Role of the Father Flashcards
Role of the Father
- While traditionally the role of the father may have been limited, as fathers would go to work to provide resources whilst the mothers stayed home and took care of the children, in recent times the role of the father has significantly changed.
- Schaffer found that infants’ primary attachment figure was most frequently their mother alone (65%), 30% both and 3% the father alone. However, at 18 months, 75% of infants had formed an attachment with their father, suggesting that fathers play an important role in their infants lives.
- However, psychologists disagree over the exact role of the father.
- Some researchers claim that men are simply not equipped to form an attachment. Such psychologists point to biological evidence which suggests that the hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour in women and the lack of oestrogen in men is why they are unable to form a close attachment.
- Other researchers argue that fathers do not take on a role as a caregiver but in fact provide a different role: as a playmate. Fathers’ interactions emphasise stimulation, and so it is thought their role is to encourage risk-taking behaviours, compared to the more comforting style of mothers.
- Finally, some researchers argue that fathers can demonstrate sensitive responsiveness and respond to the needs of their children and therefore can form a strong emotional bond. This is because in modern Western society, mothers are more likely to take part in the workplace. There is even evidence to suggest that if men take on the role of primary caregivers, their interactional style changes to be more like mothers, increasing their capacity for sensitive responsiveness.
Role of the Father - Strength
Point: There is research evidence supporting the notion that the role of the father is more aligned with being a ‘playmate’ rather than a primary caregiver.
Evidence: Geiger conducted a study comparing parental interactions and found that fathers’ play with their children was more physically stimulating and unpredictable, whereas mothers engaged in more affectionate, calming, and nurturing interactions.
Justification: This highlights a clear distinction in parental roles, indicating that fathers are more likely to stimulate exploration and active engagement through play, whilst mothers tend to provide emotional support and sensitive caregiving. As such, the father’s role may complement, rather than replicate, the traditional maternal role in child development.
Implication: These findings have important implications for understanding family dynamics and child-rearing practices, as they support the idea of a complementary division of parental roles. Recognising the father’s contribution as a playful, stimulating figure and the mother’s role as a nurturing caregiver can help create a more balanced and enriching environment for the child’s social and emotional development.
Role of the Father - Strength
Point: There is research suggesting that fathers can form secure attachments with their children if they are in an intimate marriage.
Evidence: Belsky et al. (2009) found that males who reported higher levels of marital intimacy also displayed secure father-infant attachments, whereas males with lower levels of marital intimacy exhibited insecure father-infant attachments.
Justification: This suggests that fathers are capable of forming secure attachments with their children, but the strength of the attachment depends on the quality of the father and mother’s relationship. A positive and intimate marital relationship appears to facilitate stronger father-child bonds.
Implication: This has applications in family counselling, where promoting marital intimacy could be an effective strategy in enhancing the father-child attachment. By strengthening the father and mother relationship, it could provide the child with a more secure and stable emotional environment, allowing for healthy development.
Role of the Father - Strength
Point: There is research evidence suggesting that fathers may not be as naturally equipped as mothers to provide a sensitive and nurturing attachment.
Evidence: Hrdy found that fathers were less able than mothers to detect low levels of infant distress. This supports the biological explanation that the lack of oestrogen in men may make them less biologically predisposed to respond sensitively to infants’ emotional needs.
Justification: These findings suggest that the father’s role in caregiving may be biologically restricted, reinforcing the view that women are more innately suited to form emotionally responsive attachments due to hormonal influences like oestrogen.
Implication: This may influence societal norms and reinforce traditional gender roles in parenting, discouraging fathers from taking on active caregiving responsibilities.
Counterargument: However, this explanation is biologically deterministic as it ignores the influence of social, psychological and environmental factors on paternal behaviour.
Evidence: Field conducted a study where fathers who were the primary caregivers displayed the same level of responsiveness and nurturing behaviour as mothers. The key predictor of sensitive caregiving was the amount of interaction and engagement with the infant, not the parent’s gender.
Justification: This demonstrates that with sufficient involvement and opportunity, fathers can develop the same sensitive responsiveness as mothers, indicating that attachment styles are not strictly determined by biology.
Implication: This challenges the rigid biological assumptions and supports a more flexible view of parenting. It promotes integrative parental roles which may encourage policy changes that support paternity leave and shared caregiving responsibilities.
Role of the Father - Weakness
Point: There is research evidence that challenges the necessity of the role of the father in child development.
Evidence: MacCallum and Golombok found that children raised in single-mother households or same-sex parent families did not differ significantly in their social, emotional, or cognitive development when compared to children raised in conventional two-parent heterosexual families.
Justification: This demonstrates that the presence of the father is not essential for healthy child development, undermining the idea that the father has a unique or irreplaceable role in attachment. It highlights that perhaps the quality of caregiving, rather than the gender or specific role of the caregiver, is the key determinant in the developmental outcomes of a child.
Implication: These findings carry important sociocultural implications, as they challenge conventional gender norms in parenting. If children can thrive without a traditional parental figure, it broadens societal understanding of what constitutes an effective caregiving environment, promoting inclusivity and reducing stigma around non-traditional family structures.
Counterargument: On the other hand, research suggesting that the father’s role is non-essential can be considered socially sensitive.
Evidence: Findings such as those from MacCallum and Golombok, which claim that children raised without a father figure do not show developmental differences, may unintentionally diminish the perceived value of fatherhood. Furthermore, by reinforcing the idea that caregiving is solely a maternal responsibility, this can place additional pressure on single mothers to fulfill caregiving roles without support. If the importance of a father’s role is not acknowledged, societal expectations may continue to undervalue paternal involvement, further burdening mothers.
Justification: Such conclusions provoke emotional responses and societal tensions - especially among fathers who feel that their role is being undermined or rendered insignificant and among mothers who may feel their contributions or struggles are being overlooked.
Implication: This demonstrates the socially sensitive nature of research into the role of the father, as it has the potential to influence public perceptions on their role and family dynamics in general.
