the role of the father

Question 1

what does ‘father’ refer to?

Answer 1

• refers to a child’s closest male caregiver
• it is about what men may contribute as caregivers
• not specially the baby’s biological male parent

Question 2

what did schaffer and emerson (1964) find about the role of the father through research?

Answer 2

• the majority of babies first become attached to their mother at around 7 months
• in only 3% of cases was the father the first sole object of attachment
• in 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother
• most fathers go on to become important attachment figures
• 75% of the babies they studied formed an attachment with their father by 18 months
  > this was determined by the fact that the babies protested when their father walked away, which is a sign of attachment

Question 3

what did klaus grossmann et al. (2002) study?

Answer 3

• they carried out a longitudinal study where babies’ attachments were studied until they were into their teens
• the researchers looked at parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their baby’s later attachments to other people

Question 4

what did grossmann find?

Answer 4

• quality of a baby’s attachment with mother but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence
• this suggests that attachment to fathers is less important than attachment to mothers
• however, they also found that the quality of fathers’ play with babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments
• this suggests 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

Question 5

what is the importance of a primary caregiver?

Answer 5

• the baby’s relationship with their primary attachment figure forms the basis of all later close emotional relationships
• there is some evidence to suggest that when fathers do take on the role of the primary caregiver, they are able to adopt the emotional role more typically associated with mothers

Question 6

who did tiffany field (1978) research?

Answer 6

she filmed 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interactions with:

• primary caregiver mothers
• secondary caregiver fathers
• primary caregiver fathers

Question 7

what did field find out?

Answer 7

primary caregiver fathers, like primary caregiver mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than the secondary caregiver fathers

Question 8

what can we conclude about fathers as primary attachment figures?

Answer 8

• fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure
• they can provide the responsiveness required for a close emotional attachment but perhaps only express this when given the role of primary caregiver

Question 9

evaluation: confusion over research questions

Answer 9

• some researchers attempt to answer the question of ‘what is the role of the father?’ with the father as secondary attachment figures whereas others are more concerned with fathers as a primary attachment figure
• the former tends to see fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role
• the latter found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal’ role
• this makes it difficult to offer a simple answer as it depends what specific role is being discussed

Question 10

evaluation: conflicting evidence

Answer 10

• grossmann et al. suggested that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important and distinct role in their children’s development, involving play and stimulation
• mccallum and golombok (2004) consistently found that children growing up in single-mother and lesbian-parent families do not develop differently from children in two-parent heterosexual families, even though we would expect them to turn out in some way different
• this means the question as to whether fathers have a distinct role remains unanswered

Question 11

evaluation: (counterpoint) research may not be conflicting

Answer 11

• it could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles in two-parent heterosexual families, but that parents in single-mother and lesbian-parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role played by fathers
• this means there is a distinctive role for fathers after all, when present, but families can adapt to not having a father

Question 12

evaluation: real-world application

Answer 12

• agonising over who should take on the primary caregiver role is a difficult decision and may mean worrying about whether to have children at all
• mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views of mothers’ and fathers role and fathers may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting
• research into the role of the father means reassuring advice can be offered to parents
• lesbian-parent and single-mother families can be informed that not having a father around does not affect a child’s development
• this means parental anxiety about the role of the father can be reduced

Question 13

evaluation: bias in this research

Answer 13

• preconceptions about how fathers do or should behave can be created by stereotypical accounts and images of parenting roles and behaviour
• this includes fathers not being primary caregivers or being stricter etc.
• this may cause unintentional observer bias whereby observers see what they expect to see rather than recording objective reality