role of the father

• Schaffer & Emerson:

  • most babies attached to their mother before their father
  • some babies attached to their father first
  • some babies attached to both parents at the same time
  • fathers are secondary caregivers
• Grossman (2002):

  • wanted to look at the role fathers play in attachment
  • longitudinal study - 44 families
  • observed parental behaviour
  • mothers = nurturing; fathers = playmate
  • parents attach to their children in different ways
  • mothers are primary caregivers
  • fathers are secondary caregivers
• Field (1978):

  • looked at if fathers could be primary caregivers
  • videoed 4m/o babies interacting with their caregivers
  • fathers can be primary caregivers. These fathers act like primary caregiver mothers. They are nurturing - they hold the baby and are attentive to the alert signals
• role of the father - AO3:

  • uses longitudinal studies. Collected lots of data, increases the validity. All the same ppts were used, decreases ppts variables.
  • contradictory evidence: Field & Grossman found different things about the role of the father. Decreases the reliability.
  • bias. Research does not look at other family structures e.g., same-sex families. Findings are heteronormative & can't be generalised.
• Past research into the role of the father has little temporal validity. In the past, mothers spent more time with their children than fathers did. Mothers formed stronger attachments. However, it is now the norm for women to work. Do not spend as much time with their children.