role of the father

Question 1

What do Schaffer and Emerson say about the role of the father ?

Answer 1

• majority of infants are attached to the mother
• only 3% are attached first to the father
• 27% had mother and father joint attachment
• 75% of fathers are attached by the multiple attachment stage

Question 2

What does Field say about the role of the father ?

Answer 2

• filmed face-to-face interactions with:
  1. the primary care giver mother
  2. the primary care giver father
  3. the secondary care giver father
• regardless of gender, the parent who interacts more with the infant is more likely to be the primary care giver

Question 3

What did Grossman say about the role of fathers ?

Answer 3

• study from infancy to adolescence (longitudinal study)
• studied attachments and how they related to the quality of them in adolescence
• The quality of mothers in infancy can lead to good attachment in adolescence (emotional)
• The quality of fathers play in infancy can lead to a good attachment in adolescence

Question 4

What are some limitations over the research of the role of fathers ?

Answer 4

Lack of clarity over the question:
- the question is very complicated and can be interpreted in lots of different ways
Conflicting evidence:
- longitudinal studies such as Grossmann suggest that having fathers as a SCG is important in their development however this contradicts studies who say that people in single-mother or lesbian-parent families don’t develop any different to heterosexual parents

Question 5

What is a strength about the research on the role of fathers ?

Answer 5

• can be used to offer advice to parents
• helps parents know that the role each parent takes wont negatively affect the child in their future