The Role of the Father Flashcards
Schaffer and Emerson
Found in their study of attachment that 75 percent of infants formed a secondary attachment to their father at 18 months. 29 percent did so within a month of forming a primary attachment - this was demonstrated by separation anxiety.
Suggests that the father is important but is unlikely to be the first person to which the child develops an attachment to.
Field
Observed interactions between primary caregiver mothers and fathers and their infants.
Found that the primary CGs, regardless of gender, were more attentive towards the infant and spent more time smiling and holding them.
Suggests that although mothers are usually expected to be the primary caregivers, this does not always have to be the case.
Give a limitation the role of the father.
Conflicting evidence.
Longitudinal studies such as Grossman’s have found that fathers as secondary attachment figures have a clear, distinct role in their child’s development, including play and stimulation.
If this were true, then children growing up in single mother households and same sex parent households would develop somewhat differently to those children growing up with fathers. However, McCallum and Golombok consistently found that children who grow up without a father do not develop any differently than those who grow up with a father.
The question therefore remains unanswered.
Give a strength of the role of the father.
Real world application.
Parents may be undergoing stress when making decisions about which one of them is going to be the primary caregiver. Mothers may feel pressured due to stereotypical views and fathers may feel pressured to focus on work rather than parenting.
Research into the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice. For example, heterosexual parents, can be informed that fathers are capable of being the primary CG.
Parental anxiety can be reduced.
Give another weakness of the role of the father.
Bias in research.
Preconceptions about how fathers should behave may create stereotypes.
Reduces objectivity and validity of research
