role of the father

what is a father in attachment?

• in attachment the father is anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver, can be but not necessarily the biological father

• there is research into the specific role fathers play in development, research suggests fathers are less likely to be the baby's first attachment figure

what is the difference between the primary caregiver and primary attachment figure?

• primary caregiver: person who spends most time for the baby, caring for it's needs

• primary attachment figure: the person to whom the baby has the strongest attachment

Schaffer & Emerson (1964) research into attachment to fathers

• majority of babies first attached to their mothers around 7 months old, only 3% of cases was the father the first sole object of attachment

• in 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother but 75% formed an attachment with their father by 18 months, shown by separation anxiety

can fathers be the primary attachment figure?

• baby's primary attachment has special emotional significance and informs all later emotional relationships

• some evidence suggests fathers can become primary caregivers and take on a more emotional role

• fathers can be the more emotion focused primary attachment figure, can be responsive enough to form a close emotional attachment

• however this may only happen if they are the primary caregiver

what is the distinctive role for fathers?

• Grossman et al. (2002) carried out a longitudinal study of babies into their teens, looked at parent's behaviour and the quality of their baby's later attachments

• quality of attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to teen attachment, suggests attachment to fathers is less important

• however quality of fathers play was related to quality of later attachment, suggests fathers play a different role (not less important) than mothers, they provide play and stimulation not support emotional development

research into fathers as primary attachment figures

• Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with 3 adults: primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers, primary caregiver fathers

• both primary caregiver fathers and mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding baby's than secondary caregiver fathers, part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony, leading to attachment formation

weakness of the role of the father- confusion over research questions

• the question 'what's the role of the father?' is more complicated than researchers initially thought, some end up researching the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures, others as a primary attachment figure

• these researchers see fathers behaving different from mothers so suggest they have a distinct role, others focus on them as primary attachment figures and find fathers can adapt to a maternal role

• means its difficult to define the role of the father as it depends which role we mean and psychologists can’t simply answer the question ‘what is the role of the father?’

weakness of the role of the father- conflicting evidence from different methodologies

• findings of research into fathers role vary based on methodology, longitudinal studies eg Grossmann et al. (2002) suggest fathers have a distinct role in children’s development as secondary attachment figures, involving play and stimulation

• however, McCallum & Golombok (2004) found that children without a father don’t develop differently eg children in single parent or lesbian families don’t develop different to two parent heterosexual families

• means the question of whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered

counterpoint of the role of the father- adapting parents

• findings may not be in conflict, fathers may typically take on particular roles in two parent heterosexual families

• however other family structures adapt to not having fathers eg families or parents in single mother or lesbian parent families could adapt to fulfil the role played by fathers

• means that findings may be clear after all, there may be a distinctive role for fathers when present, but families adapt to not having one

strength of the role of the father- real world application for using findings in parenting advice

• mothers may feel pressured to stay home and be the primary caregiver due to stereotypes and fathers to focus on work, this may not be the best solution for all families financially or emotionally

• research on the flexibility of the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents such as fathers can be the primary attachment figure and not having a father figure doesn't damage the child's development

• means that parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced and parenting decisions made easier

weakness of the role of the father- bias in the research

• preconceptions about how fathers behave are created by discussions about mothers’ and fathers’ parenting behaviour, for decades it has been the norm for fathers to go back to work and mothers to be primary caregiver

• stereotypes, eg fathers are more playful, may cause unintentional observer bias and lead to inaccurate observations eg more positive responses to the mother vs father etc, media and advertising support these stereotypes

• means that observational studies of fathers may lack validity and objectivity and conclusions can’t be trusted