Topic 3: Multiple attachments and the role of the father

Schaffeer and Emerson and multiple attachments

● In 75% of the infants studied an attachment was formed with the father at 18 months old. This was determined by the fact that the infants protested when their father walked away.

The role of the father: Grossman

● In a longitudinal study grossman found that attachment to the mother rather than the father was related to the quality of children's attachments when they were teenagers

● However it was also found that the father seemed to play a different role in attachment, one associated with play and stimulation, less to do with nurturing

Father as the primary care giver

● Field filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with the primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers

● Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the babies than the secondary caregiver fathers. It seems that fathers can be as nurturing as mothers.

Age and gender: Freeman et al

● He found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children.

● He also found that children are more likely to be attached to their father during their late childhood to early adolescence.

Temperament in children: Manlove et al

● Manlove found that fathers are less likely to be involved with their infant if the infant has a difficult temperament

● However, the findings are inconsistent

Evaluation of multiple attachments and the role of the father AO3

☹️ Inconsistent findings on fathers: Some psychologists are interested in the father as a secondary attachment figure, whereas others are interested in the father as the primary attachment figure. Secondary fathers have a different role to mothers and some can take on the maternal role

☹️ If fathers have a distinct role, why aren't children without fathers different. MacCallum and Golombok found that children growing up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families.

● It seems to suggest that a fathers role is not as important as a mothers.

☹️ Why don't fathers generally become primary attachment figures. This could be the result of traditional gender roles, in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men