Role Of The Father

Question 1

What is a father defined as in attachment research?

Answer 1

Anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver.
This can be but is not necessarily the biological father.

Question 2

The role of attachment to fathers

Answer 2

• A first research question is whether fathers play a role as primary or secondary attachment figures.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies had mothers as primary attachment figures.

Question 3

Key percentages for the role of attachment to fathers

Answer 3

-In only 3% of the cases the father was the first sole object of attachment.
- In 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment.
- However, it appears that most fathers go on to become important attachment was formed with the father by 18 months old.

Question 4

The distinctive role for fathers

Answer 4

• A second research question is whether a father’s role has a unique value in child development
• Grossmann et al (2002) longitudinal study on babies attachment until they were teens.

Question 5

Grossmann et al (2002)

Answer 5

• Looked at parents behaviour and the relationship to the quality of their baby’s attachment to other people.
• Found that the quality of a baby’s attachment to their mother (rather than that to their father) was related to the quality of later attachments in adolescence.
• This suggests that attachment to the father is less important than attachment to mothers.
• However, the quality of the father’s play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments.

Question 6

Fathers as primary attachment figures

Answer 6

• There is evidence to suggest that when fathers do take on the role of being the main caregiver they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers.
• Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interaction with:
  1. Primary care-giver = mother
  2. Secondary care-giver = father
  3. Primary care-giver = father
• They found that primary caregiver fathers (like mothers) spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers. These behaviours are all part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony and are important in building attachment.