The Role Of The Father Flashcards
How have views into the role of the father in childcare changed from 1940s/1950s to now?
Traditionally we have thought in terms of mother-infant attachment. In the 1940s/1950s fathers had very little to do with childcare and childrearing. Many researchers at that time such as John Bowlby, believed that a child would have one attachment figure and most usually this would be the mother. Mothers have historically been seen, due to their perceived nurturing nature, as more able to show sensitive responsiveness.
However with changes in social attitudes and employment patterns, fathers nowadays take an increasingly active role in the care of their children. It seems like males can quickly develop this ability to show sensitive responsiveness when taking on a primary caregiver role.
Describe Schaffer and Emerson’s research into the role of the father in attachment
Schaffer and Emerson found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mother first, at around 7 months, and within a few months formed secondary attachments to other family members, including the father. In 75% of the infants studied, an attachment had formed with the father by 12-18 months. This was determined by the infants protest at the father leaving - a sign of attachment.
What did Lamb find with rest each into the role of the father in attachment?
Lamb found that infants will approach their fathers as often as their mothers although they tend to seek out the mother when they are distressed. Fathers spent time with children in a fun, playtime context whereas mothers were more likely to spend time with heir child carrying out duties such as cleaning and dressing. Despite these differences in types of interaction, evidence from fathering research indicates that fathers have a valuable role to play in attachment and that they have a different role to the mother.
What did Grossman find with research into the role of the father in attachment?
Grossman carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parent’s behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachments into their teens. Grossman found that quality of infant attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to children’s attachment in adolescence.
Grossman’s results suggest that the role of the father is less important than that of the mother.
This study also showed that the quality of the fathers play with infants was related to the quality of attachment in adolescence. This suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment- play rather then nurturing.
Who did a study into fathers as primary carers?
Field
Describe Field’s study into fathers as primary caregivers.
Field filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interaction with their primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. Results found that that the primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitation and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers. These behaviours appear to be more important in building an attachment with the infant. This is evidence to suggest that when fathers do take a role of being the main caregiver, they adopt behaviours typical of mothers.
So it can be concluded that fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure - they key to attachment is the level of responsiveness and the time you spend with them, not the gender of the person.
Give a strength of research into the role of the father
Research into role of the father has important economical implications. Mothers feel pressured to stay at home because of research that says mothers are vital for healthy emotional development. In some families this may not be the best solution economically - for them or for society in general. Research which suggests that fathers can play an equally important role in their child’s development may be of comfort to mothers who feel they have to make hard choices about not returning to work.
This means flexible working arrangements within the family become possible, maximising the benefit to the economy (brings more money in).
Name four limitations of research into the role of the father
- inconsistent findings on fathers
- if father have a doting role why aren’t children without fathers different?
- why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?
- expectations about gender roles may cause gender bias
How are there inconsistent findings on fathers?
Research can be confusing because different are interested in different research questions. Some psychologists are interested in understanding the role of the father as a secondary attachment figure; some are interested in their role as a primary attachment figure. The former have tended to see the father as behaving very differently to mothers and having a very distinct role, the latter have found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal’ role.
This means that we can’t compare the results or findings as the research is inconsistent.
Why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?
Perhaps fathers tend not to become the primary attachment figure because of traditional gender roles, where women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men. Therefore, men simply don’t feel like they should act like that. On the other hand, it could be female hormones, such as oestrogen, create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure.
How are expectations about gender roles (which may cause gender bias) a limitation of the research into the role of the father?
Social stereotypes about mothers’ and fathers’ ‘typical’ parenting behaviour may affect the validity of observational research. These stereotypes (e.g. Father more playful, stricter etc.) may cause unintentional observer bias whereby observers ‘see’ what they expect rather than recording actual reality.
As such, conclusions on the role of the father in attachment are hard to disentangle from social biases on their role.
Much of the research into caregiver-infant interaction has been carried out by means of observation. For example, Field’s study is an observation comparing the behaviour of primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers, and secondary caregiver fathers.
The observations were videotaped. Explain why that would increase the validity of the study. (2 marks)
- can watch it several times to check findings
* other researchers can watch and check your observations
Explain how the reliability of the observations could be checked. (2 marks)
•compare the observation of two or more people in a pilot study (they would be similar) this would allow us to establish inter-observer reliability.
What would be the benefit of conducting this research in a lab? (2 marks)
- control over extraneous variables that may distract either adult or infant
- this then allows us to establish a cause and effect relationship and means the study is reliable
Research into the role of the father has allowed psychologists to advise parents about their children’s development. Boris is the father of 9 month old Emily. Boris has noticed that recently, when Emily is distressed she only accepts comfort from her mother. This upsets him and makes him feel unimportant as a parent.
Referring to research into the role of the father, what could you tell Boris about his role in Emily’s developing attachments?
Schaffer and Emerson found that babies became attached to their mother first, at around 7 months, but a few after a secondary attachment forms with father from 12-18 months. As Emily is only 9 months old she may still only have a primary attachment to bed mother that’s why she only accepts comfort from her. In 75% of the infants studied, an attachment had formed with the father by 18 months.
OR
Lamb - Emily seeks comfort from her mother, but sees father as a playful figure.
