Introduction to attachment

• Reciprocity describes how two people interact. The mother-infant interaction is described as reciprocal as both mother and infant respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other (turn-taking).
• Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ which signal that they are ready for interaction. Mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant alertness around two-thirds of the time (Feldman and Eidelman, 2007).
• From around 3 months old, the mother-infant interaction becomes more frequent and involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions (Feldman, 2007).
• An attachment is a close 2-way emotional bond between 2 individuals e.g. infant and their primary caregiver

  • They see the other as essential for their emotional security.
  • An attachment usually takes a few months to develop
• Both mother and child can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so - Brazelton et al. (1975) described this interaction as a ‘dance’ because it is just like a couples’ dance where each partner responds to each other’s moves.
• Interactional synchrony is when mother and infant reflect both actions and emotions of the other and do this is in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way.
• Meltzoff & Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old.

  • An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures.
  • The child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers.
  • An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult has displayed and the actions of the babies.
• Isabella et al. (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony.

  • The researchers also assessed the quality of mother-infant attachment.
  • They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship).
• Attachment behaviours include:

  • proximity: people try to stay physically close to those they are attached to
  • separation anxiety: people are distressed when an attachment figure leaves
  • secure-base behaviour: explore the environment but return to attachment figure for comfort
• A weakness of research into attachment in infants is that observations lack objectivity. This is because the researcher is an adult human being and therefore subject to bias, as they can’t accurately deduct what is happening from the infant’s perspective. For example, it is difficult to know for sure if the infant is deliberately mimicking their caregiver. Therefore, this makes research into attachment less valid.
• The role of the father according to research by Geiger (1996) is to be a playmate, not a caregiver. This is because father's play is often more physical, pleasurable and exciting than mothers.
• Lamb (1987) found that children often interact with their fathers when in a positive emotional state and so are seeking stimulation rather than comfort.
• Hardy (1999) found that fathers are less able than mothers to detect low levels of infant distress, suggesting that males make unsuitable primary attachment figures.
• Factors of father-child dynamic:

  • The degree of sensitivity - fathers who are sensitive to their child's needs develop more secure attachments.
  • Single-parent fathers - tend to form similar attachments with their children as they had with their own parents.
  • Marital intimacy - the type of attachment a father develops with his children is related to the level of intimacy he has with his partner. 
  • Supportive co-parenting - the level of support a father provides his partner in helping care for children affects the type of attachment he'll have with his children.
• Grossman (2002) investigated how important fathers are in children's development to establish if they have a distinct role.

  • a longitudinal study of 44 families and looked at both parents' behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children's attachment into their teens.

  Findings:

  • quality of infant attachment with mothers (not fathers) related to children's attachment in adolescence, suggesting father attachment is less important
  • suggests fathers play a different role in attachment - one that has to do with play and stimulation (not nurturing)
• Field (1978) filmed 4-month-old infants in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers.

  Findings

  • primary caregiver fathers like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers.
  • this behaviour appears to be more important in building attachment with an infant, so fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure
  • therefore, the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness, not the gender of the caregiver
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mothers first (around 7 months), and within a few weeks or months formed secondary attachments to other family members.

  • in 75% of infants studied an attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months
• One limitation of research into the role of the father is that it is socially sensitive. Previous research has suggested that the father’s role is that of a playmate (Geiger, 1996) and that infants only interact with their fathers in a positive emotional state (Lamb, 1987). This suggests that fathers are meant to be secondary attachment figures, rather than primary attachment figures. This may contribute to harmful stereotypes that fathers are less nurturing, potentially discouraging them from taking an active role in childrearing. This weakens research in this area as it raises ethical concerns, as research that reinforces gender roles could have negative social consequences and limit our understanding by promoting outdated norms.
• Another issue is that much of the research into the father’s role suffers from cultural bias. The majority of studies are conducted in Western, individualist societies where nuclear families and specific gender roles are the norm. In contrast, in collectivist cultures, caregiving is often more evenly shared between extended family members, and fathers may take on different roles. This means that findings such as Geiger's (1996) conclusion that fathers are mainly playmates may not apply universally. Therefore, the research lacks cross-cultural validity and may not be generalisable to non-Western contexts, reducing its external validity.
• A further limitation into the role of the father is that there is a lot of conflicting evidence. On one hand longitudinal studies (e.g. Grossman et al, 2002) have suggested fathers are secondary attachment figure with an important, distinct role in childrens attachment. However, McCallum and Golombok (2004) found that children raised in single-mother or same-sex households developed just as well as emotionally and socially as those raised in tradition two-parent families. Thus contradicting the idea that fathers have a unique, irreplaceable role. This means the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered.