Role of the father in attachment Flashcards
How is heteronormativity relevant to the role of the father in attachment
research into the role of the father is based on the assumption that babies have two opposite gender parents. This is of course not always the case. There is no suggestion from respectable psychologists that having a single parent or two same - gender parents has any negative impact on children development
What % of babies have a sole primary attachment with their fathers
S+E (1964) Only 3% of babies
What percent of cases was the father the joint first object of attachment
S+E (1964) 27% of cases
What percent of children form a secondary attachment with their father and by what age
75% by 18 months old
why is role of the father not a distinct or clear question
Are we looking at fathers as primary or secondary attachment figures.
Some look to the distinct role of a father others look at how much ‘maternal’ care a father provides.
What type of study was Grossmans (2002) ‘the distinctive role of the father’
Longitudinal study of attachment into teens.
What were Grossman’s findings in his 2002 study
Quality of attachment to mother much more important than father.
Did find that the quality of fathers ‘play’ with babies was related to later attachment.
What is the main role of the mother and father according to Grossman
Fathers role is play and stimulation
Mothers role is emotional care.
What did McCallum and Golombok (2004) find
Children without a father do not develop differently.
Fathers typically take on the play role in two parent heterosexual families. However, if a father is not present the family adapt to take on that role.
How do fathers behave differently when they are the primary caregivers
Research suggests that when fathers do take on main caregiver they take on behaviours more typical of a mother.
Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling at, imitating and holding babies than secondary fathers.
Evaluate research into the role of the father based based on real world application (strength)
Mothers traditionally feel pressured to stay at home and fathers to work. Traditional view was that this is best. This may not be the case.
Flexibility of the role of the father should reassure parents that flexible arrangements can be just as successful.
Reduces anxiety, and improves outcomes for many families.
Evaluate research into the role of the father based on confusion over research questions (weakness)
One limitation is confusion over research questions.
Some psychologists want to understand the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures. But 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.
Therefore, this means psychologists cannot easily answer the simple question: what is the role of the father?
Evaluate research into role of the father based on conflicting evidence (weakness)
A limitation is conflicting evidence from different methodologies.
Grossmann et al. (2002) suggest fathers have a distinct role in children’s development, involving play and stimulation.
However, McCallum and Golombok (2004) found that children without a father do not develop differently.
Therefore, this means the question of whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered.
Give a counter to the evaluation of conflicting evidence (strength)
However, these findings may not be in conflict.
Fathers may typically take on particular roles in two-parent heterosexual families.
Other family structures adapt to not having fathers.
This means that findings may be clear after all – there may be a distinctive role for fathers when present, but families adapt to not having one
