Role of fathers

Question 1

Describe Grossman 2002

Answer 1

Grossman 2002
* Carried out a longitudinal study looking into both parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachment into their teens.
* Quality of infant attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to children’s attachments in adolescence, suggesting that father attachment was less important.
* However, the quality of fathers’ play with infants was related to the quality of adolescent attachments.
* This suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment - one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing.

Question 2

fathers as primary caregivers

Answer 2

• There is some evidence to suggest that when fathers do take on a the role of being the main caregiver they adopt behaviours that have in the past been associated with mothers.
• Primary caregiver fathers, like, mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infant than the secondary caregiver fathers.
• This behaviour appear to be important in building an attachment with the infant. So it seems that farthers can be the more nurturing attachment figure.
• The key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.

Question 3

What did Verissimo et al 2011 show

Answer 3

a significant positive correlation between quality of relationship between fathers and toddlers and the no. of friends at preschool. Therefore suggesting that the father is more important in later childhood relationships.