role of the father Flashcards
limitation of role of the father - confusion over research questions
-lack of clarity over question being asked
-the question ‘what is the role of the father?’ in the context of attachment is much more complicated that it sounds. some researchers want to understand the role of the father as a secondary attachment figure and some are more concerned with the role as a primary attachment figure. the former tend to see fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role –> makes it difficult to offer a simple answer to the role of the father and it really depends on what is being discussed
limitation of role of the father - conflicting evidence
-research into role of father findings vary according to methodology used
-longitudinal studies such as that of Grossmann et al have suggested fathers as a secondary attachment figure have a distinctive and important role we would expect children growing up in single-mother and lesbian parent families would turn out in a different way to those in 2-parent heterosexual families. in fact studies (McCallum and Golombok 2004) consistently show that these children do not develop differently from children in 2-parent heterosexual relationships –> means the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered
strength of role of the father - counterpoint to conflicting evidence
these lines of research may not be in fact in conflict. it could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles in 2-parent heterosexual relationships, but in single-mother and lesbian-parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role by fathers –> 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 of role of the father - real-world application
-role of father can be used to offer advice to parents
-parents and prospective parents sometimes agonise over decisions like who should take over primary caregiver role. for some this can even mean worrying about having children at all. mothers may fell pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views of mothers’ and fathers’ roles. equally, the father may be pressures to focus on work rather than parenting. in some families this may not economically be 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 figure. also lesbian-parent and single-mother families can be informed that not having a father around does not affect a child’s development –> parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced
evaluation of role of the father - bias in this research
-preconceptions about how fathers do or could behave can be created by stereotypical accounts and images of parenting roles and behvaiour, for example, those used in advertising. these stereotypes such as fathers aren’t primary caregivers and fathers are stricter may cause unintentional observer bias whereby observers see what they expect to see rather than recording objective reality
father definition
in attachment research the father is anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver. this can be but is not necessarily the biological father
attachment to fathers
-3% of fathers are the first sole object of attachment and in 27% of cases the father was 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 studies 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
Grossmann et al 2002 caried out a longitudinal study where babies attachments were studies until they were in their teens. the researchers looked at parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of baby’s later attachments to people. quality of a baby’s attachment with mothers but not 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 adolescents attachments. this suggests that fathers have a different role form mothers- one is more to do with play and simulation, and less to do with emotional development
fathers as primary attachment figures
Field 1978 filmed a 4-month old babies face-to-face interaction with the primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. Smiling, imitating and holding babies are all part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony which is part of the process of attachment formation. so it seems 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
