Attachment: Role Of The Father UPDATED 24/25 Flashcards
What is meant by the role of the father in attachment?
the fathers role/ job in raising an infant
Who conducted research into the role of the father?
Grossman and Field
Where does this topic stem from and what findings?
Stages of attachment- after 7 months babies from secondary attachments to fathers
What was Grossmans aim?
To investigate the relationship of both parents with the infant and the quality of the child’s attachment into their teens
How did Grossman investigate his aim?
he used a longitudinal study
What is a longitudinal study?
A study on a sample over a long period of time i.e. months/years
What type of study is conducted on a sample over a long period of time i.e. months/years?
Longitudinal
What was Grossmans first finding?
the quality of infants’ attachment with their mothers, but not their fathers, was related to the children’s attachment in adolescence.
What conclusions an be made about Grossmans first finding?
the fathers role is less important than the mothers.
What was the second finding from Grossmans research?
that the quality of fathers play with infants is related to the children’s adolescent attachments
What conclusions can be made about Grossmans second finding?
Fathers have a DIFFERENT role in attachment, one to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurture, but one still important for the child’s wellbeing.
Summarise Grossmans conclusions
Fathers may be considered less important in relation to nurturing the child, but have a role in play and stimulation that still contributes to the child’s development.
What method did Field use to investigate role of the father?
Controlled observation
What is a controlled observation?
Observing behaviour in an artificial environment where the researcher has manipulated the conditions.
What was the procedure of Fields research into the role of the father?
he filmed 4 month old infants in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers
Who did Field film to investigate the role of the father
he filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers
What did Field observe/find during the observation?
That the primary caregiver fathers, like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the infants than the secondary caregiver fathers.
What was the main finding from Fields research?
Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, they spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers.
What is the main conclusion from Fields research?
Fathers can be the nurturing attachment figure and take on the traditional maternal role.
What does Fields research tell us about the role of the father?
That the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.
AO3 - What is a strength of research into the role of the father?
It can be used in the real world - therefore has practical applications
AO3 - How does Field’s research into role of the father have practical applications?
This is because the findings of fields research that responsiveness to the child’s needs not gender is most important when forming attachments has been used to change policies.
AO3 - How has Field’s research into role of the father been used to change policies in the real world?
It has been used to change policies such as Shared Parental Leave (2014) which allows mothers and fathers to share leave from work to care for their child within the first year of an infants life.
AO3 - How is the policy of shared parental leave useful for families in the real world?
This is useful in families where the father wants to take on the role of the primary caregiver and the mother wants to return to work.
