Role of the Father

Role of the father:

 Grossman: found quality of fathers play was associated with the babies quality of attachment in their adolescence

  • This suggests fathers have different roles than mothers = not nurturing but play and stimulation instead

 

Field: found primary caregiver fathers interacted with and nurtured their babies more than secondary caregiver fathers

  • This suggests fathers can be nurturing if put into primary caregiving positions

  • More about responsiveness of the parent than the gender

 

Schaffer and Emerson:  found 75% of babies attached to mothers formed first and secondary attachments to fathers happens around 18 months old

  • This suggests fathers majorly are not the primary figure and are therefore initially play a less important role

 

AO3:

 

Researchers found growing up without fathers did not cause children to develop any differently.

  • This suggests Grossman’s argument that fathers only stimulate play and not nurturing may be accurate

 

Socially Sensitive and Economic Issues:

  • Women who work may feel pressured to stay at home so their babies have a good attached relationships

  • It also makes dad feel insignificant to the babies development

  • This creates an implication on the economy as many women and men may choose not to return to work as they want to be home with the baby

 

Inconsistency:

  • Some research provides the role of father as primary caregiver

  • Some research provides the father as secondary caregiver

This means research cannot be replicated when different researchers frame fathers in different ways

 

Social stereotypes:

  • Women in media are shown naturally as more caring whereas men are the providers and are more dedicated towards work and their social relationships

  • This may cause fathers to act out these social norms and neglect their role as a primary caregiver