Role of father

• Who do infants attach to according to traditional research

  traditional research suggests that infants form primary attachments with their mothers first and within a few weeks/months formed secondary attachments.

  
  

  in 75% of infants this was their father.
• according to Schaffer and Emerson's study, what % of cases showed that fathers were the first attachments figures in infants

  3% of the cases showed fathers being the first attachment.
• what age did babies have an attachment with their father by according to S+E study

  by 18 months - this was determined by the fact that the babies protested when their father walked away (a sign of attachment).
• Klaus Grossmann et al (2002)

  carried out a "longitudinal" study where babies attachments were studies until they were into their teens.
• what did researchers look for in Grossmann's study

  researchers looked at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their babies later attachments to other people.
• what did researchers in Grossmann's study find out about parents behaviour

  The quality of babies attachments with mothers but NOT fathers was related to attachments in adolescence.
• what can be concluded from Grossmann's study

  Findings suggest that attachments with fathers is less important than attachments to mothers.
• What did Grossmann say about the importance of fathers

  However, Grossmann also found that the quality of fathers play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments.

  
  

  This suggests fathers have a different role from mothers, one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with emotional development.
• Primary attachment

  First specific attachment
• Tiffany Field (1978)

  Filmed 4-month old babies in face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.
• in Tiffany Fields study, what were the primary caregiver fathers doing

  like primary caregiver mothers, the primary caregiver fathers spend more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than their secondary caregiver fathers.

  
  

  smiling, imitating and holding babies are all parts of reciprocity and interactional synchrony - which are all part of the attachment formation
• what can be concluded from Tiffany Fields study

  That fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure- they can provide the responsiveness required for a close emotional attachment but perhaps only expressed when they are in the role of primary caregiver.
• AO3 L - confusion over research questions

  there is a lack of clarity over the question being asked. "what is the role of the father" in the context of attachment is more complicated than it seems. some researchers attempting to answer this questions have actually studies the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures, but others were concerned with fathers as primary attachment figures. Results from studies have been inconsistent- former tended to see fathers as different to mother roles while the latter have found that fathers can take on a maternal role.
• AO3 L - conflicting evidence

  findings vary according to the methodology used. Longitudinal studies (Grossmann) have suggested fathers as secondary figures have and important and distinctive told in child development, involving play and stimulation.

  However, if fathers have a distinctive and important role we would expect children from a single mother or lesbian families to turn out "differently".

  
  

  and in fact, studies consistently show that these children do not develop differently from children in two parent heterosexual families.

  meaning that the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered.
• AO3 S - real world application

  research into the roles of the father can be used to offer advice to parents.

  prospective parents sometimes agonise over decisions like who should take on the primary caregiver role, worrying about if they should even have kids.

  
  

  Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views. equally, fathers may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting more. in some families this may not be the most economically best solution.

  
  

  hetero parents can be informed that fathers are quite capable of becoming primary attachment figures, lesbian and single mothers can be informed that not having a father does not affect a child's development. this means parental anxiety can be reduced.
• AO3 EXTRA - bias in research

  preconceptions about how fathers so o should behave can be created by stereotypical accounts and images of parenting roles and behaviour, for example in advertising.

  
  

  stereotypes (eg. fathers not being primary caregivers, being stricter) may cause unintentional observer bias whereby observers see what they expect to see rather than recording objective reality.

  
  

  means that observational studies of fathers may lack validity and conclusions cannot be trusted