AO3 - Role of the Father

• Field's research has practical applications. This is because the principles of the research that responsiveness to the child's needs is the most important when forming an attachment can be used to advise parents. Many parents make decisions about who should take on the primary caregiver role, mothers may feel pressured to stay at home and fathers may feel pressured to go back to work. This research can be used to reassure parents that fathers can become a primary caregiver, which reduces parental anxiety. Therefore, research into role of the father is an important part of applied psychology.
• However, a potential criticism is that Grossman's research found that fathers as secondary caregivers had an important and distinct role in their child's development of play and stimulation. Other studies have shown that children growing up in single-mother or lesbian-parent families do not develop differently to those in two parent heterosexual families. This suggests that the fathers' role of play and stimulation may not be related to the gender of the attachment figure. Therefore limiting the extent that Grossman's research can be used to explain the role of the father in all families.
• Alternatively, it is argued there may be a biological basis to support Grossman's findings that fathers adopt a secondary caregiver role. It could be that female hormones (oestrogen) create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure for children. Whereas males do not produce as much oestrogen and produce more testosterone which is not associated with care and nurture, suggesting the fathers' role is less important than the mothers as Grossman suggested. Therefore, there are several explanations to consider.