Role Of The Father Flashcards
Intro
Most attachment research has focused on mother and baby attachment, and the role of the father in the development of attachment has often been neglected. However, there is research on the specific roles that fathers play in development. (Note that a ‘father’ does not specially refer to a baby’s biological male parent - it refers to a child’s closest male caregiver. So this is about what men may contribute as caregivers.)
Attachment to fathers
Perhaps the most basic question about the role of fathers is whether babies actually attach to them and, if so, when. Available evidence suggests that fathers are much less likely to become babies’ first attachment figure compared to mothers.
For example, on the previous spread we looked at stages of attachment based on research by Rudolf Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964). They found that the majority of babies first became attached to their mother at around 7 months. In only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment. In 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.
However, it appears that most fathers go on to become important attachment figures. 75% of the babies studied by Schaffer and Emerson formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months. This was determined by the fact that the babies protested when their father walked away - a sign of attachment.
Distinctive role for fathers
A different research question is whether attachment to fathers holds some specific value in a child’s development and, if so, whether it plays a different role in a child’s development from attachment to the mother. In other words, do caregiving men make a unique contribution to early development?
Klaus Grossmann et al. (2002) carried out a longitudinal study where babies’ attachments were studied until they were into their teens. The researchers looked at both parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their baby’s later attachments to other people.-Quality of a baby’s attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence.
This suggests that attachment to fathers is less important than attachment to mothers.
However, Grossmann et al. also found that the quality of fathers’ play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments. This suggests that fathers have a different role from mothers - one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with emotional development.
Fathers as primary attachment figures
A distinction is made between primary and secondary attachment figures. On the previous spread we described the first specific attachment as a primary attachment and later attachments (in stage 4) as secondary attachments. But there is more to primary attachment than being first - a baby’s primary attachment has special emotional significance. A baby’s relationship with their primary attachment figure forms the basis of all later close emotional relationships.
Interestingly there is some evidence to suggest that when fathers do take on the role of primary caregiver they are able to adopt the emotional role more typically associated with mothers.
For example, in one study Tiffany Field (1978) filmed 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers, like primary caregiver mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than the secondary caregiver fathers. Smiling, imitating and holding babies are all part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony which, as we saw on page 75, are part of the process of attachment formation (see research by Isabella et al. 1989).
So it seems that fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure - they can provide the responsiveness required for a close emotional attachment but perhaps only express this when given the role of primary caregiver.
Limitation-confusion over research question
One limitation of research into the role of fathers is lack of clarity over the question being asked.
The question, ‘What is the role of the father?’ in the context of attachment is much more complicated than it sounds. Some researchers attempting to answer this question actually want to understand the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures. But others are more concerned with fathers as a primary attachment figure. The former have tended to see fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role. The latter have found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal’ role.
This makes it difficult to offer a simple answer as to the ‘role of the father’ It really depends what specific role is being discussed.
Limitation-conflicting evidence
A further limitation of research into the role of fathers is that findings vary according to the methodology used.
Longitudinal studies such as that of Grossmann et al. (see facing page) have suggested that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important and distinct role in their children’s development, involving play and stimulation.
However, if fathers have a distinctive and important role we would expect that Children growing up in single- mother and lesbian-parent families would turn out in some way different from those in two-parent heterosexual families. In fact studies (e g. McCallum and Golombok 2004) consistently show that these children do not develop differently from children in two-parent heterosexual families. This means that the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role
remains unanswered.
Counterpoint-These lines of research may not in fact be in conflict.
It could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles in two-parent heterosexual families, but that parents in single-mother and lesbian-parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role played by fathers.
This means that the question of a distinctive role for fathers is clear after all. When present, fathers tend to adopt a distinctive role, but families can adapt to not having a father.
Strength- real world application
One strength of research into the role of the father is that it can be used to offer advice to parents.
Parents and prospective parents sometimes agonise over decisions like who should take on the primary caregiver role. For some this can even mean worrying about whether to have children at all. Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views of mothers’ and fathers’ roles.
Equally, fathers may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting. In some families this may not be economically the best solution. Research into the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents. For example, heterosexual parents can be informed that fathers are quite capable of becoming primary attachment figures. Also lesbian-parent and single-mother families can be informed that not having a father around does not affect a child’s development.
This means that parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced.
