role of the father Flashcards
Attachment to fathers
evidence suggests that fathers are much less likely to become babies first attachment figure compared to mothers
Schaffer and Emerson in the stages of attacthement research found that the majority of babies first became attached to their mother at around 7 months
only 3% of the cases the father was the first sole object of attachement
27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with he mother
appears most fathers go on to become more important attachment figures
75% of the babies studied in schaffer and emerson formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months
determined by the fact that babies protested when their fathers walked away which is a sign of attachment
distinctive role for fathers
look into 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 the attachment tot he mother
do caregiving men make a unique contribution to early development
Gross man carried out a longitudinal study where babies attachments were studied until they were teens
looked at both parents behaviour and its relationships to the qualaity of their baby’s later attachments to other people
quality of babies attachments with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolensence
this suggests that attachment to fathers is less important than mothers
however Grossman also found that the quality of fathers play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments
suggest 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
distinction is made between primary and secondary attachment figures
first specific attachment - primary attachment
later attachments - secondary attachments
more to primary attachment than being first
a baby’s primary attachment has special emotional significance
a baby’s relationships with their primary attachment figure forms the basis of all later close emotional relationships
evidence to suggest that when fathers do take on the role of primary caregiver they are able to adopt the emotional role more typically accosiated with mothers
Field filmed 4 month old babies in face to dace interaction itch primary care giver mothers and 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 interaction all synchrony which are part of the process of attachment formation
fathers have the potential to be the more emotion focused primary attachment figure
they can provide the responsiveness required for a close emotional attchamnet but perhaps they can only express this when they are given the role of primary caregiver
evaluation - limitation
confusion over research questions
lack of clarity over the question being asked
the question “what is the role for the father?” in the context of attachment is much more complicated
some research’s attempting to answer this question actually wan to understand the role of the father as secondary attachment figures
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
makes it difficult to offer a simple answer as to the role of the father
really depends what specific role is being discussed
evaluation - limitation
conflicting evidence
findings vary according to the methodology used
longitudinal studies such as Grossman have suggested that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important and distinct role in their child’s development , involving play and stimulation
however if fathers have a distinctive and important role we would expect that children growing up in a single mother and lesbian parent famailis would turn out in some different way
McCallum and Golombok showed that these children do not develop differently from children in two-parent heterosexual families
means that the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered
evaluation - strenght
real world application
can be used to offer advice to parents
parents and prospective parents sometimes agonise over their suggestions such as who should take on the primary caregiver role
mothers may feel pressed to stay at home due to stereotypes
fathers may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting due to stereotypes yet this may not be economically the best solution
heterosexual parents can be informed that fathers are quite capable og 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
means parental anxiety about the role of the father can be reduced
