AO3

• Limitation - may be gender biased

  • TIB strong stereotypes around parenting roles & beh
  • THEORY = confirmation bias - more likely to notice things that support are existing views rather than go against it
  • MEANING its hard to make objective observations of fathers especially is they are demonstrating beh that go against our strong cultural stereotypes

  THEREFORE may impact the internal validity of research

  BECAUSE its biased by our long held stereotyped views of gender roles in parenting
• STRENGTH- practical application for parenting courses

  • TIB parents can find it difficult to make decisions about who should take the parental leave and who should return to work Stereotypical views
  • mothers - may feel pressured to stay at home
  • fathers - may feel pressured to return to work
  • Lesbian couples & single-mother families can be informed that not having a father around doesn't affect a child's development THEREFORE this is an incredibly useful area of research
  • BECAUSE can be used to educate parents and reduce the anxiety they may feel when making decisions abt child-rearing
• Limitation - conflicting evidence

  • TIB Grossman found that fathers have a distinct separate role from mothers focused on play and stimulation
  • HOWEVER this would suggest that children growing up w/o fathers may turn out differently.
  • ALTHOUGH research by McCallum & Golombok shows that babies growing up w/o fathers don't grow up any differently

  THEREFORE many psychologists argue that we still don't fully understand the role of the father

  BECAUSE findings aren't reliable
• Limitation - lack of clarity over Qs being asked

  • 'What is the role of the father? isn't as simple as it sounds
  • some researchers are trying to understand fathers as primary attachment figures whilst others are researching fathers as secondary attachment figures
  • meaning they have different aims and are focusing on different groups of fathers

  THEREFORE its difficult to come to a conc. abt the role of the father

  BECAUSE research is focusing on v different things