Role of the Father

• There has been an increase in mothers with dependent children in work, and cultural expectations in many western cultures are changing to expect fathers to play a bigger part in the upbringing of their children
• Differences between fathers and mothers

  • Fathers are more likely to foster risk taking behaviour in their children than mothers by engaging in more physical play and enjoyable games
  • Fathers are preferred when children are in a positive emotional state and want stimulation, whereas mothers are preferred when children are distressed and seeking comfort
  • Fathers are less able than mothers to detect low levels of infant distress
• Field (1978) found that when given the chance, fathers can be just as sensitive as mothers in their interactions with infants
• Fathers

  More likely to foster risk taking behaviour in their children than mothers by engaging in more physical play and enjoyable games
• Fathers

  Preferred when children are in a positive emotional state and want stimulation, whereas mothers are preferred when children are distressed and seeking comfort
• Fathers


  Less able than mothers to detect low levels of infant distress
• Fathers aren't as capable as mothers just that they aren't given the opportunity to develop these skills
• Primary caregiver fathers


  Spend more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers
• Primary caregiver fathers are as capable as mothers of being a sensitive and caring primary caregiver if given the chance
• It is the level of responsiveness and not the gender of the parent that is the key to the attachment relationship
• Fathers don't tend to be in the primary care-giver role because of traditional gender roles in society
• Fathers

  Important and highly valued attachment figures in many families
• The more actively involved a 6-month-old baby had been with his or her father, the higher the baby scored on infant development scales
• Children who have secure, supportive, reciprocal, and sensitive relationships with their fathers (or mothers) do better on every measure of child development
• Weaknesses of the research on the role of the father

  • Inconsistent findings
  • Unanswered questions about the importance of the father's role
  • Socially sensitive implications