Role of the Father

Attachment to Fathers

  • do babies actually attach to their fathers?
  • evidence suggests fathers are much less likely to become babies first attachment figures
  • E.G.- Schaffer & Emerson - found majority of babies first became attached to their mother at 7 months.
  • only 3% of cases: father was first attachment figure
  • 27%: father join first attachment with mother
  • HOWEVER - appears most fathers go on to become important attachment figures
  • 75% of babies (Schaffer & Emerson) formed attachment with father by 18 months
  • determined by the facts that babies protested when father walked away - sign of attachment

Distinctive Role for Fathers

  • does attachment to fathers have a specific value in a child's development?
  • Grossmann et al (2002)
    • longitudinal study (researchers repeatedly examine same individuals to detect any changes that may occur over a period of time)
    • babies attachment studies until they were teens
    • looked into parents' behaviour & relationship to the quality of baby's later attachments to others
    • quality of baby's attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence.
    • suggests that attachment to fathers is less important than attachment to mothers
  • HOWEVER - Grossmann et al found that quality of fathers play with babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments.
  • this suggests that fathers have a different role from mothers - one that is more to do with play and stimulation (social development) and less to do with emotional development

Fathers as Primary Attachment Figures

  • primary attachment has special emotional significance as it forms basis of all later close emotional relationships
  • when fathers take on role of primary caregiver - able to adopt emotional role (more typically associated with mothers)

Field (1978)

  • filmed 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers & primary caregiver fathers
    Findings
  • primary caregiver fathers - like mothers - spent more time smiling, imitating & holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers
    Conclusions
  • seems that fathers have potential to be emotional-focused primary attachment figure
  • can provide responsiveness required for a close emotional attachment but maybe only express this when given role of primary caregiver

EVALUATION

Confusion over research question

!LIMITATION!

  • research into role of fathers is lack of clarity over question asked
  • question: 'what is the role of the father?' in context of attachment is much more complicated than it sounds
  • some researchers want to understand the father as a secondary caregiver (tended to see fathers behaving differently to mothers & having a distinct role)
    • others concerned with them as primary (founf fathers take on a maternal role)
  • makes it difficult to offer simple answer to 'what is the role of the father?' as it depends on what specific role is being discussed

Conflicting evidence

!LIMITATION!

  • findings vary according to methodology used
  • longitudinal studies (Grossmann et al) suggest that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important & distinct role in a child's development (social devlopment)
  • but if fathers have a distinctive & important role - expect that children growing up with only mother/lesbian mothers would turn out differently
  • studies (McCallum & Golombok 2004) consistently show that these children do not develop differently from children in 2 parent heterosexual families
  • means question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered

Real-World Application

HOWEVER

  • lines of research may not in fact be in conflict
  • fathers typically take on a distinctive role in 2 parent hetero families
    • but parents in sing mother/lesbian families adopt to accommodate role played by fathers
  • means question of distinct role for fathers is clear after all
    • when present - fathers tend to adopt a distinctive role, but families can adapt to having no father

!STRENGTH!

  • used to offer advice to parents
  • parents sometimes agonise over decisions - who should be primary caregiver?
    • can lead to worry over whether to have children at all
  • mothers feel pressured to stay at home - stereotypical
  • fathers pressured to focus on work - stereotypical
  • some families - may not be economically best decision
  • means parental anxiety over the role of the father can be reduced