The Role Of The Father

Question 1

What did Grossman find and what type of study

Answer 1

-longitudinal study
-found attachment to mothers in childhood is correlated with adult attachment, attachment with father is not correlated with adult attachment,attentiveness of play with father is correlated with adolescent attachment(play and stimulation)
-shows that father and mother fulfil qualitatively different role, play vs emotional role, but this is just as crucial to the child’s wellbeing

Question 2

Outline Field’s research into role of father

Answer 2

-recorded four month old babies in face to face interaction with their primary caregiver mothers/PCG fathers/ secondary caregiver fathers
-found PCG fathers interactions were identical in terms of interactional synchrony and reciprocity to PCG mothers
-shows fathers can be the nurturing attachment figure suggesting the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness and who the PCG is has nothing to do with gender

Question 3

What did Schaffer and Emerson find out about role of father

Answer 3

Found majority of babies did become attached to their mother first and within a few weeks/months formed secondary attachments to other family members including the father
-75% of the infants formed an attachment with the father by 18 months determined by the fact the infants protested when their father walked away

Question 4

Expand on limitation that there are inconsistent findings on fathers

Answer 4

-different researchers are interested in dif research questions eg some interested in understanding the role fathers have as secondary attachments figures whereas others more concerned with the father as primary attachment figure, former seen fathers behaving differently from mothers whereas the latter have tended to find that fathers can take on a maternal role
-not possible to give straightforward answer to what the role of the father is

Question 5

Expand on limitation that role of the father may be overstated

Answer 5

Gross man found fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important role in their children’s development however other studies have found children growing up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families
-this would seem to suggest the fathers role in play and stimulation may not be significant on the child’s development

Question 6

Expand on limitation that it is socially sensitive research

Answer 6

-suggests children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices such as being brought up by a single mother
-must be careful in how this research is applied, could lead to discrimination

Question 7

Expand on limitation that fathers do not generally become primary attachments

Answer 7

-could be because of traditional gender roles or because female hormones create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure
-challenges conclusion that both mother and father can carry out primary attachment role