Outline and evaluate the role of the father in the development of attachment

AO1:

- While traditionally the role of the father may have been limited, as fathers would go to work to provide resources white the mothers stayed home and took care of the children, in recent times the role of the father has significantly changed.

- However, psychologists disagree over the exact role of the father. Some researchers claim that men are simply not equipped to form an attachment. Such psychologists point to biological evidence which suggests that the hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour in women and the lack of oestrogen in men is why they are unable to form a close attachment. Other researchers argue that fathers do not take on a caregiver role and in fact provide a different role: as a playmate. Finally, some researchers argue that fathers can demonstrate sensitive responsiveness and respond to the needs of their children and therefore can form a strong emotional tie or bond.

AO1: Grossman

- Grossman carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children's attachment into their teens.

- They found that quality of a baby's attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence. Suggesting that attachment to fathers is less important than attachment to mothers

- However Grossman et al also found that the quality of fathers' play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments. This suggests that fathers have a different role from mothers - one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with emotional development.

AO3: Research support for the role of the father as ‘playmate’ (Strength)

One strength of the role of the father in the development of attachment is that there is research evidence that provides support for the role of the father as a 'playmate' rather than a primary caregiver.

Research by Geiger (1996) found that a father's play interactions were more exciting in comparison to a mothers'. However, the mothers' play interactions were more affectionate and nurturing. This suggests that the role of the father is, in fact, as a playmate and not as a sensitive parent who responds to the needs of their children.

These results also confirm that the mother takes on a nurturing role.

AO3: Research support that fathers are less equipped (Strength)

One strength of the role of the father in the development of attachment is that there is research evidence which suggests that fathers are not as equipped as mothers to provide a sensitive and nurturing attachment.

Hardy (1999) found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress, in comparison to mothers. These results appear to support the biological explanation that the lack of oestrogen in men means that fathers are not equipped innately to form close attachments with their children.

This suggests that the role of the father is, to some extent, biologically determined and that a father's role is restricted because of their makeup. This provides further evidence that fathers are not able to provide a sensitive and nurturing type of attachment, as they are unable to detect stress in their children.

AO3: Counterpoint

However, research suggests that fathers can form secure attachments with their children, if they are in an intimate marriage. Belsky et al. (2009) found that males with lower levels of marital intimacy displayed insecure father-infant attachments.

This suggests that males can form secure attachments with their children but the strength of the attachment depends on the father and mother relationship.

AO3: Conflicting evidence (Limitation)

A limitation of research it to role of the fathers is that findings vary according to the methodology used.

Longitudinal studies such as Grossman have suggested that Fathers as the secondary attachment figure have an important role to play in a child's development, involving play and stimulation.

Other studies have found that children growing up without fathers or in a single parent family or with same sex parents do not develop any differently from those in two parent families.

This would suggest that the father's role as the secondary attachment figure is not important and questions whether fathers have a distinctive role.