants engaged in the informed consent process, completed semi-structured interviews and standardized measures. Analyses began inductively by reading interview transcripts in their entirety to deter- mine the theoretical drive for the study. After the initial inductive process, we triangulated data by comparing initial qualitative themes with additional quantitative analyses in order to increase the trustworthiness of the ﬁndings (Hammersley & Atkinson 2007; Lapan et al.

2012). Triangulating qualitative data in this way enables researchers to enhance the conﬁdence in theirﬁndings (Gehart et al. 2001). We then used directed content analysis to explore themes related to the intersections of gender role attitudes and parenting practices.

Participants Data were collected from 34 parents (20 mothers and 14 fathers) involved with the CWS because of allegations of child maltreatment. Parents were an average of 34 years old (range 22–52), and the average child age was 6.7 (range 0.5–30 years old). Of the parents, 65% (n= 22) self-identiﬁed as African–American, and 29% (n= 10) as Caucasian. Three (9%) parents identiﬁed as Hispanic. Over half (53%,n= 18) self-reported their relationships status as single, 26% (n= 9) were married, 11% (n= 4) were divorced or separated and 9% (n=3) were in a relationship. Of the sample, 68% (n=23) were not currently employed, and 32% were working part-time (n=4)orfull-time(n= 7). Approximately 65% (n= 22) were receiving some type of state or federal ﬁnancial assistance (e.g. Medicaid, food assistance or unemployment).

Qualitative parent interviews Trained members of the research team conducted semi- structured interviews with parents. The interviews involved primary questions, and more speciﬁcfollow- up questions aimed to generate an in-depth understand- ing of parents’experiences (Miles & Huberman 1994).

Parents were asked about their family of origin, percep- tions of their parenting strengths and challenges, their past experiences and expectations for a parenting group.

It is important to note that no speciﬁc questions were asked about gender or gender role attitudes. Instead, themes related to the intersection of parenting and gender narratives were extracted from broader responses. Each interview was audio-recorded then transcribed. Following the transcription, the team member who conducted the interview veriﬁed the transcription by listening to the recording while reading the typed interview, and correcting any inaccuracies in the transcription.

Parenting measure Parenting Practices Interview The Parenting Practices Interview (PPI) is a 73 item self-report assessment of parenting practices (Webster- Stratton et al. 2001). The measure has six subscales including: (i)Appropriate Discipline(12 items including the use of time out and taking away privileges; α=0.82); (ii)Clear Expectations(6 items including setting clear rules and enforcing chores;α= 0.60); (iii) Positive Verbal Discipline(9 items including discussing the problem and praising positive behaviour;α=0.70); (iv)Physical Punishment(6 items including spanking and hitting;α=0.88); (v)Praise and Incentives(11 items assessing the use of compliments and privileges; α= 0.75); and (vi)Harsh and Inconsistent Discipline(15 items assessing raising one’s voice and threatening; α= 0.84; Webster-Stratton et al. 2001). The measure has demonstrated adequate reliability when used with diverse samples (α=0.66–0.82; Webster-Stratton et al. 2001).

Data analyses Qualitative analyses began inductively by reading each transcript from beginning to end to determine the Parent gender narrativesJE Montgomeryet al.

After this initial inductive process, we then triangulated our preliminaryﬁndings by conductingt-tests to deter- mine whether there were signiﬁcant differences in parenting practices based on gender. Next, a directed qualitative content analysis was conducted (Hsieh & Shannon 2005). This part of the process was primarily deductive as we applied a feminist family therapy lens to our review of the data after conducting initial inductive analyses and testing our assumptions through quantitative analyses (Hsieh & Shannon 2005; Kondracki et al. 2002). As a result, we progressed with the assumption that parents’gender narratives informed parenting practices and beliefs, and a coding guide was created to help us look for gendered themes about parents and children as we coded. When team members differed on a code, we discussed our views and further reﬁned the code deﬁnition. A description of theﬁnal themes, subthemes and properties can be found in Table 1.

Four transcripts were coded collectively by the research team—two at the beginning and two end of the coding process to help ensure coding dependability.

In addition, two or more researchers coded each inter- view to help ensure inter-coder reliability (Kondracki et al. 2002). Each week, the research team met to review and revise the coding scheme. Data excerpts areprovided to allow readers to draw conclusions (Rosenblatt 1981). Additionally, data triangulation was used as we drew from multiple sources including the semi-structured interviews and quantitative measures (Gehart et al. 2001; Hammersley & Atkinson 2007; Lapan et al. 2012). Each of these efforts was made to help increase trustworthiness of theﬁndings.

Reﬂexivity is the process through which researchers explore their prejudices and biases (Jones & Watt 2010) and is another way of enhancing trustworthiness through transparency (Lapan et al. 2012). The members of this research team are female therapists, and we recognize this inﬂuences our understanding and writing about gender and family processes. As part of our weekly meetings, we discussed how our roles as females and therapists may inﬂuence data analyses and interpretation. At one point, we considered bringing in a male team member to provide a possible alternative viewpoint on gender narratives, but ultimately decided this paralleled the process we saw reﬂected in data analyses—a perceived need for male oversight. Thus, we made a joint decision to continue without a male coder. We also made efforts to recognize the impact our position as therapists had on data analyses. There- fore,ﬁndings of this study were also compared to our own professional experiences and existing literature as described in the clinical qualitative research process (Lapan et al. 2012).

Ta b l e 1Themes, subthemes and properties of qualitativeﬁndings Themes Subtheme properties I. Gender Narratives About ParentsI.A. Fathers are providers or protectorsI.A.1. Being a good father means protecting one’sfamily I.A.2. Being a good father means providingﬁnancially for one’sfamily I.B. Fathers absent from parentingI.B.1. Mothersﬁll the role of absent fathers 1.B.2. Fathers may lack cultural or family of origin models of father involvement I.C. Hard to talk to moms I.C.1. Mothers perceived as difﬁcult to talk to for co-parents and their children I.C.2. Mothers seen as unapproachable on topics such as sex or puberty II. Gender Narratives About ChildrenII.A. Girls need to be monitoredII.A.1 Girls make poor choices regarding dating and sex II.A.2. Need for more intensive consequences and supervision for girls II.B. Boys need independence II.B.1. Boys have a need to explore II.B.2. Misbehaviour is normal for boys II.C. Girls need a role model II.C.1. Girls need a model for future romantic relationships from fathers II.C.2. Girls relationship with her mother may be protective II.D. Fathers have trouble disciplining daughtersII.D.1. Fathers struggle to understand how to discipline daughters II.D.2. Fathers have trouble following through with discipline for daughters Parent gender narrativesJE Montgomeryet al.

Child and Family Social Work 2017, 22, pp 1151–11 60 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 115 4 RESULTS This study sought to explore the intersections of gender role attitudes and parenting beliefs and practices among parents involved in the CWS. Following the initial qualitative inductive process, we triangulated the preliminaryﬁndings by conductingt-tests to determine whether or not there were signiﬁcant differences based on the gender of the parent and child on the PPI subscales. Results indicated fathers reported higher levels ofAppropriate Discipline(M = 62.25, SD = 12.93) compared to mothers (M = 52.25, SD = 10.60;t(33) =2.56,p= 0.01); however, no other differences between fathers and mothers reached statistical signiﬁcance.

Testing whether parenting practices differed by child gender,ﬁndings suggested parents provided higher levels ofClear Expectationswith girls (M = 26.32, SD = 5.04) compared to boys (M = 22.40, SD = 4.70;t (33) = 2.49,p= 0.02) as well as higher levels ofHarsh and Inconsistent Disciplinewith girls (M = 50.17, SD = 13.82) compared to boys (M = 41.82, SD = 11.60;t(33) = 2.03,p=0.05).

Subsequent qualitative results suggested that parents had multiple gender narratives surrounding themselves as parents and their children. Our coding process allowed responses to fall under more than one category and inclusion in one category did not exclude responses from also being coded in another category. Parents’responses included narratives regarding their own gender and/or the opposite gender. Parents’narratives were complex and often contradictory. For example, some parents noted a need to be strict with daughters while also citing reluctance to discipline females. Resultant themes included narratives about fathers as providers, fathers’ absence from parenting and mothers as difﬁcult to talk to; themes speciﬁc to children included beliefs about how girls need monitoring, boys need indepen- dence, girls need role models and challenges in disciplining daughters.

GENDER NARRATIVES ABOUT PARENTS Parents shared several ways in which their beliefs about gender inﬂuenced their roles as parents. Responses included participants’beliefs about themselves and their roles as parents and their beliefs about their partners or co-parents. Parents often noted that these gender narra- tives came from how they were parented, how they were inﬂuenced by society or gender norms of their community.Fathers are providers or protectors Participants frequently commented on the role of fathers as family protectors and providers. One father described how his father served as a poor protector of him as a child:

“So, it’s just like I told my father, a woman doesn’t carry a bloodline, she nurtures it. The man carries the bloodline. How could you have allowed your bloodline to get away from you? Like as a man, how can you?

These are natural things that your instinct is supposed to tell you that this is what you’re supposed to protect.” For this participant, despite his own father’sabsence, he perceived that being a“good father”meant protecting his family and he was determined to change family of origin patterns to meet this expectation. Other participants remarked on the importance of fathers pro- viding for their families. As an example, one father stated:

“I want to be able to provide more. That’s a real thing for me…I mean at the end of the day, for me, you under- stand, if I have not worked to the certain amount of satisfaction, certain amount of exoneration, and being to apply it, as a man…it makes you complete. I don’t know how to be a good woman, you understand, but I know as a man it makes you complete. And, you see right now, I’mkindofdeﬁcient because I don’thavea job. If I had a job, I’d make it work. So at the end of the week, or the end of two weeks, you know, I’dhave something to show.” Ultimately the narrative of fathers as providers left some participants inspired to reach towards what they saw as an ideal father and for others it left them feeling deﬁcient as men and parents.

Fathers absent from parenting Parents discussed the difﬁculties faced because of fathers’lack of involvement. Mothers in the sample often described challenges encountered because of a lack of father involvement. As one participant shared:

“Being a single mom is hard. It’s hard dealing with fathers if they not trying to necessarily be there, you know. I just feel like they need to spend more time with their kids because I have to deal with that stress and I have to constantly explain to my children why dad did this or why he didn’t come. And you know they have feelings and I have to deal with that.” Agreeing with the challenges noted by mothers, one father commented,“My momma, she did her best, but it’s like Tupac said,‘It’s hell for a woman to try to raise aman.’Especially not on her own, you know.” Parent gender narrativesJE Montgomeryet al.

Child and Family Social Work 2017, 22, pp 1151–11 60 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 11 55 Another father shared how his father was the excep- tion to this gender norm and he planned to be as well, “[I’m] similar in just showing her the love my father showed me…’Cause, regardless I know he loved me, you know, and he stepped up and he was a man’cause a lot of guys don’tdothat.”For this parent, his family of origin experiences inﬂuenced his decision to play an active role as a father. Another father described how he was different from other black fathers:

“Most black fathers, you got to force them to be in their children’s life. Man, they’gotta force me out of my children’slife.YouknowwhatI’m saying? That’s what we see now, they have to force me out.” Again, this father described a desire to be different from the gender narrative he understood from society and his community.

Hard to talk to moms (as co-parent and child) Women in this study were often described by partici- pants as difﬁcult to talk to. One father described to a female interviewer:

“There’s women, when they get set in their ways, they’re set in their ways, that’sit.There’s no changing it. There is no changing. I’ve seen that. From being raised by a woman and from being with a woman for almost seven years. When y’all make y’all’smindup… ‘no’to y’all means‘no.’” Other participants described challenges talking to their own mothers when they were children. Most com- monly, parents described how it was difﬁcult to talk to mothers about sex or puberty as a child. One mother stated,“Sometimes when it came to personal things, like boys or sex, or just you know, stuff like that, you know stuff that you can’ttellyourmom.”Overall women were described by both male and female participants as difﬁcult to communicate with.

Gender narratives about children Parents also described how their beliefs about gender inﬂuenced their parenting practices. They discussed how gender impacted their decisions to discipline, the needs of their child, and parents’struggles with chil- dren based on gender. In large part, these categories focused speciﬁcally on daughters and the cautions parents needed to take to protect female children.

Again, for many parents these beliefs were related to practices from their family of origin, their own parent- ing experiences, or conventional stereotypes in raising sons or daughters.Girls need to be monitored Fathers frequently remarked on the increased risks for daughters and relatedly their need for additional moni- toring and guidance. One father commented about the need for additional intervention with daughters over sons during their teenage years:

“Just when it gets [to their] teenage years you got to keep your guard, especially with a girl. You gotta’keep your guard more with dating wise and stuff. But with boys it’s more easier than girls’cause with girls you ’gotta watch out and you have to make choices for them ’cause you know they can make bad choices. Even though boys do too though, but boys is boys.” Similarly, another father commented on challenges of raising teenage girls. He reported,“When they get in the, in the age of thirteen and fourteen, you gotta’ tighten down on’em then. Can’tlet’em run the streets.

Gotta’lot of young girls’runnin the streets now.”For these fathers, fear of daughters’perceived poor choices, particularly regarding dating, led them to feel the need for more intensive consequences, supervision and less freedom in decision making.

Boys need independence Conversely, parents also noted the need for increased independence for boys. One parent expressed how she was able to justify her son’sﬁghting because he was a boy. She stated,“But one of my struggles is trying to keep reminding myself that boys will be boys and they are just going to do that.”Another parent commented on gendered parenting advice from a friend:

“Someone had to tell me,‘He’s a little boy. Boys are more mischievous than girls.’So I kind of had to under- stand, ok, well I have a little boy he’s going to be curious…Girls pretty much, if you’ve ever noticed, girls tend to follow along with their mom and dad and kind of sit with them, and boys like to get up and look at every- thing, see what’s going on, more so than little girls.” Overall, parents described how it was natural for boys to explore and have a need to for independence and mischief. Additionally, they noted how it was important for parents to allow or foster this independence.

Girls need a role model Both mothers and fathers commented on the need for daughters to have a positive role model. Interestingly this was often in regard to being a model for future romantic relationships with men. One father Parent gender narrativesJE Montgomeryet al.

“I just want them to know that that it’snotokayto have guys yell at them or anything. I don’twanttoset that example. So when they go through life they’llﬁnd somebody and they won’t be treated in that kind of way. So that’s my main concern and goal.” Similarly, mothers reported the need to be a positive inﬂuence on their daughters in order to promote healthy future relationships. One mother commented,“And she get her love from her mom. She don’t have to worry about no man touching her, saying he love her, and will love you my whole life bull crap.”Overall, parents noted fear for the future men in their daughters’lives and their desire to protect them by modelling healthy relationships.

Fathers have trouble disciplining daughters While parents expressed the importance of increased monitoring and role models for daughters, they also remarked on how fathers disciplining daughters could be a challenging aspect of parenthood. One father noted how, in effort to be different from the abuse he experi- enced in his family of origin, he struggled toﬁnd a way to discipline his daughter:

“I mean, different–deﬁnitely no abuse. You know, and she’sagirlIcouldn’t even think about you know, like, even disciplining her. That’sgonna’beaverydifﬁ- cult…disciplining her. What am I supposed to do?‘No baby, don’tdothat.’That’s not gonna’work for too long at all, you know?” Another mother described her struggles watching her children’s father follow through with discipline with her daughter. She described,“He always says I’mnot gonna’let’em do this and I’m not gonna ’let’em do that, but he’s a pushover too. He really is, especially with his little girl. Yeah, he’s putty in her hands.” Despite noting the importance of discipline for daugh- ters, parents noted some concern for fathers’ability to follow through.

DISCUSSION The societal gender binary sets rules and expectations individuals use to form their own identities (Few-Demo et al. 2014; Wiseman & Davidson 2012), and these gender role norms and attitudes may have an important inﬂuence on family relationships (Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 1999; Toomey et al. 2015). Rather than unintentionally reinforcing these unexamined familypatterns, it is important for clinicians to identify and discuss a family’s gendered processes. Using a feminist family therapy perspective, this study sought to contrib- ute to our understanding of parents’gender role attitudes and address a key gap in the literature by including the voices of a diverse sample of mothers and fathers referred for clinical intervention.

Consistent with existing literature (e.g. Albritton et al.

2014), parents frequently noted the importance of fathers fulﬁlling a provider and protector role. In lower socioeconomic status families, however, the expectation for fathers to provideﬁnancially may be harder to fulﬁll.

Feelings of shame and guilt were a pervasive theme when fathers were not able to provideﬁnancially for their children. Identities were tied, in part, to a societal expectation that fathers should create aﬁnancially stable family environment. When not achieved, fathers may feel powerless. Additionally, fathers who experience intersectionalities of oppression may feel even more powerless (Dyson et al. 2008).

Fathers noted their desire to differ from perceived gender stereotypes by playing a more active parenting role. This, however, may be challenging for fathers who might not have a role model from their family of origin or community to rely on. In such cases, they may feel ambiguity about their role as parents. This ambiguity, in turn, could be inadvertently reinforced systemically. Finally, a societal expectation that men should not express emotion because it may be perceived as weak or not masculine may be a key element related to this ambiguity (O’Brien 1988). This relates to fathers identifying as providers and protectors, and that as the protector of the family one must remain strong and not express vulnerability.

Ambiguity can be further heightened speciﬁcally for fathers involved in the CWS who are often discounted or overlooked by current child welfare policy and prac- tice (Brown et al. 2009). In fact, Strega et al. (2008) found that among a random sample of child protection caseﬁles, nearly 50% of fathers were described as‘irrel- evant’to mothers and children (p. 710). The authors concluded,“Children, mothers, and fathers suffer when workers fail to engage purposefully with fathers and father-ﬁgures”(p. 713). A lack of clarity about what involved fathering looks like, coupled with engagement in a CWS context that may not highlight the importance of fathers, may result in fathers feeling further disenfranchised.

Parents also reﬂected difﬁculty communicating with mothers. Previous literature on couples’communica- tion found women tend to exhibit more criticism or demanding behaviours in communication with partners Parent gender narrativesJE Montgomeryet al.

Child and Family Social Work 2017, 22, pp 1151–11 60 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 11 57 than men (Gabriel et al. 2010; Heavey et al. 1993). This could relate to beliefs that mothers were difﬁcult to talk to, as mothers may be more likely to acknowledge problems within the family system. As such, mothers may be more likely to be perceived as“difﬁcult”when they take on problem solving or other more assertive roles within the family. Again, this idea of a“difﬁcult” mother could be reinforced by the CWS, where gender bias has historically placed blame for child welfare involvement on mothers (Risley-Curtiss & Heffernan 2003). This focused blame provides an alternate context for understanding descriptions of mothers as difﬁcult and demanding. Indeed, sole accountability for a family system is a tremendous responsibility to bear.

Overall, although there were more female participants than male, participants discussed the intersections of gender and mothering less than they discussed gender and fathering. It is possible that the lack of discussion about the gendered role of mothers could relate to female participants perceiving that we, as female researchers, already had an understanding of women and expectations tied to the mother role. Alternatively, this lack of discussion could also relate to perceptions of the all-encompassing role of mothers. Unlike societal norms associated with speciﬁc roles as fathers (e.g.

ﬁnancially providing; discipline), it reﬂects a norm that mothers are expected to do it all. Silverstein (1996) describes that while men may elect to take on a nurtur- ing role as fathers, feminine gender roles now require mothers to be involved with their children as both nurturers and providers.

Participants also described parenting beliefs and practices based on child gender. Overall, parents reported having higher expectations for daughters than sons and described daughters as needing consistent guidance and monitoring. This was particularly salient in descriptions of the father–daughter relationship.

Speciﬁcally, fathers described how daughters need to be monitored more than sons. This belief may coincide with the idea that fathers need to be the protector (Albritton et al. 2014). Interestingly, however, research suggests fathers spend less time with daughters than sons (Yeung et al. 2001).

Alternatively, parents described the need for foster- ing independence of male children. Existing research demonstrates that among African–American children, later-born sons reported fewer household responsibili- ties and less monitoring than later-born girls (Mandara et al. 2010); however, little is known about differences in parenting practices with sons and daughters involved in the CWS. Despite the described need for more strictparenting practices for daughters, parents also noted that disciplining daughters was a particularly difﬁcult parenting task for fathers. Again, this challenge may reﬂect ambiguity within the fathering role.

Interestingly, participants noted similar gender expectations of girls to those roles associated with motherhood. In essence, protecting girls and having high expectations of them helps socialize them as mothers (Walters 1988). Additionally, beliefs that girls need monitoring and protection reinforce the‘fathers serve as protectors’role. These gendered beliefs and practices can be interdependent, and parental expecta- tions for daughters and sons may translate into their future roles as mothers and fathers. For example, it is possible the high expectations, monitoring, and guid- ance of daughters may inﬂuence their roles as commu- nicators and problem solvers as parents later on.

Conversely, promoting independence of sons, which was often described as a lack of monitoring or interfer- ence, may contribute to later experiences of ambiguity as fathers.

LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH It is important to note that no speciﬁc questions were asked about gender role attitudes during the interviews, which speaks both to the strength of the gendered themes across participants as well as implications for future research. As gender narratives were so com- monly expressed, it is important for researchers to ask speciﬁcally about the intersections of gender narratives and parenting; doing so may elicit more targeted re- sponses that could be used to inform intervention. In addition, although qualitative saturation was reached, the lack of statistical signiﬁcance of some of the quan- titative triangulation data may be a reﬂection of low power rather than insigniﬁcance. Recruiting larger samples may expand what can be learned. Further, this study relied on parental self-report. As parenting is systemic, however, future research should include the perspectives of both parents and children. Further- more, participants were not asked to identity their sex- ual orientation or gender identity. Future research should be more inclusive of participant identities.

Finally, although efforts were made to recognize possi- ble researcher inﬂuence on data analyses, researchers of different genders and professions could interpret the data differently. Despite these limitations,ﬁndings point to the importance of gender narratives in parenting. Parent gender narrativesJE Montgomeryet al.

Child and Family Social Work 2017, 22, pp 1151–11 60 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 115 8 CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS The stress associated with being a parent involved with the CWS can often be overwhelming. Among this sample, there are opportunities to clinically challenge and reexamine beliefs about fathers’and mothers’ responsibilities. Being a good father is not synonymous with being theﬁnancial provider. Being a good mother does not mean trying to do it all alone. Shifts in roles, however, require shifts in the family system. Clinicians can support parents in exploring and testing alternate roles while also acknowledging contextual societal pressures encouraging otherwise. Applying a feminist family therapy lens when working with at-risk parents is one way to examine power and encourage equality amongst relationships (Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 1999).

Gender aware therapy can offer clients inﬂuence over norms by questioning traditional gender role expecta- tions (e.g. fathersﬁnancially provide for families, mothers bear overall responsibility for the family system), and offer clients alternate and perhaps unknown options because of gender role constraints (Good et al. 1990). By making these dynamics overt, clients then have the option to intentionally choose roles and feel empowered in that choice. Additionally, a recent review on father involvement in CWS acknowl- edges that a common theme in engaging fathers is to make them feel welcomed (not excluded) and just as important of a parent as the mother (Maxwell et al.

2012), especially when they are commonly labelled as “absent”or not responsible. Speciﬁc to mothers, Carolan et al. (2010) highlighted the need to support and empower mothers involved with CWS.

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