“They Have to be Good with Kids”: Low-Income Mothers' Hopes and Concerns about Their Intimate Partners As (Potential) Father Figures

Background and Purpose:

Due to limited social opportunities of low-income women, intimate partner relationships (IPRs) are often formed with men do not successfully perform in a parenting role. Many men available to low-income mothers do not meet the requirements for being a good partner or father (Edin & Kefalas, 2005). Potential partners may not be interested in assuming the role of father or providing financially for a family (Qian et al., 2005). While intimate partners may provide financial and emotional support, it can come at the expense of an increased likelihood of violence and/or child maltreatment in low-income households (Berger et al., 2009; Fantuzzo & Mohr, 1999; Romero et al., 2003). This study was designed to explore the expectations low-income mothers had about their IPRs and the impact of IPRs on their children.

Methods:

This study utilized a grounded theory analysis of qualitative data from 22 adult women who were: a) mothers; b) currently receiving public assistance or had an annual income of less than 150% of the federal poverty line; and c) provided informed consent. Upon securing informed consent, participants completed a 10-item questionnaire that collected demographic and other characteristics. Individual semi-structured interviews were utilized to explore participants’ expectations and experiences, identify ideal qualities of their IPRs, and the impact of those relationships on their children. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and imported into QSR NVivo-10 for storage and analysis. Data were analyzed following a grounded theory three-step systematic approach including open, axial, and selective co-coding (Strauss & Corbin, 2008).

Results:

Participants reported a desire for their IPRs to serve as male role models for their children and to provide discipline, guidance, and assistance with childcare tasks. These expectations were balanced with high levels of distrust for men, prior abusive, coercive, and/or exploitive relationships, and a need to protect their children from harm. Exacerbating their challenges, many mothers expressed uncertainty about what constituted a healthy relationship and were dependent upon their family of origin and past abusive intimate partner relationships as uncertain guides.

Conclusion and Implications:

This study found that low-income mothers’ relationship history and motherhood status intersected with the hopes and concerns they had regarding the role intimate partners would take in their children’s lives. Mothers were protective of their children; however, the hope that their partners would serve as father figures, irrespective of their ability or desire to do so, led to situations that placed their children at risk. In particular, an expectation that new partners would act as disciplinarians, mirroring an expectation for fathers (Manoogian, Jurich, Sano, and Ko, 2015), is cause for concern. Participants sought partners they believed would be different from their own abusive parents or past partners to serve as positive father figures; yet, the inability to assess for healthy relationships precluded their success. These findings serve as a call to strengthen existing mentorship programs for children and to provide more relationship education courses for adolescents and young adults. Future research should explore the influences of relationship decision-making of low-income single mothers.