The role of the father Flashcards
What are the four factors that affect the relationship between fathers and their children?
Degree of sensitivity
Types of attachment with own parents
Marital intimacy
Supportive co-parenting
What is degree of sensitivity?
More secure attachments to their children are found in fathers who show more sensitivity to children’s needs
What research supports Degree of sensitivity?
Geiger (1996) Father’s play interactions are more exciting and pleasurable than mother’s while mothers are more nurturing and affectionate. Mothers are seen as more able to show sensitive responsevinesss, whereas fathers were seen as playmates rather than caregivers
What is types of attachments with own parents?
Single-parent fathers tend to form similar attachments with their children that they had with their parents
What research supports types of attachments with own parents?
Bernier and Miljokovitch (2009) found that single-parent fathers’ attachment with children aged 4-6 years was similar to the attachments the father had with their own parents. As no such effect was found with married fathers, it suggests continuity of attachment occurs more in fathers who are the main caregiver.
What is marital intimacy?
The degree of intimacy a father has within his relationship with his partners affects the type of attachment he will have with his children
What research supports marital intimacy?
Belsky et al (2009) found that high levels of marital intimacy was related to secure father-infant attachments and low levels of marital intimacy was related to insecure father-child attachments. This supports the idea that the closeness of relationships between fathers and partners affects the type of attachment a father has with his children.
What is supportive co-parenting?
The amount of support a father gives his partner in helping to care for children affects the type of attachment he will have with his children
What research supports supportive co-parenting?
Brown et al (2010) assessed attachment patterns in 68 families with infants aged between 12-13 months, finding that high levels of supportive co-parenting were related to secure attachment types between infants and fathers, but not between infants and mothers. This suggest that supportive co-parenting is important for father in developing positive attachments with their children.
What are two reasons why fathers are important?
Children with secure attachments with their fathers go on to have better relationships with peers, less problem behaviours and are more able to regulate emotions
Children who grow up without fathers have often been seen to do less well at school and have higher levels of risk taking and aggression. This suggests the father can help prevent negative developmental outcomes (however Pederson suggests that other factors may be at play such as class)
What are two other reasons why fathers are important?
Fathers are important not just for children but mothers too. Supportive fathers provide mothers with much needed time away from childcare .This can help reduce stress in mothers, improve self-esteem and improve the quality of the mother-child relationship
Although research suggests fathers are equally as able to display sensitive responsiveness and form secure attachments with children as women, society is a long way from catching up e.g. some airlines will not seat non-related children next to a male passenger, placing them instead next to a female passenger
