3. The role of the Father

• Who was early research in attachment focused on

  Early research focused on mother-infant interaction. Early research suggested that fathers are less of a caregiver and more of a playmate. Mothers were perceived as nurturing so they were recognised to be able to recognise and respond to needs (sensitive responsiveness)
• What did Schaffer and Emerson find

  Schaffer and Emerson found that 75% of the infants in their study formed a secondary attachment to their father by the age of 18 months with 29% doing so within a month of forming a primary attachment as demonstrated by separation anxiety. This suggests that the father is important but is unlikely to be the first person to which the child develops an attachment to
• Who suggested that the father can become the primary attachment figure

  Tiffany Field,1978, she observed interactions between infants and their primary caregiver mothers or fathers, and found that primary caregivers, regardless of gender, were more attentive towards the infant and spent more time holding and smiling at them. This suggest that although mothers are often expected to become primary attachment figures this does not always have to be the case
• What was the aim of Grossman,2002, study

  To investigate how important father are in children's development and that they do have a distinct role. It was a longitudinal study and they looked at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children's attachment experience
• What were the findings of Grossman,2002, study

  They found that the quality of infant attachment with mothers does not relate to the quality of adolescence attachments however quality of fathers play with infants was related to quality of adolescent attachment this research therefore suggests that fathers play a different role in attachment and are involved in play and stimulation not nurturing
• describe fathers as primary caregivers

  Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants in comparison to secondary caregiver fathers. This behaviour appears to be more important in building attachment with the infant. Father can be more nurturing therefore the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness not the gender
• What is a weakness of the role of the father explanation

  There is still a lack of agreement over the extent of the influence of the father as a primary attachment figure. e.g. MacCallum and Golombok demonstrated that children growing up in homosexual or singe-parent families were not different compared to children with two heterosexual parents. If the father was so crucial in the development of an attachment with the infant then we would not expect these findings. This suggests that the exact role of the father is still disputed perhaps if the father had an influence on the child's development we would find differences in children raised in single parent families and children with two heterosexual parents
• What is another weakness of role of the father research

  another weakness is that the gender of the primary caregiver is largely dictated by society
• What are women in particular expected to be

  Women in particular are expected to be caring and sensitive and biology emphasises this where women have higher levels of oestrogen and lower levels of testosterone compared to men. The research involved in the role of the father provides scientific justification for mothers needing to stay at home and be solely involved in nurturing and caring whilst the father is involved in stimulation and providing an income for the family
• what is there a repeated emphasis and reinforcement of

  as well as this there is a repeated emphasis and reinforcement on the fixed stereotypes dictated by society that suggests only the mother can be or is typically the primary caregiver. Therefore this suggests that there are social and biological constraints on who the primary attachment figure is. These social and biological constraints pose negative implications because it can affect how certain families may function more so if the mother is the main income provider. Mothers face difficulty going back to work because of fear that if that initial primary attachment with their infant fails their infant according to this research becomes psychologically stunted and face difficulties in forming secure attachments in the future
• as well as this what do these stereotypes and constraints create

  Not only does this explanation pose a concern for the functioning of the family but it poses an issue in the wider society because financial strain can be relayed onto businesses because of those mothers who feel like they are unable to return to work therefore having adverse effects on the economy. So perhaps research surrounding this explanation needs an alternative focus i.e. looking at research that support the fathers role in the nurture and care of the child instead of looking at typical research that reinforces gender stereotypes due to their sole focus on biological influences. This suggests that this explanation is limited and researching more into the role of the father would relieve these social and biological constraints therefore allowing mothers to return to work.
• What is a further limitation of research involves in the role of the father

  Research into the importance of primary attachment figure is socially sensitive as later abnormalities such as intellectual disability of affectionless psychopathy are often blamed on the parents in particular the mother. This means that a single father or mother may be pressured to return to work at a later pint in order to increase the likelihood that their child will form a secure attachment
• studies by..

  studies by researchers like Grossmann et al,2002, have shown that fathers play a unique and valuable role in children's emotional and social development particularly in play, encouraging independence and emotional regulation these findings may be socially sensitive because fathers may feel pressured to taken on new roles in which they may not feel supported or prepared for due to the ingrained/internalised traditional societal norms therefore leading to societal pressure and the arising for potential blame if there are developmental deficiencies and delays in the future
• as a result of facing societal pressure fathers may become absent due to fear of blame received if infant then has developmental deficiencies fathers may also underutilise paternity leave therefore potentially forcing mothers to take longer maternity leaves which may affect career progression and productivity whilst fathers remain under involved therefore perpetuating imbalance