The role of the father

• Most psychological research into attachment and caregiver infants interactions focus on the mother as the primary caregiver
• there is an increasing recognition that the father can play a significant role in the emotional development of their children, and have a significant impact on their child’s attachment behaviour
• Psychological research is interested in finding out whether the father plays a distinct role in the attachment of their children
• Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) study provided some key insights into the role of the father. In 3% of cases, the father was the sole object of attachment. In 27% of cases, the father was the joint object of attachment. 75% of infants had formed a secondary attachment with their father by 18 months.
• Geiger (1996) believed that fathers play interactions are exciting, playful and pleasurable while mothers are more nurturing and affectionate
• White and Woollett (1992) believed that less responsiveness from fathers is a good thing since it challenges the child to develop their communication, cognitive and problem solving skills
• Grossman (2002) conducted a longitudinal study that investigated parent behaviour, and their relationships with their children and the quality of the child’s attachment in their teens. They found that a child’s attachment with their mother was related to the quality of attachment in their teens, but there was no association between teen attachment and the relationship with their father. This suggests that the fathers role is less important than the mothers
• The quality of the father’s play was related to the quality of attachment in teenage years. This suggests that the father does play an important role in attachment, but that this is different to the role the mother plays
• Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. Primary caregivers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregivers. This suggests that the key to attachment is responsiveness to the child and not the gender of the primary caregiver
• Research fails to provide a clear answer about fathers and primary attachments. The answer could be related to traditional gender roles, where women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men
• Fathers may not feel that they should act in a nurturing way, causing them to be less likely to be the primary attachment figure
• There are many factors that can impact the role that father has on a child’s emotional development, and these aren’t always accounted for in research. Some of these include: culture, the father’s beliefs and the amount of time the father spends away from home. these factors can make generalisation difficult