The Role Of The Father A01&3 Flashcards
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) what did they find?
Found that the majority of babies become attached to their mother first
In only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment
In 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother
Within a few weeks they then formed secondary attachments to other family members including father
Other findings
75% of infants studied formed secondary attachments with father by the age of 18 months
This was indicated by the fact the infants protested when their father walked away
Grossmann (2002)
Carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and it’s relationship to the quality of children’s attachments into their teens
This research found the quality of attachment with the father was less important of the teenagers that quality of attachment with the mother
Therefore fathers may be less important in long term emotional development
Fathers’ play is more important
The quality of fathers’ play with infants was related to children’s attachments
Suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment, one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing
Fathers can be primary caregivers
Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies and found that primary caregiver fathers, like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers
Level of response is most important
Smiling, imitating and holding infants are behaviours that appear to be more important in building an attachment with an infant
Seems the father figure can be the more nurturing attachment figure
Key to the attachment is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent
Limitation for role of the father
P- researchers are interested in different research questions
E- others are more concerned with fathers as a primary attachment figure
E- the former have tended to see fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role. The latter found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal’ role
L- limitation because it means psychologists cannot easily answer the simple question what is the role of the father?
Limitation
P- evidence undermines the idea of fathers having distinct roles
E- other studies have found that children growing up in single or same-sex parent families don’t develop differently from those in two-parent families
E- this shows that the role of the father doesn’t have an effect on children’s development
L- suggests that the fathers role as a secondary attachment figure is not important
Limitation
P-research fails to provide a clear answer about fathers and primary attachments
E- the answer could be related to traditional gender roles, in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men
E- could be that female hormones create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically predisposed to be primary attachment figures
L- fathers simply don’t feel they should act in a nurturing way
Strength
P-has important economic implications
E-mothers feel pressured to stay at home because of research that says mothers are vital for healthy emotional development
E-in some families this may not be economically the best solution
L-this research may be of comfort to mothers who feel they have to make hard choices about not returning to work
