the role of the father

Question 1

define father

Answer 1

anyone who takes on the role of main male caregiver, not necessarily the biological father

Question 2

what are the two basic lines of role of the father research

Answer 2

fathers as secondary attachment figures
can fathers be primary attachment figure

Question 3

what does early research suggest about the role of father

Answer 3

focused on mother-infant interaction
bowlby says one primary attachment figure and its usually the mother

from schaffer and emerson found that infant’s primary figure was commonly their mother alone (65%), (27%) both parents and only 3% fathers but at 18 months 75% had formed attachment with their father, showing separation anxiety, suggesting that fathers play an important role

fathers play minor role in parenting

Question 4

how important are fathers in children’s development and do they have a distinct role

Answer 4

A:
P: grossmann et al (2002) conducted a longitudinal study looking at both parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachment into their teens

F: found that quality of attachment with the father was less important for adolescent attachment than the quality of attachment with the mother

C: fathers may be less important in long-term emotional development

CP
A:
P:
F: grossmann (20020 found that the quality of fathers’ play with babies was related to quality of adolescents attachments
C: suggest that fathers have different role in attachment one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with emotional care (not nurturing)

Question 5

fathers as primary caregivers

Answer 5

P: Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies face to face interaction

F: found that primary caregiver fathers like mothers spend more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than secondary primary caregivers

C: the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness (interactional synchrony) rather than the gender so fathers can be more nurturing

Question 6

strength of the role of father

Answer 6

P: has real life application in parenting advice

E: mothers may feel pressured to stay at home and fathers to focus on work, this may not be the best solution is every family

A: research on the flexibility of the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents

C: this means that parental anxiety about the role of father can be reduced and parenting decisions made easier

E: matters because economic implications

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P: positive economic implications

E: field (1978) found that if fathers were the primary caregiver, they would smile, imitate and hold the baby just as if mothers were the primary caregiver

A: this means that gender of the parent is not the key to attachment but the level of responsiveness is

C: therefore, fathers as primary figures can enable women especially those with higher incomes to return to work

E: this matters because if the mothers return to work faster, the maternity pay would be less and in terms would have less stress on the government and employer

Question 7

limitation of the role of the father

Answer 7

P: confusion over research questions

E: some psychologists want to understand the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures while others are more concerned with them being primary attachment figures

A: the former have the tended to see fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having distinct role , the latter have found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal’ role

C: therefore, psychologists cannot easily answer the simple question of what is the role of father, there is a lack of consistency in the research

E:

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P: conflicting evidence from different methodologies

E: grossmann et al (2002) suggest fathers have a distinct role in children’s development involving play and stimulation

A: McCallum and Golombok (2004) found that children without a father do not develop differently

C: this means the question of whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered

E: