essay points

• while traditionally, the role of the father in attachment may have been limited, as fathers would go to work to provide resources and the mothers took care of the children, recently the role of the father has changed significantly.
• However, psychologists disagree over the exact role of the father, some claim that men are simply not equipped to form an attachment, (in short not actual essay writing)- bio evidence of 10x more oestrogen found in women compared to men, responsible for caring behaviours in women which men will not have more of a tendency for in differentiating hormone levels- this is why they are unable to form a close attachment- lack of oestrogen, more testosterone
• other researchers argue that fathers take on a different role as a playmate rather than primary caregiver
• Finally, some researchers argue that fathers can demonstrate sensitive responsiveness and respond to the needs of their children and therefore can form a strong emotional tie or bond
• an issue with research into the role of the fathers is lack of clarity over the question being asked, 'what is the role of the father?' is much more complicated than it sounds, as some research is interested in their role as a secondary attachment whilst others as a primary attachment figure, the findings also vary depending on the question, some research finds the fathers behaving like a primary carer and others find the father in a distinctive role, as a secondary caregiver
• Further limitation- there is a lot of conflicting evidence, longitudinal studies such as Grossman et al have suggested that fathers are secondary attachment figures and have an important and distinct role in the children's development, therefore we would expect children growing up in single mother and lesbian parent families to turn out different in some way, however this is not the case... KEY STUDY- McCallum and Golombok (2004)
• strength of role of the father research- can be used to offer advice to parents, agonizing decisions over roles can cause a lot of pressure and confusion, to the point where prospective parents could start considering whether or not to have a child at all. Research can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents, for example, fathers are more than capable of becoming primary attachment figures, and also, not having a father around does not affect a child's development.
• McCallum and Golombok found that children growing up in single-parent families do not develop any differently from those who grew up in more 'conventional' families, suggesting the role of the father in attachment is not significant