Role of the Father

• Attachment to Fathers

  • Schaffer + Emerson found that the majority of babies developed their first primary attachment at 7 months. Only 3% of these attachments were solely towards the father, 27% were towards both father and mother
  • However, most fathers go on to become important attachment figures. 75% of babies formed an attachment with their father by 18 months
• Distinctive role for fathers

  • Grossmann et al (2002) carried out a longitudinal study where attachments were studied from babies into teens. Studied bvr of parents and its relationship to quality of baby's later attachments to others.
  • Found that the bvr of mothers did impact later attachments but not fathers. Suggests father's attachment plays a less important role
  • However, quality of father's play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments. Suggests fathers have a role to do with play and stimulation rather than mothers role of emot. dev.
• Field (1978)


  • Filmed 4-month babies in face-to-face reactions with PCG mothers, SCG fathers and PCG fathers
  • PCG fathers spend more time smiling, holding + imitating babies (like PCG mothers) than SCG fathers
  • Since these actions are part of reciprocity + interactional synchrony, we can conclude fathers have the potential to carry an emotional role in attachment but can only express this as a PCG
• Evaluation - Real World Application

  • There is good real-world application to the research on the role of the father
  • Can be used to help parents to decide who is to be the primary caregiver
  • This means that families can make informed decisions about which parent returns to work following the birth which has implications for society + practical applications
  • Some studies have found that fathers tend to take on the role of the 'fun playmate' with mothers being more affectionate
  • Suggests that differences may exist between mothers + fathers in the role of attachment development in children
• What are some real-world applications of research into the role of the father

  • Paternity/maternity leave
  • Custody of children in the case of divorce
  • Role modelling parental skills in young men
  • More societal acceptance of the single father
• Limitation - Heteronormativity

  • Grossman's study does not take into account non-heterosexual partnerships
  • If fathers play a key role in the development of attachments then it would be expected that children from same-sex or single parents would develop differently from the children of heterosexual parents 
  • Another study found that children of single mothers and lesbian-parent families do not develop differently from those of two-parent heterosexual parents
  • This suggests that the role of the father is not as important as other studies suggest
• Limitations - Factors

  • It is difficult to research the role of the father because many factors influence it
  • e.g. work-life balance, age, health, and attitudes toward the father's gender roles, social roles of men and women
  • This means role of the father is not clear or definitive
  • Therefore it is unclear whether fathers become primary attachment figures less often because of the different factors involved or because women have a biological predisposition (driven by hormones) towards being the primary caregiver
• Counterpoint to Heteronormativity

  • It could be that fathers do typically take on distinct roles in hetero families, but parents in single-mother + lesbian families adapt to accomodate the fatherly role
  • This means that when present, fathers tend to adopt a distinctive role, but families can adapt to not having a father