Role of the father ao1/ao3

Attachment to fathers research

Research has found that babies are less likely to attach to their fathers than mothers. Schaffer and Emerson found that 3% of primary attachment figures were the baby’s father and 27% had their father as a primary attachment figure joint with their mother. 75% of babies did attach to their fathers later as a secondary caregiver at 18 months

Distinctive role for fathers

Grossman et al. carried out a longitudinal study from baby to teens and found that the quality of a father’s play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments. This suggests that fathers do have an essential role in attachment and a different role from mothers – this role is more to do with play and stimulation rather than emotion. He also found however that the quality of attachment with mothers related to quality of adolescent attachments but quality of attachment with fathers was not related to quality of adolescent attachments which suggests attachment to fathers is less important then attachment to mothers.

fathers as primary attachment figures

Research suggests that fathers as secondary attachments may have this role in play and stimulation but Field found that primary caregiver fathers spend more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers. This suggests that fathers do have the potential to be emotion-focused, but this is only when they are primary caregivers.

confusion over research questions

A limitation of research into the role of the father is that there is a lack of clarity over the question being asked. The question of ‘what is the role of the father?’ is very complex and cannot be answered easily. Some researchers are concerned with fathers as secondary caregivers and some are concerned with fathers as primary caregivers. They both found different things, such as in Field and Grossman et al.’s research. This is a limitation because it makes it difficult to answer the question and it depends on what role is being discussed meaning research is hard to apply to varying situations which reduces the use of research in some cases.

conflicting evidence

Another limitation of research into the role of the father is that this research has varying results based on their methodology. Grossman et al., for example, suggested that fathers have a role in play and this is extremely important for adolescent attachments. However, if this is true, we would expect children in single mother and lesbian parent families to turn out differently and maybe even have a harder time, but they do not (according to studies conducted by McCallum and Golombok) . This is a limitation because it means that the question of whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered and the role of play may not be exclusive to fathers which decreases the validity of research as we are uncertain as to the specific role of the father. However, these lines of research may not be in as much conflict as we think. It would be that fathers take on roles in heterosexual families, but parents in single mother and lesbian parent families may simply adapt to play the role of the father. This means that when present, fathers play a role, but families can function and adapt to not having one. This is a strength because it means that the research is useful after all and can be applied to real scenarios where the role of the father may not be a biological male father.

real word application link to economy

A strength of research into the role of the father is that it can be used to offer advice to parents. Mothers and fathers may feel pressured to fill a certain role laid out for them, and same-sex families may be worried about whether their baby is getting the right care they need. Research into the role of the father can be used to reassure parents that fathers can be the primary caregiver. This is a strength because it means parental anxiety around the role of the father can be reduced with the research. This is also a strength because it has good economic implications. For example if the mother has the highest salary, the father can become the primary caregiver which allows the mother to return to work and earn more money which contributes to the economy thus benefitting it.