The role of the father

A lot of attachment research has focused upon what caregiver?

The mother

Who found that whilst the mother is the primary attachment for most infants, secondary attachments can also form with the father?

Schaffer and Emerson

By what age have secondary attachments typically formed?

By 18 months

What percentage of infants have formed a secondary attachment with the father by 18 months?

75%

What type of study did Grossman conduct?

Longitudinal

Between what ages was Grossman’s study completed?

Infancy to adolescence

What did Grossman find about the quality of infant attachment with different caregivers up to adolescence?

• Quality of infant attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to children’s attachment in adolescence

• Suggesting that father attachment was less important

In what way was it found that fathers had better quality attachments in adolescence?

Fathers’ play with infants

What did Grossman’s findings suggest about the role of the father?

The father’s role is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing

In the absence of a woman as a primary caregiver, what happens with fathers and infants?

Fathers adopt behaviours more typical of mothers

Give examples of the behaviours that Field found in primary caregiver fathers from filming 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers

More time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers

What is more important in the attachment relationship than the gender of the parent?

Level of responsiveness

What future behaviours do children with secure attachments to their fathers go on to have?

Better relationships with peers, less problem behaviours and are more able to regulate their emotions

What negative behaviours have been found to occur in children who grow up without fathers?

Less well at school, have higher levels of risk-taking behaviour and aggression

What did Pederson point out as a counterargument to the significance of the absence of the father?

• Most studies have focused on female single mothers from poor socio-economic backgrounds

• So it may be social factors related to poverty that produce these outcomes, not the absence of fathers

Besides the importance for the infant, in what other way are fathers important?

As support for mothers

What is the link between amount if interaction between a father and infant and the level of secure attachment?

Positive correlation (i.e. the more time fathers spend with their children, the more children develop secure attachments)

Why is it difficult for psychologists to know what the role of the father is?

• Some psychologists are interested in understanding the role fathers have as secondary attachment figures

• Whereas, others are more concerned with the father as primary attachment figures

In what way have some studies contradicted Grossman?

Children growing up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families

What do studies that contradict Grossman suggest?

That the father’s role as a secondary attachment figure is not important

What are two reasons why women might be more nurturing than men?

• Traditional gender roles

• Female hormones (e.g. oestrogen), meaning women are more biologically predisposed to be nurturing