Most children become attached to their mother first and later form secondaryattachments to their father
Grossman (2002)
longitudinal study of 44 families comparing the role of parent contribution to attachment.
found that older attachments were more closely relater to mother-infant attachment
conclusion - attachment to father is less important than mothers
what is the main role of fathers?
stimulation
Field (1978)
found that children with father as primary caretaker formed just as strong attachments, as they took on the role of the mother too
suggests that the key to infant attachment is level of responsiveness rather than gender
positive evaluations
real world applications - can offer advice to parents such as reassuring lesbian couples that not having a father figure around will not affect future attachments
Parental preference - male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure, suggesting they play a more distinct role in some attachments
negative evaluations
conflicting evidence - findings vary according to the methodology - we would expect children in homosexual families to have damaged attachments
Socially sensitive research - suggesting that fathers’ roles are not as important is unethical
