Role of the father

• Greiger Found that fathers had a different role from the mother:

  • The mum is associated with care and nurturing the child
  • The dad is more about fun and playing with the child

  This has proved very important for healthy cognitive development e.g social interactions and

  problem solving
• Whereas the mothers role is much more about healthy emotional development as suggested by

  bowlby's internal working model which is important for future relationships.

  Fathers are less likely to be primary caregivers for several reasons:

  They are usually less affectionate and nurturing due to less oestrogen and they often spend less

  time interacting with the infant as they are busy working.
• New findings about role of father could lead to increased paternal leave