Role of the father Flashcards
(11 cards)
In Schaffer and Emersons study, hat percentage of the primary attatchments were dads
3%
Who studies the role of the father
Grossman
Grossmans procedure
-A longitudinal study where babies attatchments were studied until their teens
Grossmans findings
Mums-The quality of attatchment (nurture and emotional development) when babies directly related to the attatchment in adolesence
Dads-The quality of play (play and stimulation)when babies directly related to quality of attachment in adolesence
Who studied fathers as main caregivers
Field
Fields procedure and findings
-Recorded 4 month olds whos primary caregivers were their mums vs their dads
-Fathers as the primary caregiver spent more time smiling, holding and imitating their infants (reciprocy)
Fields conclusion
When fathers are the primary caregivers, they take on a more nurturing role like the mother, and can provide the same responsivness that is needed for a close emotional attatchment
Supporting research for the role of the father
-Fathers play scenarios with children where more exciting whereas mothers were more nurturing
-fathers take on a more simulation based role
Conflicting research for fathers as the primary attachment
-Fathers were less able to detect when the infant was in distress compared to mothers
-May be due to low levels of estrogen- fathers aren’t biologically equipped to be the primary attachment
The role of the father is not important in a child’s development
-Research on single or lesbian mothers found that their children developed no differently from heterosexual parents
Counter to the role of the father not being important for a child’s development
-Lacks control of confounding variables
-Women may adapt the same stimulation based roles as men like how single fathers adopt the role of the mother
