role of father

• attachment to fathers

  research suggests fathers are much less likely to become the baby's first attachment

  Schaffer + Emerson

  -> found majority of babies first became attached to their mother at around 7 months.

  -> 3% of cases the father was the sole object of attachment

  -> 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment

  -> 75% of babies attached to their father by 18 months
• distinctive role for fathers

  Grossmann et al

  carried out a longitudinal study where babies' attachments were studied until they were teenagers.

  found quality of attachment to the mother related to attachments in adolescence - not the father.

  found the quality of fathers' play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments.

  suggests father has a different role to the mother
• fathers as primary attachment

  Field

  filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.

  primary caregiver fathers acted like the primary caregiver mothers - smiling more, imitating and holding the babies more than secondary caregiver fathers.

  fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure.
• limitation - confusion over research questions

  lack of clarity of question being asked about the role of fathers.

  complex question 'What is the role of the father?'

  some researchers want to understand the role as a secondary attachment figures and some as primary attachment figure.

  leads it to be difficult to give a simple answer.
• limitation - conflicting evidence

  research findings vary according to methodology used

  Longitudinal studies (e.g. Grossmann et al) suggests role of father is as secondary attachment is play which is important to development.

  However, this means that children in single mother / lesbian parent families would turn out differently which does not happen.
• counterpoint - conflicting evidence

  parents in single mother and lesbian parent families adapt to accommodate the role played by fathers.

  distinctive role for fathers is clear as families can adapt to adopt this role.
• strength - real world application

  research can be used to offer advice to parents.

  Parents sometimes have a problem with decisions like who should be primary caregiver.

  Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home and fathers may feel pressured to work.

  Research can offer reassuring advice that fathers can easily be the primary attachment figure.