role of the father

• Research suggests that fathers are much less likely to become babies' first attachment figures compared to mothers.
• Evidence: Schaffer & Emmerson's Observational Study: They found that the majority of babies first became attached to their mothers at around 7 months old. In only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment. In 27% of cases the father was the joint first.

  However, it appears that most fathers go on to become important attachment figures. 75% of the babies studied formed an attachment with their father by age of 18 months. This was determined by the fact the babies protested when their fathers walked away - separation anxiety.
• Grossman et al (2002): Longitudinal study, where babies' attachments were studied until their teens. Researchers looked at both parents' behaviour and its relationship to the quality of baby's later attachments to other people.

  Quality of baby's attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence suggesting that attachment to fathers is less important.
• However, Grossman et al (2002) also found that the quality of fathers' play with babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments suggesting that fathers have a different role from mothers more play and stimulation and less emotional development.
• Significance of Primary Attachment Figure-A baby's relationship with their primary attachment figure forms a basis of all later dose emotional relationships
• There is evidence that when the father does take on the role of primary caregiver, they are able to adopt the emotional role more typically associated with mothers
• Field (1978):

  Filmed 4 months in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.

  Primary caregivers, spent more time smiling, imitating, holding babies than the secondary caregiver fathers.
• Field (1978):

  Smiling, imitating and holding babies are all part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony which are part of the process of attachment formation suggesting, fathers have the potential to be emotion focussed primary attachment figures. They can provide the responsiveness required for close emotion attachment but perhaps only express this when given the role of primary caregiver
• weakness: lack of clarity over question being asked. Some researching fathers as primary and some as secondary attachment figures. The question needs to be more specific and operationalised so conclusions are more accurate and not generalised to the wrong people
• weakness: findings vary. If fathers have a distinctive role then we would assume children in heterosexual families to develop differently to children in single mother and lesbian parent families however studies show this is not true. So question remains unanswered
• strength: It could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles heterosexual families, but parents in single-mother and lesbian parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role played by fathers. This means that the question of a distinctive role for fathers is clear after all. When present, fathers tend to adopt a distinctive role for fathers, but families can adapt to not having a father.
• strength: can be used to offer advice to parents. Reduces parental anxiety. Help to work out who should and shouldn't work. Ensures that a fathers absence doesn't effect a child's development.
• weakness: Preconceptions about how fathers do or should behave can be created by stereotypical accounts and images of parenting roles and behaviour, e.g in advertising. These stereotypes e.g fathers are not primary caregivers, fathers are stricter etc) may cause unintentional observer bias whereby observers see what they expect to see rather than recording objective reality