role of the father

Question 1

what role does the father typically play in the infants life?

Answer 1

•fathers are more playful, physically active and generally better than mothers at providing challenging situations for their children. this helps their children develop particular skills. young children tend to select fathers over mothers when seeking play opportunities
•the ‘playmate’

Question 2

3 ways in which a mothers and fathers roles can be interchangeable?

Answer 2

•research indicated that the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness of the parent to the infant. smiling, imitating and holding infants are behaviours which parents should show to build an attachment. Any parent can do this.
•when fathers take in the role of primary caregiver, they show typical ‘mother’ behaviour (like smiling,imitating/holding infants).

Question 3

what did Field’s research say? (1978)

Answer 3

That Gender stereotypes, not biological differences account for the different parenting behaviour seen in mothers and fathers

Question 4

what did Golombok’s research say? (2004)

Answer 4

The social development of infants who are raised in single parent households or same sex parent households is no different to infants raised in ‘traditional’ settings

Question 5

how does the father respond differently to infant cues?

Answer 5

research has shown that fathers are less sensitive to infant cues, eg crying, than mothers

Question 6

what did John Bowlby believe?

Answer 6

that the mother was the main attachment figure; the role of the father was merely to support the mother, eg by providing resources

Question 7

how does oestrogen play a role in infant relationships?

Answer 7

the female hormone, oestrogen, is linked to nurturing behaviours. this biological difference suggests mothers have evolved to become primary attachment figures to their infants.

Question 8

which parent did schaffer and emerson find that infants usually became attached to first?

Answer 8

the mother

Question 9

(schaffer and emerson) in what percentage of cases was the father the sole attachment figure?

Answer 9

3%

Question 10

(schaffer and emerson) in what percentage of cases was the father the joint first object of attachment?

Answer 10

27%

Question 11

in the multiple attachment phase, how many infants had formed an attachment with their fathers?

Answer 11

75%