The role of the father

• who does 'father' refer to?

  the child's closest male caregiver
• what is the most basic question about the role of fathers?

  whether babies actually attach to them and, if so, when
• what does available evidence suggest?

  that fathers are much less likely to become babies' first attachment figure compared to mothers
• what did Schaffer and Emerson suggest babies first become attached to their mother?

  majority of babies first become attached to their mother at around 7 months
• what happened in 3% of cases, found from Schaffer and Emerson's research?

  that the father was the first sole object of attachment
• in what percentage of cases was the father the first sole object of attachment?

  3%
• what happened in 27% of cases?

  the father was the first joint object of attachment with the mother
• what percentage of cases was the father the first joint object of attachment with the mother?

  27%
• what does it appear fathers go on to become?

  important attachment figures
• what percentage of babies studied by Schaffer and Emerson formed an attachment with their father by 18 months?

  75%
• when did 75% of babies studied by Schaffer and Emerson form an attachment with their father?

  by 18 months
• how was it determined that 75% of babies formed an attachment with their father by 18 months?


  the babies protested when their fathers walked away - sign of attachment
• what is a different research question about attachment to fathers?

  whether attachment to fathers hold some specific value in a child's development and, if so, whether it plays a different role in a child's development from attachment to the mother
• what did Grossman carry out?

  a longitudinal study where babies' attachments were studied until they were in their teens
• what did Grossman look at in his study?

  both parents' behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their baby's later attachment to other people
• what was quality of a baby's attachment with mothers but not fathers related to?

  attachments in adolescence
• what does quality of a baby's attachment with mothers but not fathers suggest?

  that attachment to fathers is less important that attachment to mothers
• what did Grossman also find?

  that the quality of fathers' play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments
• what does the findings that quality of fathers' play with babies being related to the quality of adolescent attachments suggest?

  that fathers have a different role from mothers - one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with emotional development
• what is a distinction made between?

  primary and secondary attachment figures
• what does a baby's relationship with their primary attachment figure form?


  the basis of all later close emotional relationships
• what does evidence suggest about when fathers do take on the role of primary caregiver?


  they are able to adopt the emotional role more typically associated with mothers
• what did Field film in her study?

  4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers
• similarly to primary caregiver mothers, what did primary caregiver fathers do in Field's study?

  spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than the secondary caregiver fathers
• what are smiling, imitating and holding babies all part of?

  reciprocity and interactional synchrony which are part of the process of attachment formation
• what does the findings from Field's study show?

  that fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure - they can provide the responsiveness required for close emotional attachments but perhaps only express this when given the role of primary caregiver
• Limitation - research into the role of fathers lack clarity over the question being asked

  - the question 'what is the role of the father?' in the context of attachment is more complicated than it sounds

  
  

  - some researchers attempting to answer this question actually want to understand the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures

  
  

  - but others are more concerned with fathers as a primary attachment figure

  
  

  - the former have tended to se fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role

  
  

  - the latter have found that fathers can take on a 'maternal' role

  
  

  this makes it difficult to offer a simple answer as to the 'role of the father' - it really depends what specific role is being discussed
• Limitation - findings from research into the role of fathers vary according to the methodology used

  - longitudinal studies such as Grossman have suggested that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important and distinct role in their children's development, involving play and stimulation

  
  

  - however, if fathers have a distinctive and important role we would expect that children growing up in single-mother and lesbian-parent families would turn out in some way different from those in two-parent heterosexual families

  
  

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

  
  

  this means that the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered
• Strength - research into the role of the father can be used to offer advice to parents, real world application

  - parents and prospective parents sometimes agonise over decisions like who should take on the primary caregiver role

  
  

  - for some this can even mean worrying about whether to have children at all

  
  

  - mothers may feel pressured to stay home because of stereotypical views of mothers' and fathers' roles

  
  

  - equally, fathers may be pressured to focus on work rather than parenting - in some families this may not be economically the best solution

  
  

  - research into role of father can be used to reassure parents - for example, heterosexual parents can be informed that fathers are capable of becoming primary attachment figure

  
  

  therefore, parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced