Role Of The Father and multiple attachments Flashcards
What does Schaffer and Emerson’s research (1964) suggests about the role of the father
- primary attachment is more likely to be with the mother
- only 3% of fathers were the primary attachment figure in their study
- 75% of infants had formed an attachment with their father by 18 months
Outline what the Israel study suggests about the role of the father in attachment.
- there is nothing biologically that makes women better at parenting
- PCG develop neural pathways that make them more responsive to emotional cues
- findings showed that the same pathways develop in fathers who were PCG’s and mothers
What conclusions have been made about the role of the father
- social construct has led us to believe that the mothers should be the PCG
- there is no biological reason why fathers can’t be the PCG
- gender roles within society mean that it is expected for the mother to form the specific attachment
AO3 evaluation of research into the role of the father
- there is a lack of consistencies between research and this may be due to the changing societal standards , men taking on a more nurturing role and women staying working
- this has had implications for the economy such as
- gender pay gap reduced
- mothers pressured to not work and stay at home
- changing laws on paternity leave
- Schaffer and Emerson’s study lacks temporal validity, the study was conducted 50+ years ago and gender roles have changed. In the modern family fathers have a more nurturing role.
- Grossman’s longitudinal study may lack population validity. This is because people drop out of longitudinal studies as they go on for so long. This reduces the credibility of the results as they can’t be generalised to the population
what are the three ideas about the role of the father
1 the role of the father is less important than the mother
2 the father’s role is more to do with play and stimulation than nurturing
3 the role of the father is just as important as the mothers
what research supports the idea that an infant can form multiple attachments
- in Schaffer and Emerson’s research 27% of infants had a primary attachment with both the mother and the father
- and 75% of infants had formed an attachment with their father by 18 months
- this supports the idea that an infant can have multiple attachments unlike Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment
what research suggests that the role of the father is less important than the mothers
- in Schaffer and Emerson’s study only 3% of the fathers were PCGs
- this may suggest that the role the father plays in the infants development is less important or that men are not as biologically equipped to nurture children as women
outline Grossman’s (2002) research into the role of the father
- a longitudinal study looking at how the quality of attachment with both parents changed from infancy to teenage years
- findings showed the quality of attachment with the mother during infancy was a better predictor of the mother-teen relationship in adolescents but this was not the case for fathers
- HOWEVER, they found that the quality of the attachment with the father was related to whether the father took an active role in play and stimulation
what does Grossman’s (2002) research suggests about the role of the father
- suggests that the role of the father may be less important than the mothers
- suggests that fathers may have an alternative role in attachment that is more to do with play and stimulation rather than nurturing
what research suggests that fathers are important attachment figures
- field (1978), suggests if the father is the PCG they take on a more nurturing role
- Israel study, males that are the PCG had developed the same neural pathways that make them more responsive to emotional cues from their child in care as mothers who were the primary caregivers
