Role of the father

• FATHER: not specifically referring to the baby's biological male parent but anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver
• PRIMARY CAREGIVER= person who spends most time with a baby
• PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE= person to whom the baby has the strongest attachment with
• 9 percent of single parents are male
• ATTACHMENT TO FATHERS

  • fathers are less likely to become the baby's first attachment
  • 3 percent of cases, the father was the sole attachment
  • 27 percent of cases showed joint attachment
  • 75 percent of cases showed that by 18 months old fathers became the attachment figure
• DISTINCTIVE ROLF FOR FATHERS- GROSSMAN 2002

  • longitudinal study- 44 families
  • looked at both parent's behaviour and the relationship to the quality of children's attachment experience
  • studied attachment at 6, 10, 16 yrs
  • fathers' play style was linked to their internal working model of attachment
  • play sensitivity was a better predictor of the child's long term attachment representation
• FATHERS AS PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURES- FIELD 1978

  • when the father takes on the role of primary caregiver they can adopt the emotional role associated with the mother
  • filmed 4 month old's in face to face interactions with; mother (pc) father (pc) father (sc)
  • primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants compared to secondary father
  • suggests that pcg fathers can take on the maternal role
  • fathers can be nurturing
  • key to attachment is the level of responsiveness
• EVALUATION- WEAKNESS

  • inconsistent findings on the role of fathers, due to researchers being interested in different research questions
  • some psychologists are interested in understanding the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures whereas others are more concerned with fathers as primary caregivers
  • means psychologists can not answer the simple question' What

  is the father's role?
• EVALUATION- WEAKNESS

  • does not explain why children without fathers develop no differently
  • MacCallum and Golombok 2004 found children growing up in single or same sex parent families don't develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families
  • suggest the father's role as a secondary attachment figure is not important
• EVALUATION- WEAKNESS

  • numerous influences which might impact on a child's emotional development
  • for example their culture, father's beliefs, age, sensitivity, marital intimacy, etc
  • It is difficult to control these variables and therefore it's difficult to conclude the role of the father
• EVALUATION- WEAKNESS

  • doesn't explain why fathers don't generally become primary attachment figures
  • due to the result of traditional gender roles, in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men, therefore fathers simply don't feel they should act like that
  • however, it could be that female hormones (oestrogen) create high levels of nurturing and therefore females are biologically pre-disposed to be primary attachment figures