the role of the father

Question 1

who is the ‘father’ in terms of attachment research ?

Answer 1

anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver
- can be , but isn’t necessarily’ the biological father

Question 2

what are women viewed as traditionally and why not men ?

Answer 2

• as the primary carers and fathers are largely thought to be unable to fill this role

Question 3

why are fathers thought to be historically neglected ?

Answer 3

as they don’t produce oestrogen like females
- promotes caring behaviour and sensitivity

Question 4

what does more recent research show ?

Answer 4

• the specific roles that fathers play in development

Question 5

what is a factor that mean are unable to fill the role of primary caregivers ?

Answer 5

not psychologically equipped

Question 6

do babies attached to fathers and during 7 months they … ?

Answer 6

• schaffer and emerson (1964) did find that infants usually attach to their mothers first around (7 months)
  –> 3% father 1st and 27% joint attachment first

Question 7

what happens a couple of following weeks ?

Answer 7

• infants usually formed a secondary attachment to other family members - including fathers

Question 8

what happens by 18 months ?

Answer 8

75 % of infants had formed an attachment to the father
- measured through protest when leaving the room

Question 9

what study looked at whether attachments to fathers hold a specific value in development ?

Answer 9

• grossmann et al (2002)
  –> longitudinal study , looking at parent’s behaviours and its relationship to the quality of their baby’s later attachments

Question 10

what was the findings of the research about distinctive roles ?

Answer 10

• quality of the baby’s attachment with the mother was linked to children’s attachments in adolescence
• HOWEVER , quality of father’s play with their babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments

Question 11

what does the findings of the research about distinctive roles suggest ?

Answer 11

• suggests that father have a role more to do with play and simulation rather than nurturing and emotional development

Question 11

what happens when father are primary carers ?

Answer 11

• they often adopt the emotional role more typically of mothers

Question 12

what is the research of fathers as primary care givers ?

Answer 12

field et al (1978)
- observed face to face interactions between infants and primary caregiver mothers ,primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers

Question 13

what are the findings of the research of fathers as primary care givers ?

Answer 13

• primary caregiver fathers spent more time , like mothers , holding , smiling and imitating that secondary caregiver fathers
• important behaviours building attachments

Question 14

what does the findings of the research of fathers as primary care givers suggest ?

Answer 14

• shows that the father ‘can’ be more nurturing and that gender is NOT key , but rather the level of responsiveness

Question 15

describe research carried out by lamb (1997)

Answer 15

• discovered that once the father becomes the main care provider he quickly develops more sensitivity towards his children’s needs
• suggesting that sensitive responsiveness ins’t biological ability

Question 16

what is limitation of the role of the father (q) ?

Answer 16

• lack of clarity over the question being asked
  WHAT IS THE ROLE OF FATHER
  –> much more complicated than it sounds - as we’ve just seen some research is interested in their role as secondary attachment whilst others as primary attachment figure
• findings also vary depending on the question
• some research find fathers behaving like a primary carer and others find the father in a distinctive role , as a secondary carer
• makes it difficult to offer a simple answer to the question , as it really depends what specific role that is being discussed

Question 17

what is another limitation of the role of the fathers (E) ?

Answer 17

• there is a lot of conflicting evidence
• LONGITUIDNAL studies (grosmann et al ) have suggested that fathers are a secondary attachment figures have an important and distinct role in the children’s development
• we would therefore expect that children growing up in single mother and lesbian - parent families to turn out different some way.however this is not the case (McCallum and Golombok 2004)
• this means that the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remain unanswered

Question 18

what is a counterpoint to (E) limitation ?

Answer 18

• could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles in 2-parent heterosexual families , BUT that parents in single-mother and lesbian-parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role played by the fathers
• THIS means that the question of distinctive role for fathers is clear after all
  WHEN present, fathers tend to adopt a distinctive role, but families can easily adapt to not having a father

Question 19

what is a strength of research into the role of the father ?

Answer 19

• is that it can be used to offer advice to parents
  –> agonizing decisions over roles can cause a lot of pressure and confusion , to the point where prospective parents could start considering whether or not have a child at all
• RESEARCH can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents
  -FOR example,father are more than capable of becoming primary attachment figure and also not having a father around at all doesn’t affect a child’s development
• this means that parental anxiety over the role of fathers can be reduced