role of the father

• grossman (2002) - looked at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachments into their teens
• quality of infant attachment with mothers related to children’s attachment in adolescence but not fathers
• BUT, the quality of father’s pay in infancy was related to the quality of adolescence attachments
• suggests fathers have a role to do with play and stimulation rather than nurturing
• in schaffer and emerson’s study, fathers were the first joint attachment figure and they are important
• if they had a good relationship with their dad they would have better relationships in the future
• their relationships with their fathers are different as this links to play and bonding whereas with mothers its focus is on nurture
• when fathers rake on the role of primary care-giver, they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers
• for example, field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mother, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers
• caregiver father, like the mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers
• some psychologists are interested in the role of the father as a primary attachment figure whereas others are interested in the father as the secondary attachment figure
• those interested in the father as a secondary attachment figure have tended to see fathers as behaving differently yo that of mothers
• but those interested in the father as a primary attachment figure have tended to fund that fathers can take on a maternal role
• problem - we cannot conclude what the role of the father is as psychologists are not interested in the same question of the father - some look at the father as a primary attachment figure whilst others look at the father as a secondary attachment figure
• grossman found fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important role
• however, other studies have found that children growing up in single or same sex families do not develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families
• socially sensitive - suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child rearing practices
• for instance, isabella et al found interactional synchrony to be important in infant caregiver attachment
• AO3(research findings):

  • research findings on fathers have been quite inconsistent
  • research into the role of the father is quite confusing
  • this means that there is no conclusive findings as the father can either be a primary caregiver or a secondary caregiver
  • does not provide us with a valid outcome of the what the role of the father is
• AO3(fatherless people):

  • research has found that fathers as secondary caregivers do have a different role to play as they provide playtime
  • but research has found that children in same sex families and without heterosexual parents they behave the same
  • therefore there is actually no need for a father role - and their role in not important
  • this may be deemed as socially sensitive
• AO3(women’s expectations):

  • women are much more expected to be more nurturing
  • for example maternity leave - they get majority of the time
  • fathers may now not be encouraged to be a primary caregiver due to gender rules
  • but also women may be predisposed to having a baby as once a baby is birthed women feel a flood of emotion and rush
• the socially sensitive conclusions may demotivate fathers to not being present in their child’s lives