role of the father

• Schaffer and Emerson found most babies attached to mothers at 7 months and fathers at 18 months. 3% father was solely attached to. 27% father was joint main attachment with mother.
• Grossman longitudinal study. Found attachment to father less important. Quality of play = quality of attachment. Role more play and stimulation not emotional development
• Field methods

  filmed babies at 4 months interactions w primary and secondary caregivers
• real world applications


  mothers feel pressure to be primary caregiver (not practical for all). fathers can also be primary caregiver. also not having a father doesn't affect development (reassurance)
• Grossman negative

  suggests fathers have diff role --> would suggest sing sex or sing mother families develop differently. found not to be the case (MacCallum and Golombok)
• Fathers are able to form secure attachments if in an intimate marriage.


  Belsky et al. (2009) found that males who reported higher levels of marital intimacy also displayed a secure father-infant attachment, whereas males with lower levels of marital intimacy displayed insecure father-infant attachments. This suggests that males are able to form secure attachments with their children, however the strength of the attachment depends on the father and mother relationship.
• Research evidence suggests that fathers are not as equipped as

  mothers to provide a sensitive and nurturing attachment.

  Hrdy (1999) found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress, in comparison to mothers. This provides further evidence that fathers are not able to provide a sensitive and nurturing type of attachment, as they are unable to detect stress in their children.