The role of the father

• What did Grossman's research reveal about the role of the father?

  • Carried out a longitudinal study looking into both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of the child's attachment into their teens
  • Results found that infant attachment was important for mothers
  • Mothers play a nurturing role whereas fathers are more important in play and stimulation
• What did Tiffany Field's research find? ( father as primary caregivers)

  • Filmed 4 month old babies with primary caregiver mother, primary caregiver father and secondary caregiver father
  • Primary caregiver fathers acted like mothers e.g smiling, imitating and holding infants
  • This behaviour is important in building attachments
  • Fathers can be the nurturing attachment figure
• AO3 Role of the Father: It is not significant

  • Children growing up in single or same sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in 2 parent heterosexual families
  • Fathers role as a secondary attachment figure is not important
• AO3 Role of the Father: Men and Women have different roles

  • Fathers don't tend to be primary attachment figures due to traditional gender roles where women are more nurturing and caring
  • Females have hormones that create higher levels of oestrogen which create them to be more nurturing than men
• AO3 Role of the father: Importance of father

  • Children who have secure attachments with fathers develop better relationships with peers
  • Also have less problematic behaviours through better managing their own emotions
  • Children who grow up without father figures have been found to do less academically well with higher levels of risk taking behaviour and aggression
  • This is especially true in boys and illustrates the positive role fathers play on the development of children
• AO3 Role of the Father: Real World Application

  • Research on role of the father can give parents advice
  • There is usually conflict on who the primary caregiver should be so this offers reassuring advice to parents
  • Parental anxiety around the role of the father can be reduced
• AO3 Role of the Father: Bias in research

  • Stereotypes on the roles men and women have as attachment figures may mean observer bias can happen in these pieces of research
  • This means that results may not be as objective as they seem