Role of the Father Flashcards
What did Grossman (2002) do and find in relation to the father’s importance?
Grossman (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachments into their teens (adolescence).
It was found that the quality of a child’s attachment to their mother impacted their attachments as adolescents, but the quality of their attachment with their father was less important.
What did Geiger (1996) find in relation to the father’s importance?
Gieger (1996) found that fathers’ play interactions were more exciting in
comparison to a mothers’. However, a mothers’ play interactions were
more affectionate and nurturing.
Suggesting that the role of a father is not a sensitive parent who
responds to needs of their children, confirming that the mother takes on a
more nurturing role.
What did Hrdy (1999) find in relation to the father’s importance?
Hrdy (1999) found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress compared to mothers.
These results appear to support the biological explanation that the lack of oestrogen in men means that fathers are not equipped innately to form close attachments with their children.
Suggesting that the role of the father is biologically determined to be restricted because of their makeup.
What did Field (1978) find about Fathers as caregivers
Field (1978) filmed 4 month-old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.
It was found that primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers.
This behaviour appears to be important in building an attachment with the
infant, suggesting that fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure. So the key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness, not the gender of the parent.
What are otehr factors effecting the relationship between father and infant?
Other factors
Numerous factors affect the father’s role and his impact on his child’s emotional development. For example, culture, the father’s age, and the amount of time the father spends away from home. The existence of so many factors means it is difficult to make generalisations about the father’s role.
In the UK, fathers were not given any paid paternal leave until 2003 (1-2 weeks). So the responsibility for child care was implicitly given to the mothers. This could change the attachment that children make with their fathers.
However, this is not the case in every country, so the pattern of attachment
between father and children might be different.
How does research into the roles of fathers effect the economy?
Research into the role of fathers has implications for the economy due to
its impact on employments laws and policy. Showing the relative importance of fathers and their ability to play an equal role of caregiver sensitivity and the welfare of children could impact the paternity laws.
This has implications for the employers in terms of paying for productivity which they are not seeing. In addition parental leave is partially funded by both the employer and the government which has implications for funding if both partners seek to take leave.
The shared parental leave however is a double edged sword, whilst it may reduce males in the workforce as they seek to take more leave when they have children, this would allow mothers to take less leave and therefore return to work, allowing them to resume contribution to the employer.
What dis Research by Parke et al find?
Research by Parke et al. found that fathers are just as good at
understanding their new-born’s cues as mothers, suggesting that men
and women have the same potential to become caregivers and
‘differences’ could be due to different role expectations.
What is a limitation of the role of the father, (family composition)
P: A limitation of research into the role of the father is that suggesting that they have a distinct role proposes that single or sex families are under benefitted.
E: MacCallum & Golombok (2004) have found that children growing up in single or same sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families.
C: This would seem to suggest that the father’s role as the secondary attachment figure is not important.
What is a limitation of the role of the father, (stereotypes)
P: A limitation of research into the role of the father is that the differences between parental roles may be because of stereotypes on gender roles.
E: The fact that fathers tend not to become the primary attachment figure could simply be the results of traditional gender roles, in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men. Therefore fathers
may not feel that they need to take on that role.
C: On the other hand, it could be that female hormones such as oestrogen create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment.
What is a limitation of the role of the father, (no clear answer)
P: Despite the contrasting research into what the role of the father is,
there is still not real answer.
E: Research has shown that fathers are equally able as women to display sensitive responsiveness and form secure attachments but they are restricted by social policy and paternal laws. For example, men are not permitted to sit next to non-related children on a plane or mothers have longer maternity time off than fathers.
C: This suggests that there needs to be a change in legislation and policy to enable fathers to thrive when parenting their children.
What is a limitation of the role of the father, (social biases)
P: A further limitation is that social biases prevent objective observation.
E: Preconceptions about how fathers behave are created by common discussions about mothers’ and fathers’ parenting behaviour. These stereotypes (fathers are more playful, stricter).
C: This may cause unintentional observer bias whereby observers ‘see’ what they expect rather than recording actual reality.
