THE ROLE OF THE FATHER

~ATTACHMENT TO FATHERS~

• Available evidence suggests that fathers are much less likely to become babies’ first attachment figures compared to mothers.

• Researchers found that the majority of babies first became attached to their mothers at around 7 months. In only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment.

• In 75% of cases, the babies studied by Schaffer and Emerson formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months.

~DISTINCTIVE ROLE OF FATHERS~

• Researchers carried out a longitudinal study where babies’ attachments were studied until they were into teens.

• They found that quality of a baby’s attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachment in adolescence.

• This suggests that attachment to fathers is less important than attachment to mothers.

• However, they also found that fathers have a different role to mothers, one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with emotional development.

~FATHERS AS PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURES~

• One study filmed 4-month old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.

• Primary caregiver fathers (like primary caregiver mothers) spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than secondary caregiving fathers.

• Shows that fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure.

EVALUATION

Research Support

→ REAL-WORLD APPLICATION

• One strength of research into the role of the father is that it can be used to offer advice to parents.

• Parents sometimes agonise over decisions like who should take on the primary caregiver role. For some, this can even mean worrying about whether to have children or not.

• Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home while the father goes out to work, as those are the stereotypical views of the roles of mothers and fathers, and so the answer to the question about the role of the father can offer reassuring advice to parents, that their child’s development is not affected by not having a father around

• This means that parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced.

Conflicting Evidence

→ CONFLICTING EVIDENCE

• One limitation of research into the role of fathers is that findings vary according to the methodology used.

• Longitudinal studies such as that Grossman et al have suggested that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important and distinct role in their child’s development - involving play and stimulation.

• However, if fathers had a distinct role, it would be expected that children growing up in single-mother or homosexual households would turn out differently to those who grew up in heterosexual households. In fact, studies consistently show that these children do not develop differently to one-another.

• This means that the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered.

• HOWEVER, these lines of research may not in fact be in conflict.

• It could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles in two-parent heterosexual families, but in single-mother and homosexual households, the families adapt to accommodate to the role played by the father.

• This means that the question of a distinctive role for fathers is clear. When fathers are present, they adopt a distinct role, but families can adapt to not having a father.

→ CONFUSION OVER RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Another limitation of research into the role of fathers is lack of clarity over the question being asked.

• The question ‘What is the role of the father?’ in the context of attachment is much more complicated than it sounds.

• Some researchers attempting to answer the question actually want to understand the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures. But others are more concerned with fathers as a primary attachment figure.

• The former have tended to see fathers as having a distinct role. The latter have found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal role’, behaving similarly to mothers.

• This makes it difficult to offer a simple answer to the ‘role of the father’. It really depends what specific role is being discussed.