Multiple attachments and the Role of the Father

Multiple attachments

• Schaffer and Emerson’s research found that infants form multiple attachments around 10-11 months and by the age of 18 months, only 13% of infants had a single attachment. In fact, 31% of infants had 5 or more attachments to grandparents, siblings and significant others

• The most common second attachment formed was with the father; this was the case in 27% of the initial sample and at 18 months 75% had formed attachments with their father

• This suggests that we are able to form multiple attachments if the opportunity arises, however, the extent to which these attachments are equal is distributed

The role of the father

• Traditionally, fathers have played a minor/limited role in parenting their children, it was unknown if fathers did not become a primary caregiver more often because of the different traditional social roles of men or women or if they have a biological predisposition

• Psychologists disagree over the exact role of the father as some psychologists claim men are not equipped to form an attachment by making the argument that due to a lack of oestrogen in men they are unable to form a close attachment.

• Others argue that men are only there to play the role of a playmate but others also argue that fathers can demonstrate sensitive responsiveness

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

found that infants tend to become attached to the mother first then form attachments with other figures, later on at around 18 months

In modern times however this has changed, mothers are far more likely to work and stay home fathers are increasing up to nearly 10% caring for children when their partner goes to work

9% of single parents in the UK are male

These statistics dispute this research and show that fathers play a significant role in parenting and therefore we need to re-examine the role of fathers in attachment

Grossman (2002)

Conducted a longitudinal study of 44 families comparing the role of fathers and the mothers contribution to their children’s attachment at 6,10 and 16 years

Found that the quality of the mother child relationship was more important than the fathers and that the father child relationship was not necessary for the quality of the child’s long term attachment

However, it was also found that the quality of father’s play was related to the quality of attachment, suggesting the fathers role may be more of a stimulatory one

Field (1978)

Conducted research with compared the behaviours of primary caregiver mothers with primary and secondary caregiver fathers, face-to-face interactions were analysed from video footage of infants at 4 months of age.

Found that fathers who were PAF acted in a very similar way to mothers who were PAF’s towards their children showing more smiling, imitative grimaces and imitative vocalisations than secondary caretaker fathers

This suggests that fathers are able, if required, to take on a more caring, nurturing role usually associated with the mother

Brown et al (2012)

Investigated father involvement, paternal sensitivity, and father child attachment security at 13 months and 3 years of age

Results demonstrated that involvement and sensitivity influenced father-child attachment security at age 3

They concluded that the gender of a caregiver is not crucial in predicting attachment types/quality, rather it is the extent of caregiver involvement

MacCallum and Golombok (2004)

Found that children growing up in single parent or same sex families do not develop any differently from those who grow up in more ‘conventional’ families

Suggesting the role of the father is not significant in attachment

Evaluation points for the role of the father

Research support +

Socially sensitive -

Research support -

Practical applications +