Attachment: Role of Father Flashcards
What are the 3 studies that investigated the role of the father?? (AO1)
- Grossman (2002)
- Field (1978)
- Schaffer & Emerson
What was Grossman’s (2002) study?? (AO1)
- Looked at parents’ interaction at infancy & the quality of attachment in teens
- Quality of mother’s attachment was related to child’s attachment in adolescence, but father’s wasn’t
- Fathers have a ‘play and stimulation’ role in attachment
- Mothers have nurturing role
What was Field’s (1978) study?? (AO1)
Filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interactions with:
- Primary caregiver mothers
- Primary caregiver fathers
- Secondary caregiver fathers
What were Field’s (1978) findings?? (AO1)
Primary caregiver fathers (like mothers) spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infant than secondary caregiver fathers.
Key to attachment = how responsive person is to infant, not gender
What did Schaffer & Emerson discover?? (AO1)
Mothers form attachments with infants at 7 months
Secondary attachments form by 18 months
Baby attached = cries when person leaves room
What are the 3 evaluation points for the role of the father??
- Role of father isn’t clear
- MacCallum & Gollombok (2004)
- Traditional gender roles
Elaborate on the evaluation point:
Role of the father isn’t clear
Research aims vary from the father being a primary caregiver to being a secondary caregiver. There’s no ‘set role’ that fathers are perceived.
What was MacCallum & Gollombok’s (2004) study?? (AO3)
Found that children growing up in single-parent or same-sex relationship household didn’t develop any differently.
Suggests father as secondary attachment isn’t important
Elaborate on the evaluation point:
Traditional gender roles
Traditional gender roles suggest the mother as primary caregiver. Oestrogen is present meaning they are biologically pre-disposed to be primary caregiver.
