Role of the father

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

that the father is important as most babies do attach to the father but after the mother

How did Schaffer and Emerson find this?

• months after forming primary attachments to the mother, babies formed a secondary attachment to the father

• in only 3% of cases is a child’s first attachment to their father

• out of all the infants in their study, 75% of infants developed an attachment to the father within the age of 18 months

What did Grossman find about the role of the father?

that attachment to the father isn’t important for development, they are more of ‘playmates’

How did Grossman find this?

• conducted a longitudinal study

• found that the quality of a baby’s attachment tot he mother is important in later life, but not the father

• the father’s role isn’t to emotionally nurture a child

What did Field find about the role of the father?

primary caregiver fathers can emotionally provide like a primary caregiver mother

How did Field find this?

• she filmed 4-month-old babies during their face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mother, primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers

• PCF spent more time initiating and holding infants than SCF

• suggests that fathers can be the nurturing attachment figure

How is the fact that findings vary a lot in research into the role of the father a weakness?

it means that the research lacks reliability. Over time, findings in the role of the father have been inconsistent and this casts a shadow of doubt about the validity of the research conducted

Give an example of this weakness

for example, Grossman’s research suggests that fathers are only important as secondary attachment figures and playmates whereas Field’s research concludes that fathers have the potential to be important primary attachment figures by showing reciprocity and interactional synchrony

How is the fact that research into the role of the father lacks validity a weakness?

because it is hard for the researcher to determine whether a baby’s actions are purposeful, and therefore researchers may come to the conclusion that a baby has formed an attachment to the father but this may not be the case. This means the research lacks internal validity

Give an example of this weakness

for example, just like any research conducted into infant attachments, it can be really difficult to determine what movements and facial expressions are purposeful from an infant. When observing fathers interacting with their babies, the babies could be pulling facial expressions that may be interpreted as smiling but this might actually be something else

How is the fact that research has left unanswered questions a weakness ?

as research into the role of the father lacks predictive validity. it can’t be accurately used to pre-empt behaviour happening in the future because children who grow up without fathers and children who grow up with attachments to fathers end up experiencing similar relationships in the future

Give an example of this weakness

Grossman’s study found that fathers as a secondary attachment figure have an important role in their children’s upbringing , yet other studies such as MacCallum and Golombok have found that children growing up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently to those in two parent heterosexual families.

How is the fact that research into the role of the father has real life application in areas of social sensitivity and policy development a strength? (+counter/development)

as the introduction of these policies allow fathers to fulfil the emotional nurturing role that a child needs, and it also levels the playing field between the importance of mothers and fathers.

It also allows society to move away from harmful stereotypes which propose that a mother should be the one looking after children

Give an example of this strength

for example, research which has found that the father figure is important as a playmate (Grossman) has resulted in policies being developed which not only allow but also encourage fathers to spend more time with their children