the role of the father

Question 1

what is attachment to fathers

Answer 1

evidence suggests father less likely to become babies first attachment figure compared to mothers
schaffer and emerson-majority babies first became attached to mother at around 7mths, 27% cases the father was joint first object of attachment with mother
most fathers go on to become important attachment figures
75% babies studied in schaffer and emerson formed attachment with father by the age of 18mths
babies protested when their father walked away-sign of attachment

Question 2

what is distinctive role for fathers

Answer 2

grossmann-longitudinal study where babies attachments studied until they were in their teens, researchers looked at both parents behaviour and its relationship to quality of babys later attachments to other people, quality of babys attachment with mother bt not fathers related to attachments in adolescnece, attachment to fathers less important than attachment to fathers, found quality of fathers play with abbies related to quality of adolescent attachment, fathers have a different role from mothers- one more to dow tih play and stimulation nd less to do with emotional development

Question 3

fathers as primary attachment figures

Answer 3

primary attachment- forms basis of all later close emotional relationships
evidence to suggest that when fathers take on role primary caregiver they are able to adopt emotional role ore typically associated with mothers
field-filmed 4mth babies face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers
primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling imitating and holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers- reciprocity and interactional synchrony
fathers have potential to be more emotion focused primary attachment figure- can provide responsiveness require for close emotional attachment but only express this when given role of primary caregiver

Question 4

confusion over research questions (eval)

Answer 4

lakc of clarity over question being asked
‘what is the role of the father’ more complicated in context of attachment
researchers attemtping to answer want to understand role of fathers as secondary attachment figures
others more concerned with fathers as primary attachment figures
former tended to see fathers behaving differently from mothers and having distinct role
latter found fathers can take on maternal role
makes it difficult to offer simple answer as to role of father
depends on what specific role being discussed

Question 5

conflicting evidence (eval)

Answer 5

findings vary according to methodology
longitudinal studies suggested fathers as secondary attachment figures have imortant and distinct role in childrens development involving play and stimulation
if fathers have distinctive and important role we would expect that children growing up in single mother and lesbian parent families would turn out in some way different from those in two parent heterosexual families
studies show that these children do not develop differently from childdren in two parent heterosexual families
question as to whether fathers ave distinctive role remains unanswered

lines of research may not be in conflict
fathers typically take on distinctive roles in two parent heterosexual families
parents ins single mother and lesbian parent families adapt to accomodate role played by fathers
question of distincitve role is clear-when present fathers adopt distinctive role but families can adpat to not having father

Question 6

what is real world applciation (eval)

Answer 6

can be used to offer advice to parents
parents and prospective parents agonise over decisions
mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views of mothers and fathers olres
fathers may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting
may not economically be best situation
research into role of father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents
heterosexual parents informed fathers capable of becoming primary attachment figures
lesbian parent and single mother families informed that not hving a father does not affect childs developme t
parental anxiety about role of fathers can be reduced