Role of Father

• Role of fathers

  • Schaffer found 75% of infants had formed an attachment to their father by 18 months, suggesting an important role for fathers

  Fathers encourage more active play, which is thought to stimulate risk-taking behaviors

  If men take on the primary caregiver role, their interactional style becomes more sensitive and responsive like mothers
• Theories arguing the mother's role cannot be replaced by the father may lead to stigmatization of single-father or two-father families, with economic implications
• Geiger(1996)


  Found that playing with the father is more exciting and pleasurable for infants. This supports the view of the father as a playmate.
• Hardy(1999) - poor primary caregiver


  Found that fathers are less able to detect low levels of distress in infants, so they may be unsuitable for the role of primary caregiver.
• Lamb(1987) - good mood


  Found that infants seek the father when in a positive emotional state, so they want stimulation, not comfort. Also found that male main caregivers develop sensitive responsiveness quickly.
• Belsky et al. (2009) - partner affect

  Found that father-infant attachments were more secure when marital intimacy was higher.
• Traditional view of attachment

  • Mother-infant attachment
• Attachment formation

  1. Majority of babies attached to mother first

  2. Formed secondary attachments to other family members, including the father

  3. 75% of infants studied formed attachment with father by 18 months

  4. Determined by infants protesting when fathers walked away
• Fathers' role in attachment

  More to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with nurturing
• Fathers as primary caregivers

  1. Adopt behaviours more typical of mothers

  2. Spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants
• Different researchers' interests

  Some interested in fathers as secondary attachment figures, others in fathers as primary attachment figures
• Grossman study found


  Fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important role in their children's development
• Children growing up in single or same-sex households do not develop differently than those in two-parent heterosexual households
• Fathers tend not to become the primary attachment figure


  Could be due to traditional gender roles, or that female hormones create higher levels of nurturing
• What percentage of babies have their fathers as the 1st sole figure?

  3%
• Varissimo - role of the father?


  The quality of the relationship between father and toddler correlated with the number of friends they had a pre-school

  • Show father may encourage social skills
• What did Paquette say about the role of the father?

  • fathers encourage children to take more risks during physical play and talk about it
  • mothers were found to structure their talk around emotional support to soothe and reassure the infant