Role of the Father (Booklet 9)

How did Field study the role of the father? What did he measure?

• Filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with mothers and fathers

• Measured time primary caregiver spent smiling, imitating and holding the infant

What did Field find out about the role of the father?

• If father was the primary caregiver, he would spend just as much time smiling, imitating and holding the infant as the mother

• This suggests if fathers do take on primary caregiver role, they are just as able to meet the child’s needs as the mother (mothers just generally take on role)

What did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) find about the role of the father?

• Observed the development of 60 infants in Glasgow

• Findings

  • 65% attached to mother only

  • 30% attached to mother and another (often father)

  • 3% attached to father only

• This suggests that responsiveness, play and social interaction are most important in attachment formation

• Primary attachment figure was not necessarily person who fed/changed/washed or spent most time with the child

What did Grossman (2002) find about the father’s role in play?

• Found fathers have an important role in play and stimulation, so are less nurturing

• But when fathers do take on the caregiving role they adopt more typical behaviours of mothers

What did MacCallum and Golombok (2004) find about children raised in same sex families? What does this suggest about the role of gender in attachment?

• Found that children growing up in single or same-sex (2 female) families do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families

• This suggests that attachment is less to do with gender, but more to do with the quality of primary caregiver interaction

Why is it hard to draw conclusions from research about the role of the father?

Not all research looks at the same question (focuses on different things)

Why is research into the role of the father and caregiver interactions socially sensitive?

• Suggests fathers aren’t usually primary caregivers

• Implying that it is the mother’s role to stay off work and take care of the baby, reinforcing societal expectations