Role of the father

• What is the introduction of the role of the father?

  • Western society expects dads to play a greater role in raising their children than before.
  • The number of mothers working full time has caused men to play a greater role in raising children.
  • However the roles are different in both mother and fathers. 
  • Mothers adopt a more caregiving role whereas fathers take on a playmate role.
  • Fathers engage in more risky activities like physical activities and infants also prefer to be with fathers when in a positive emotional state.
• What do studies say about the role of the father?

  • Shaffer and Emerson found that fathers were rarely the first sole object of attachment - 3%
  • This was suggested because fathers spend less time with children.
  • Ross et al (1975) showed nappies change positively correlated with strength of attachment
  • Fathers who spent more time had a stronger attachment.
• What is the biological explanation for lack of fathers being a primary caregiver?

  • Biological factors like hormones explain the secondary nature of fathers.
  • One example is that oestrogen is a female hormone linked with caring behaviours
  • It is known as the ‘tend and befriend’ hormone.
  • Large amounts of this are released after birth to help with aiding the infant.
  • The hormone is more prevalent, explaining why women are likely to be the main primary caregiver.
• What is the social factor explanation for lack of fathers being the primary caregiver?

  • There are different societal expectations of men and women.
  • One example of this expectation are gender stereotypes as it may be feminine to be sensitive to the needs of others.
  • Heerman et al (1994) found that men are less sensitive to infants on a variety of scales at every age.
  • However there is no gender difference in the physical reaction of an infant crying.
• What is a positive evaluation of the role of the father?

  • Fathers may be seen as a secondary figure but they still play an important role.
  • Fathers are much more playful, physically active and provide challenges for their children.
  • Lack of sensitivity can mean developing problem skills.
  • The child also develops greater communication skills and also learn to think for themselves if the father is less responsive than the mother.
• What is a minor criticism of the inconsistency?

  • However, the findings on the father have been inconsistent.
  • Some look at the role of men as a primary OR secondary attachment figure and do not include both.
  • It is difficult to determine what the actual role as a father really is. 
• What is a negative evaluation of the role of the father?

  • Role of the father may not be as important as the role of the mother.
  • If fathers did play a vital role, we would expect children who grow up without the father to be negatively impacted.
  • McCallum (2004) found that children brought up with same sex or single mother were not developed any more differently than with a mother and father.
  • Fathers play more of a secondary role in attachment. 
• What is an evaluation regarding social sensitivity?

  • Mothers playing a more important role may be socially sensitive.
  • It is suggested that children are disadvantaged if the mother returns to work after giving birth or if the infant lives with a single father
• What is a positive evaluation regarding the primary caregiver role of the father?

  • When men become the primary caregiver, they reflect behaviour typical of the mother.
  • This can be seen in Field’s study where he filmed 4 month old babies.
  • Primary caregiver mums and dad as well as secondary dads were compared.
  • They found that the primary caregiver dad smiled, held the baby and imitated the baby more than the secondary dads.
  • The key to attachment is the level of responsiveness
• Father economcic implication

  More women go out to work so many children are cared for outside the home, or fathers stay at home and become the main carer. Research shows that the number of dads who choose to stay at home and care for their children and families has quadrupled over the past 25 years (Cohn et al. 2014)

  The increase in the number of stay at home dads signals that attitudes are changing to home roles, with greater acceptance for men to be the housekeeper and to look after the children. This means that when a child is born and one of the parents needs to stay at home to care for them, parents are able to select the person with the highest salary to return to work (regardless of whether it was the mother or father). In the long term this is likely to mean more families having more money to spend and thus strengthening the economy.