Role of father Flashcards
What are 4 factors which affect the relationship between fathers and their children?
Degree of sensitivity
Types of attachment with own parents
Marital intimacy
Supportive co-parenting
How does degree of sensitivity affect the relationship of a father and their child?
More secure attachments to their children are found in fathers who show more sensitivity to their children’s needs
What did Geiger (1996) find?
Fathers’ play interactions are more exciting and pleasurable than mothers’ whilst mothers are more nurturing and affectionate. Fathers are seen as more playmates than caregivers
What do children with secure attachments go on to have?
Better relationships with peers, less problems behaviours and are more able to regulate their emotions
What is the effect in a child who grows up without a father?
Do less well at school and have higher levels of risk taking and aggression, suggesting that fathers can prevent negative developmental outcomes
How does type of attachments a father has with his own parents affect his relationship with his own child?
Single-parent fathers tend to form similar attachments with their children than they had with their own parents
What did Bernier and Miljkovitch (2009) find?
Single-parent fathers’ attachments with children aged 4-6 years was similar to the attachments the fathers had with their own parents. No such effect found with married fathers, suggests continuity of attachment occurs more in fathers who are the main caregiver
How does marital intimacy affect the type of attachment the father has with his child?
The degree of intimacy a father has within his relationship with his partner affects the type of attachment he will have with his children
What did Belsky et al (2009) find?
High levels of marital intimacy was related to secure father-infant attachments and low levels of marital intimacy was related to insecure father-child attachments
Other than the child, who are fathers important for? Explain?
Mothers
Supportive co-parenting provides the mother with the time they need away from childcare which helps to reduce stress in mothers, improve self-esteem and improve the quality of the mother-child relationship
What did Brown et al (2010) find?
Assessed attachment patterns in 68 families with infants aged 12-13 months, finding that high levels of supporting co-parenting were related to secure attachment types between infants and fathers but not infants and mothers
When do most infants prefer the company of their father?
When they are in a positive emotional state and wanting to play
Explain the cultural differences in the role of the father?
Until recently, men were expected to be the breadwinners and not be involved in the care of the child as much as the mother In modern families, fathers are less likely to engage in physical play in middle class Indian families
Explain the social policy in regards to the role of the father?
Until recently, fathers were not given paid paternity leave and even so it is still a significantly less period of time than mothers are entitled to
What does the role of the father being important give an argument for?
The entitled paid paternity leave being lengthened
