Abstract

This study aims to examine the mediating effects of paternal depression on the relationship between traditional gender role attitudes and the perceived maternal gatekeeping roles of fathers with young children. For this purpose, a survey was conducted by 366 married fathers who raises at least one child who is under seven years old. Mplus 7.0 was used to analyze the structural equation model, and the result showed that higher traditional gender role attitudes relate to more depressive symptoms, higher perceptions of maternal gate closing and lower perceptions of maternal gate opening. Also, more depressive symptoms were related to higher perceptions of maternal gate closing and lower perceptions of maternal gate opening. Additionally, the partial mediation effects of depression were observed in the relationship between traditional gender role attitudes and maternal gate keeping. Based on the findings, implications for therapeutic interventions were discussed, and recommendations for future research are presented.