The role of the father Flashcards
Schaffer & Emerson findings on role of father
Role of the father
In 3% of cases father was 1st sole object of attachment
In 27% of cases father was joint 1st object of attachment w/ mother
75% of babies formed attachment w/ father by age of 18 months
Grossman et al (2002) study
Role of the father
Longitudinal study where babies’ attachments were studied until they were teens
Researchers looked at both parents’ behaviour & its relationship to quality of baby’s later attachments to other people
Quality of baby’s attachment w/ mothers (not fathers) was related to attachments in adolescence
Suggests attachment to fathers is less important than w/ mothers
Grossman et al (2002) father’s play
Role of the father
Grossman et al found the quality of fathers’ play w/ babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments
Suggests that fathers have different role from mothers - one more to do w/ play & stimulation & less to do w/ emotional development
Field (1978) - Fathers as primary attachment figures
Role of the father
Filmed 4 month old babies in face2face interaction w/ PCG mothers, SCG fathers & PCG fathers
PCG fathers (like PCG mothers) spent more time smiling, imitating & holding babies (part of reciprocity & interactional synchrony) than SCG fathers
Fathers have potential to be more emotion-focused PCG - can provide responsiveness required for close emotional attachment but only express this when PCG
Evaluation: Confusion over research questions
Role of the father
Limit - lack of clarity over question being asked
Some researchers attempting to answer ‘What is role of father?’ actually want to understand role of fathers as SCG
Others are more concerned w/ fathers as PCG
Former have tended to see fathers as having a distinct role
Latter have found that fathers can take on ‘maternal’ role
There4, make it difficult to offer simple answer as to the ‘role of the father’
Evaluation: Conflicting evidence
Role of the father
Limit - findings vary according to methodology used
Longitudinal studies (Grossman) have suggested that fathers as SCG have important and distinct role in child’s development
However, if fathers have distinctive & important role, we would expect children growing up in single mother & lesbian parent families would turn out different from those in heterosexual families
There4, question as to whether fathers have distinctive role remains unanswered
Evaluation: Conflicting evidence - Counterpoint
Role of the father
However, these lines of research may not be in conflict
It could be that fathers typically take distinctive roles in 2-parent heterosexual families but single mother & lesbian parent families adapt to accommodate role played by fathers
There4, question of distinctive role for fathers is clear after all.
Evaluation: Real-World Application
Role of the father
Strength - can be used to offer advice to parents
Parents sometimes agonise over decision like who should take on PCG role
Mothers feel pressured to stay at home due to stereotypical views of roles
Equally, fathers may be pressured to focus on work over parenting
In some families this isn’t most economic solution
Research into role of father can offer reassuring advice to parents
There4, parental anxity about role of fathers can be reduced
