Role of Father

• Father- main male caregiver
• Traditionally fathers go to work and mothers nurture the kids at home- changed over time
• [Grossman et al] fathers do not take a caregiver role - take a role more to do with play+ stimulation and less to do with emotional development
• [Field] fathers can demonstrate sensitive responsiveness and form an emotional bond if given a primary caregiver role
• Disagreements within psychologists about the role of the father
• +Real world application in offering advice to parents- reduce parental anxiety for lesbian and single parents
• -Inconsistent findings of what the role of the father is
• -Socially sensitive for single mothers
• -Biologically reductionist because women are expected to be more caring/nurturing then men - female hormone -oxytocin- women predisposed to be the primary attachment figure