The Role Of The Father And Multiple Attachements

Question 1

What is the definition of the role of the father?

Answer 1

The parts make figure play with regards to children.

Question 2

Sensitive responsiveness

Answer 2

The extent to which caregivers can recognize and respond appropriately to an infants needs.

Question 3

The father as a playmate summary :

Answer 3

• mothers have been seen to show sensitive responsiveness
• fathered therefore have been seen as less of a caregiver and more of a playmate
• fathers play is more physical, unpredictable and exciting compared to mothers
• therefore their role is seen as distinct and separate from the mothers

Question 4

the father as a secondary attachments summary :

Answer 4

• Schaffer and Emerson found that babies attached to their mothers first at 65%.
• father was the only form of attachment in 3% of the cases
• both caregivers were joint objects of attachments in 27 % of the cases.
• within these weeks after forming an attachment with the mother (primary form of attachment ) babies formed secondary attachments including the father

The role of the father becomes more significant as 75% of the infants studied had formed an attachment with the father by 18 months.

Question 5

The father as a primary caregiver summary :

Answer 5

• primary caregivers are the main responsibility for providing comprehensive care and secondary caregivers offer crucial support and relief.
• fathers may become the primary caregiver instead of they show sensitive responsiveness like mothers
• an example is fields experiment when he filmed 4 month old babies having face to face interactions with pcg mothers, pcg fathers and scg fathers .
• pcg fathers and mothers spent more time smiling and holding infants compared to scg fathers
• this research shows that fathers have the potential to be primary caregiver when showing emotional attachment
• this therefore shows that the key to attachment in a relationship is the level of responsiveness and not the gender of the parents

Question 6

What study showed that fathers have a different role in attachment?

Answer 6

Question 7

What are some strengths of the role of the father?

Answer 7

(+) Lucassen et al., (2011) performed a meta-analysis of studies involving observations using the ‘Strange
Situation’ technique. They found that higher levels of sensitivity were associated with greater levels of infant-father attachment security. This supports the idea that more secure attachments are found in children whose fathers are more sensitive to their children’s needs.

(+) Hrdy (1999) reported that fathers are less able than mothers to detect levels of infant distress. This suggests that males are less suitable as primary attachment figures. However, Lamb (1987) found that 12 fathers who become primary caregivers can quickly adapt and become more sensitive to children’s needs. Therefore, responsiveness is not a biological ability limited to women. However, there are explanations for why mothers may be more likely to take on the primary attachment role. It could be that female hormones such as oestrogen create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are more biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure.

Question 8

What are some limitations of the role of the father?

Answer 8

(-) Lamb (1987) found that children favour interacting with fathers when in a positive emotional state and want to seek stimulation. However, when in a negative emotional state, children seek the comfort of mothers, including seeking out stimulation through play. Therefore, it may depend on what the infant is feeling as to who they prefer as a playmate. This suggests that the father may not have a distinct role with regards to attachment

(-) It is suggested that fathers can help prevent negative developmental outcomes in their children. Research has suggested that children who grow up without a father, perform poorly at school, have higher levels of risk taking and higher levels of aggression. This would indicate that the relationship with the father is important for later development. However, MacCallum and Golombok (2004) have found that children growing up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently. Therefore, there are inconsistent findings about the role of the father and the impact it may have on a child’s development.