role of the father

• schaffer + emerson, primary attachments

  3% - father

  27% - joint, mother and father

  normally the mother due to cultural reasons in 1960s
• 9% british single parents are male
• 2013, 5.3 million mothers in employment and males made up 10% care for children
• grossman 2002

  a = importance of father in child development and if they have a distinct role

  p = longitudinal study from baby to teenager age, 44 families. observed parents behaviour and relationship quality of child attachment experience

  c = most families, mother is the pcg, so father is not expected to take on role of pcg. the research may just reflect society
• grossman 2002

  f = quality of infant attachment with mothers was related to child attachment in adolescent, but not father attachment, suggest it is less important.

  but as the quality of fathers play with infants relates to quality of adolescent relationships suggests that secondary care givers play a different role for attachment such as play and stimulation (not nurturing), forming friendships, risk taking, confidence
• field 1978

  p = filmed 4 month babies, face to face interactions with pcg mothers, secondary care giver fathers and pcg fathers

  f = pcg fathers (like mothers) spent more time smiling, imitating and holding hands

  c = behaviour appears to be more important in building attachment with the infant, fathers can be more nurturing

  key to attachment is the level of responsiveness, not gender
• schaffer and emerson study had less father pcg due to culture. they showed that pcg is more likely to be the mother, but fields showed that when given the opportunity fathers are just as capable of being pcg
• reasons mother more likely pcg

  • parental involvement
  • biological factors
  • the child

  findings are inconsistent - children without fathers are no different from those with fathers which suggests that the fathers role is secondary. however, this claim poses huge ethical issues as this is socially sensitive research
• What is a cultural factor affecting parental involvement?

  Men historically expected to work, less childcare
• How do men typically participate in child care according to cultural factors?

  Through play, instruction, and guidance
• What economic factor affects men's involvement in child care?

  Men work far from home for income
• Why do men often work long hours according to economic factors?

  To keep families financially stable
• How have shifting labor force patterns affected men's domestic involvement?

  Increased men's domestic involvement in childcare
• What has contributed to the increased opportunities for women in the labor force?

  Shifting labor force patterns
• How does the increased participation of both parents affect attachment to infants?

  Allows attachment to be formed between father and infant
• What are the main factors influencing parental involvement?

  • Cultural factors: men's traditional roles
  • Economic factors: distance and work hours
  • Shifting labor force patterns: increased domestic involvement
• biological factors

  women - biologically adapted to feed infant and produce nuturing hormine oestrogen, which may explain the difference
• child

  • age and gender
  • freeman et al 2010 - male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children
  • more likely to attached to father during late childhood and early adolescence
  • infants and young adults are less likely to seek attachment to fathers
• child

  • temperament
  • manlove et al 2002 - fathers less likely to be involved with infant if the infant has a difficult temperament
• weakness of research

  • inconsistent findings for fathers role, due to researchers interest in varied research questions
  • some interested in understanding role of fathers as secondary figures, but others as pcg
  • means psychologists can't easily answer simple question
• weakness of research

  • doesn't explain why children without fathers develop no differently
  • maccallum and golombok 2004, children growing up in single or same sex parent families don't develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families
  • suggest that the father role as secondary attachment figure is not important
• limitation of research

  • there are numerous factors influencing a child emotional development- their culture, father belief + age + sensitivity, marital intimacy, amount of time father spends away from home etc
  • difficult to control variables, so can't draw conclusions about the role of the father
• weakness of research

  • doesn't explain why fathers generally don't become pcg
  • could be result of traditional gender roles, women expected to be more caring and nurturing than men, so fathers don't feel they should act like that
  • on balance, could be female hormones that create high levels of nurturing meaning females are biologically predisposed to be primary attachment figure