Role of the father

• Fathers are viewed as less sensitive than mothers due to biological differences and the influence of women’s “oestrogen“ promoting nurturing behaviour
• Grossman (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and attachment. they found that the quality of attachment with mothers was related to childhood attachments later on, but not the father. however, the quality of the fathers play was related to attachment later on suggesting the father has the role of the play mate.
• The father may have the role of the playmate
• Field (1978) found that primary care giver fathers spent more time with the child and eventually became the primary attachment figure suggesting that fathers can be the primary figure, it just depends on responsiveness
• Nuclear family - a family consisting of a mother, father and their dependant children.

  Mother: homemaker

  Father: breadwinner
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that infants become attached at 7 months to their mother, forming an attachment to their father 1 month later
• Schaffer and Emerson. in 3% of cases, the father was the primary attachment
• Schaffer and Emerson. in 27% of cases, the father was a joint attachment
• Schaffer and Emerson. by 18 months 75% of infants had an attachment with their father
• Lamb (1977) found that most infants prefer their fathers when they want to play but their mothers for comfort
• AO3. one limitation of the role of the father is traditional gender roles. There is still an expectation that fathers are the breadwinners in society and the media, and the gender pay gap suggests that men are working more than women, reinforcing the idea that fathers are not capable of being nurturing. This means that fathers may avoid certain roles seen as emotional because of their social role. However this isn’t the case as homosexual couples and single dad families can provide nurture and emotional support
• AO3. One limitation is the lack of research into infant father relationships. This is because it’s a relatively new research area, heavily dominated by mother infant relationships due to societal expectation that mothers spend more time with their infants. This is limiting as children Act differently with each caregiver, meaning any research can only give a partial insight.
• AO3. a strength of the role of the father could be supporting the mother. The role of the father may be acting as an emotional support system for the mother by reducing her stress, to enable her to support and nurture their child This suggests a clear role for the father and reinforce traditional gender roles within the household