The role of the father

Question 1

What is a father?

Answer 1

• The father is anyone he takes the role of the main male caregiver doesn’t need to be biological.

Question 2

Explain attachment to fathers?

Answer 2

Fathers are much less likely to become babies first attachment figure than mothers. This is showed by schaffer and Emerson where majority of babies become firstly attached to their mothers in seven months. Whereas only 3% is the father as primary.
- in 27% of cases fathers were joint with their mother
- 75% of babies studied formed attachment with their father by the age of 18 months this is proven when babies protested when their father walked away.

Question 3

Explain distinctive role for fathers?

Answer 3

Grossman carried out a longitudinal study and studied babies attachments into their teens researched both parents behaviours and the quality of babies attachments to other people.
- The attachments of the mother was related to attachment adolescence. This meant the attachment to the father important than the mother the father’s job is for plain stimulation whether the mom is emotional development.

Question 4

Explain father as primary attachment figure?

Answer 4

A babies relationship with the primary attachment figure forms the bases of all other emotional relationships.
- field done an experiment of four month old babies with primary caregiver mothers ,secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.
- primary caregiver fathers and primary care caregiver mothers spent more time smiling, imitating holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers.
- smiling ,imitating and holding the baby are all key parts of reciprocity and interactional synchrony fathers have the potential to be more emotional focused primary attachment figure when they are more responsiveness and do more emotional attachment

Question 5

Evaluate one limitation of the role of the father?

Answer 5

• Some researchers want to understand the role of the father as secondary attachment figures whereas some look at them being primary at attachment figures and how they behave differently from the mother. This makes it difficult to offer a simple answer to the role of the father really depends on what’s being discussed.

Question 6

Evaluate a further limitation of the role of the father?

Answer 6

• Findings vary according to the methodology used.
• Grossman suggested that fathers secondary attachment figures have an important role in the child by play and stimulation however if they have an important role, people with single mothers and lesbian parents children’s will turn out differently. This is not in fact the case so the question remains unanswered.

Question 7

Evaluate one strength in the role of the father?

Answer 7

• One strength is that it can be given as advice to parents
• for example they might have decisions on who should be the primary caregiver or whether to have children at all and whether the fathers may be pressured to focus on work than parenting
• however from research it shows that fathers are quite capable of becoming a primary attachment figure but can also inform lesbian parents and single mothers that by not having a father it does not affect a child’s development. This means the parental anxiety can be reduced