Multiple attachments and the role of the father

What did Schaffer and Emerson find about primary attachment figures?

• 65% of infants had the mother as the primary attachment figure

• 30% had multiple primary attachments (mother + another, e.g. father)

• Only 3% had the father as the primary attachment figure

Why might fathers be less likely to be the primary attachment figure?

• Could be due to cultural and temporal factors (e.g. traditional gender roles in 1960s Glasgow)

• Could also be due to biological factors

• Suggests attachment roles may depend on social context rather than fixed biology alone

How have parental roles changed in modern Western cultures and why is this important?

• Mothers are now more likely to work

• Fathers are more involved in childrearing responsibilities

• This is likely to influence attachment patterns, increasing likelihood of father involvement and multiple attachments

What did John Bowlby argue about the role of the father?

• Attachment patterns depend on how the caregiver treats the infant

• Fathers can form attachments similar to mothers

• However, in most cultures this is less common

• Fathers tend to adopt a different role, often acting as the child’s preferred play companion, engaging in physically active and novel play

What did Field find about father–infant interactions?

• Compared primary caretaker mothers, primary caretaker fathers, and secondary caretaker fathers using video-recorded face-to-face interactions with infants at 4 months

• Fathers generally engaged in more game playing and held infants less

• However, primary caretaker fathers showed:

  • More smiling

  • More imitative grimaces

  • More imitative vocalisations

• These behaviours were comparable to mothers, showing that men can adopt a maternal interaction style

How does Mary Ainsworth’s Caregiver Sensitivity Hypothesis (1979) support the role of the father?

• Suggests that sensitive responsiveness determines attachment type

• Although based on mothers, it implies that any caregiver (including fathers) can form secure attachments if they are responsive and sensitive

What did Veríssimo et al. find about the importance of fathers?

• Studied preschool children’s attachments to mothers and fathers

• Compared these to later social interactions at nursery

• Found that strong attachment to the father was the best predictor of ability to make friends
  → Suggests fathers play a key role in socialisation and peer relationships

What is a strength of research into the role of the father?

• Shows that males can effectively take on a maternal role

• Provides support and reassurance for:

  • Primary caregiver fathers

  • Single-parent families

  • Same-sex families (e.g. two fathers)

• Increases real-world applicability in modern society

Why is research into infant attachment limited in validity?

• Infants cannot communicate thoughts or emotions

• Researchers rely on inference from behaviour

• This is subjective and may reduce scientific validity

What methodological issue affects Schaffer and Emerson?

• Used only one observer during home visits

• No video recordings available

• Cannot check observations later
  → Increases risk of observer bias and reduces reliability

What did maccallum and golombok state

children raised in single-parent or same-sex families do not develop any differently from those in two-parent, heterosexual families