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Divorced Fathers' Perceptions of Parental Disclosures to Children
Author(s) -
Kang Youngjin,
Gag Lawrence
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/fare.12410
Subject(s) - psychology , perception , limiting , context (archaeology) , developmental psychology , transparency (behavior) , nonverbal communication , qualitative research , social psychology , sociology , mechanical engineering , paleontology , social science , neuroscience , political science , law , engineering , biology
Objective To examine divorced fathers' views about the appropriateness of disclosures and explore their disclosure strategies. Background Parental disclosures are common occurrences in the context of divorce; they may be harmful or beneficial depending on what information is disclosed and how parents disclose to their children. However, relatively little is known about divorced fathers' perceptions of parental disclosures to children. Method In‐depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 20 divorced fathers who had children between 10 and 18 years of age. Data were analyzed by using a strategy called interpretive description, which borrows from other qualitative approaches while allowing researchers to pragmatically apply various techniques to their applied research questions. Results There generally was consensus among fathers about which subjects should and should not be shared with children. Fathers perceived their own disclosures to be more appropriate than similar disclosures made by others, including their coparents. Fathers used three primary approaches for managing how much information to disclose with their children: (a) transparency (i.e., being open as possible); (b) limiting (i.e., restricting verbal and nonverbal communications); and (c) concealment (i.e., completely hiding information from children). Conclusion How divorced fathers evaluate parental disclosures is important to guide their own disclosures and strategies. Implication To better understand parental disclosures after divorce, there needs to be more research on parental disclosures. Practitioners and parent educators should help divorced parents carefully evaluate their own disclosures to establish clear and healthy communication boundaries with their children and coparents.