Role Of The Father

• Fathers as attachment figures

  •Infants turn to mothers to seek comfort and nurturing; they turn to fathers for play. Fathers are more playful, physically active and generally better at providing challenging situations for their children.
• Fathers as attachment figures

  •Fathers excite children, encouraging them to take risks whilst still keeping them safe. This provides them with a secure environment to learn to be brave.•Fathers tend to be secondary attachment figures (Schaffer and Emerson, 1964).
• •A primary attachment figure is the person to whom an infant is most intensely attached. They are the person a child responds to most intensely at separation. This is usually the mother, but other people can fulfil the role.
• •A secondary attachment figure is a person that an infant receives additional support from. They provide an emotional safety net.••
• Schaffer & emerson


  •Schaffer and Emerson found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mother first (around 7 months).•Therefore, the primary attachment figure is much more likely to be the mother than the father.•They found that within a few weeks or month of the primary attachment, the infants formed secondary attachments to other family members, including the father.
• Schaffer & emerson


  •In 75% of the infants studied, an attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months.•This was determined by the fact that the infants protested when their father walked away (separation distress).•Therefore, fathers are more likely to be secondary attachment figures.
• Eval

  Grossman’s study found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important role in their child’s development. Other studies have found that children growing up in single-parent or same-sex parent households do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families.
• Eval

  Freeman et al. (2010) found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children.
• Eval

  Freeman et al. (2010) found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children.