role of the father

• Schaffer and Emerson research

  • found the majority of infants first became attached to their mother around 7 months
  • in only 3% of cases, the father was the primary attachment figure and in 27% of cases, the father was the first joint attachment figure
  • in 75% of cases, infant formed an attachment with the father by 19 months
• distinctive father roles

  • GROSSMAN(2002)
  • carried out a longitudinal study where he studied babies attachments until they were teens
  • found fathers have a different role to mothers as its more to do with who spends the most time with he baby and less to do with emotional development
• fathers primary attachment figures

  • FIELD
  • primary caregiver fathers spent time smiling and talking more than secondary caregiver fathers which are all part of reciprocity and synchrony
  • shoes fathers have potential to be primary caregiver if they provide responsiveness
• role of the father strengths

  • real world application - shown fathers can become the primary caregiver if they respond to the babies signals
• role of the father limitation

  • there is confusion over research questions as the father doesn't have a distinct role snd can take on the maternal role