Attachment figures

• Parent-Infant attachment

  • majority of babies attach to mother first and form secondary attachments within weeks
  • they tend to attach to father by 18 months
• Role of the Father

  • longitudinal study looking at parent interactions with teen attachment found the fathers role is more play/stimulation rather than nurture
• Fathers as Primary carers

  • when fathers take on the role of main caregiver, they adopt behaviours associated with mothers
• (AF) - Inconsistent findings

  • depending on the research questions, results surrounding the role of father contradict each other

  --> questions reliability/validity
• (AF) - Absent fathers

  • if fathers have been distant (and provide an important role) why arent children without fathers developing differently?
• (AF) - Changing society

  • as society changes, so does the stereotypical role of mothers/fathers

  --> does the findings of the research neglect that and reduce to stereotypes