L3 - The role of the father

Question 1

what is a father

Answer 1

• doesn’t specifically refer to a baby’s biological male parent
• refers to a child’s closest male caregives

Question 2

Do babies attach to fathers?
If so when?

Answer 2

• evidence suggests fathers are less likely to become babies’ first attachment figure compared to mothers e.g. Shaffer & Emerson’s (1960) study they found majority of babies first attached to their mother around 7 mo
• father was attachment figure in 3% cases
• 27% were jointly attached to mother & father
• by 18 mo 75% of infants formed attachment with father - showed separation protest when father walked away

Question 3

Do attachment to fathers hold some specific value in a child’s development

Answer 3

• Grossman et al. (2002) carried out a longitudinal study where attachments were studies until they were in their teens
• looked at both parents’ behaviour & quality of relationship with their children
• found that quality of a baby’s attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence
• finding suggests that attachment to fathers is less important then mothers

Question 4

does a father play different role in a child’s development compared to the mother

Answer 4

• Grossman found the quality of a fathers’ play with babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments
• suggests fathers have different role to mothers
• fathers role is more to do with play and simulation rather then emotional development

Question 5

primary attachments

Answer 5

• the 1st attachment that an infant forms with caregiver (usually mother) - happens around 7mo
• characterised by separation protest & stranger anxiety
• has special emotional significance
• based on this relationship, infants form the basis of all later close emotional relationships (internal working model) - acts as a template
• after primary attachments are formed then infants develop multiple attachments - secondary attachments

Question 6

fathers as primary attachment figures?

Answer 6

• tend to be secondary attachment figures
• research shows that when fathers do take on role of primary caregiver they are able to adopt the emotional role of the mother - Field (1978)

Question 7

fathers as primary attachment figures study

Answer 7

• Field (1978) filmed 4 mo old babies interactions with primary caregiver mothers, fathers and secondary caregiver fathers
• found primary caregiver mothers as well as fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding their babies than secondary caregiver fathers
• these are all part of caregiver-infant interactions such as interactional synchrony & reciprocity & are part of attachment formation
• supports idea father can be primary caregivers like mothers

Question 8

evaluation of the role of the father

Answer 8

strengths
- real-world application
weaknesses
- confusion over research questions
- what about children who are born in single parent families and generally have no father?
- why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?

Question 9

real-world application

Answer 9

• can be used to offer advice to parents
  e.g parents may be concerned abt who should be primary caregiver
• mothers may feel pressured to stay at home due to stereotypical roles
• fathers may feel pressured to focus on work instead of parenting
• so research into the role of the father can be used to offer reassurance that fathers can be equally as competent as mothers in fulfilling the role of the primary attachment figure
• lesbian parents can also be informed that not having a father won’t affect a child’s development (MacCallum & Golombrook (2004))

Question 10

confusion over research questions

Answer 10

• research into the role of fathers is confusing as different researchers are interested in finding out abt different q’s
• some want to see role of father as secondary attachment and some as primary
• makes it difficult to answer question - what is the role of the father

Question 11

what about children who are born in single parent families & generally have no father?

Answer 11

• Grossman’s study found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important role in children’s development
• MacCallum & Golombok(2004) found that children growing up with their mothers/same sex couples don’t develop differently to children reared in two parent heterosexual families
• these findings suggest that the role of the father isn’t important
• it’s a weakness into the role of the father as it suggests that all children don’t need a father

Question 12

why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?

Answer 12

• could be due to traditional gender roles - where women are expected to be more caring & nurturing then men - fathers don’t feel they should act like that
• or that female hormones (e.g. oestrogen) create higher levels of nurturing so they are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure
• also could be due to the fact Bowlby, who was an influential psychologist argued that the role of the father was mainly economic & not really important in the nurturing of infants