Multiple attachments and the role of the father

Explain the evidence-knowledge in A01 for multiple attachments

1. Schaffer -

   By 9 months 29% of the infants had developed multiple attachments within a month of developing specific attachments.

   By 12 months 78% of children have multiple attachments and 33% of them have 5 or more attachments

2. Schaffer´s stages

   Multiple attachment is the 4th stage of his attachment stages and occurs at 9 moths plus

3. Bowlby´s research

   He developed the idea of monotropy - that babies have one key attachment figue usually the mother

   secondary attachments then follow such as siblings and father but these attachments aren´t as important as the primary caregiver

4. Role of the father -

   The father seems to be one of the first key multiple attachments of the infant and is important for its development.

Explain one evaluation point of the multiple attachments A03

THERE IS DISAGREEMENTS ON WHEN MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS SHOULD OCCUR

Schaffer and Bowlby agree that a baby must form a specific attachment before they can form multiple attachments. However in some cultures multiple attachments occur from the outset and not as late as 9 months old as Schaffer found

This suggests either the timings of Schaffer´s stages are incorrect or they can´t be generalized to other cultures and countries and it differs from culture to culture

Explain one evaluation point of the multiple attachments A03

MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE ARE NOT ALWAYS AGREED ON BY THEORISTS

Bowlby suggests that multiple attachments aren´t as strong as the primary attachment and not as important.

However Rutter saw all attachments as equal and he believed that no such thing as primary and secondary attachments but all of the attachments give the children an idea of how relationships work and the internal working model and are equal in importance

Explain one evaluation point of the multiple attachments A03

THE RESEARCH CAN HAVE POSITIVE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS

Sagi et al looked at children raised in a community children´s Kibbutz (looked after many adults) but with family based sleeping arrangements. They found that attachments to the mother was strong with 80% securely attached and no avoidant attachments

The findings of this research support Rutter´s belief that there is no difference in the importance of primary and secondary attachments and infant these other multiple attachments lead to stronger primary attachment.

This means that fathers and mothers could go to work without any social or emotional impact on the children which means they can earn more money.

Explain the role of the father

There is increasing recognition that the father´s play a much greater emotional role in their children´s development that in other years where there role was simple to provide economic stability

Explain 1 piece of evidence into the role fo the father

SCHAFFER AND EMERSON - TRADIONAL RESEARCH

Schaffer and Emerson found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mothers first.

they found a primary attachemnt with their mother at around sevne months and within a few weeks or at most months there were seconadry attachments with their fathers or other

At 18 months 75% had formed an attachment with their father (determined by the protesting when father walked away due to separation anxiety)

However these observations were in the 60s when the role of the father was very different from now and the father had less of a role in their lives

Explain 1 piece of evidence into the role fo the father

FIELD - SENSITITIVE AND RESPONSIVENESS

Fathers and primary caregivers - There is some evidence that when fathers do take on the role of the primary caregiver they adopt more typical mother behaviors.

For example, field filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary mothers and secondary fathers vs primary fathers. The primary fathers like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary fathers. This behavior also seems to improve attachment and be more important in the development of the infant

It shows that the key to attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent. This demonstrates there is flexibility in the role of the father and how men can respond to different needs of the children.

Explain 1 piece of evidence into the role fo the father

PAQUETTE AND LAMB - PLAYMATE

Paquette found that fathers are more likely to foster risk taking behavior in their children than mothers by engaging in more physical play and games

Lamb found that Fathers are more preferred when seeking stimulation and are in a positive state meanwhile the mothers are preferred when they seek confort and are distressed

So fathers may fulfil a qualitatively different role from the mother play vs emotional support but this is just as crucial to the child´s wellbeing

Explain one evaluation point of the role of the father

THE ROLE OF FATHERS AS SECONDARY ATTACHMENT FIGUES CAN BE EXPLAINED THROUGH BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND GENDER STEREOTYPING

The fact that fathers tend to not become the primary attachment figue could be simply come down to tradicional gender roles of women expecting to be more nurturing and caring than men.

However Hrdy also suggests its due to men not being able to pick up infant low level distress. Taylor said This could be explained by the fact that oestrogen the female hormone creates higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically pre-disposed (Biological determinism) to be the primary detachment figue

This is a strength as it confirms that such difference between mothers and fathers in the role of rearing children can be down to an individuals nature and nurture.

Explain one evaluation point of the role of the father

A WEAKNESS - THE RESEARCH INTO ATTACHMENT FIGUES AND ROLE OF FATHER HAS LOW RELIABILITY

For example the research is confusing because different researchers are interested in different research questions

Some researchers are interested in understanding the role of the father as a secondary attachment figue and some as fathers as a primary attachment figue

The first one has seen a different role of the fathers to mothers and having a distinct role whereas second ones have seen them have a maternal role.

This means psychologists can´t properly answer what is the role of the father and firm conclusions can´t be drawn from the different findings

Explain one evaluation point of the role of the father

WHY AREN´T CHILDREN WITH FATHERS DIFFERENT WHEN THE FATHER HAS PROVEN TO HAVE A DISTINCT ROLE

Grossmans study found that fathers as a secondary attachment figue have an important role in the child´s upbringing.

But MacCallum and Golombok found that children growing up with a single or same sex parents don´t develop any different attachments than in a heterosexual relationship.

This is a weakness as it says the role of the father isn´t important

Explain one evaluation point of the role of the father

SOCIALLY SENSITIVE AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

If the father can´t take on the role of the mother just as well then this has implications for society and is socially sensitive

Laws are changing regarding paternity and maternity so parents can share time equally. This allows more mothers to return to the workforce and more fathers to take on childcare roles. There´s also been more changes in equality of custody over children

This movement has contributed to a greater societal acceptance of single fathers and the role of the father.