role of the father ao1 Flashcards
What defined as a father whne talking about role of father
Not the biological father but any male caregiver
Who are babies most likely to attach to mothers or fathers
Babies more likely to attach to mothers over fathers
What evidence suggests that babies more likely to attach to mothers over fathers
Based on evidence for types of Attachemnt (Schaffer and Emerson)
Maj of babies become attached to mother at around 7 months
3% of cases founf fathers to be sole attachment
In 27% of cases mother and father where joint in first obj of attachment
Who and when did research on the distinctive roles of fathers and what kind of study was it
Klaus Grossman et al
2002
Longitudinal study
describe grossman et al longitudinal study
He studied babies attachment until they were teens
Looked at behaviour of both parents and it’s relationship to the quality of the babies later attachment to other people
What evidence suggested attachment to fathers less important than mothers in grossman et al study
Quality of a babies attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence
Was did grossman et al find out about quality of fathers play and what did it suggest
They found that quality of fathers play wiht babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments
Suggesting fathers play a different role from mothers - more to do wiht play and simulation and less to do with emotional development
What does a babies primary attachment dictate
It forms the basis of all later close emotional relationships
Who and when did a study on how when fathers take on role of primary care giver they adopt a more emotional role more typically associated with mothers
Tiffany field 1978
Procedure to of Tiffany field 1978 study
Filmed 4 month old babies interactions wiht primary and secondary mothers and fathers
Findings of Tiffany field 1978 study
They found that primary caregiver mothers and fathers smiling, holding and initiating then secondary mothers and fathers did
These beh are all apart of reciprocity and interactional synchrony
Conclusions of Tiffany field study
So it seems fathers have the potential to be more emotion focused primary attachment figure
outline role of the father 6 marks
Research into the role of the father has focused on a variety of different questions. Inese include whether infants attached to their fathers and when; does the father have a distinctive role; and can a father be a primary attachment figure.
Grossman et al. conducted a longitudinal study looking at the behaviour of mothers and fathers towards their infants and its relationship to the quality of their later attachments. It was found that the quality of mother’s attachment to their infants, was linked to the quality of the infant attachment in later life. However it was also found that the quality of fathers play with their babies was linked to the quality of attachments in adolescence, suggesting that fathers play a unique and distinctive role surrounding play and stimulation, rather than nurture.
Other research by Field et al. found that primary caregiver fathers spent more time, like mothers, holding, smiling and imitating than secondary caregiver fathers. Which are important behaviours when building attachments and shows that the father “can” be more nurturing under the right circumstances and that gender is not key in being a primary caregiver, but rather the level of responsiveness shown by the parent.
