multiple attachments and the role of the father Flashcards
who suggests that fathers can fill a role closely resembling that filled by a mother?
Bowlby (1988)
what activities does Bowlby (1988) say is more likely to be played out by the father?
physically active and novel play and tends to become his child’s preferred play companion
what % of infants studies by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) formed an attachment with the father by the age of 18 months?
75%
how did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) determine that an attachment had been formed with the father?
infants protested when their father walked away
what did Grossman (2002) find the father’s play styles was closely linked to?
the fathers’ own internal working model of attachment
what did Grossman (2002) study?
a longitudinal study of 44 families comparing the role of fathers’ & mothers’ contribution to their children’s attachment experiences at 6,10 and 16 years
what is play sensitivity a predictor of?
the child’s long-term attachment representation than the early measures of the of attachment type that the infant had with their father
what behaviours do fathers adopt when they take on the role of being the main caregiver?
behaviours more typical of mothers
what did Field (1978) conduct research that compared?
the behaviours of primary caretaker mothers with primary and secondary caretaker fathers
what was Field’s (1978) method?
face-to-face interactions were analysed from video footage of fathers with infants at 4 months of age
what did Field (1978) find?
fathers engaged more in game playing and held their infants less. but primary caretaker fathers engaged in more smiling, imitative grimaces, and imitative vocalizations than did secondary caretaker fathers and these were comparable with mothers’ behaviour.
what does Field’s (1978) study suggest is more important in attachment relationships?
the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent
one strength of multiple attachments and the role of the father
the study by Grossman found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important role in their children’s development.
one limitation of multiple attachments and the role of the father
the fact that fathers tend not to become the primary attachment figure could be the result of traditional gender roles, in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men. therefore fathers simply don’t feel they should act like that.
