Role of the father

Question 1

Who researched the role of the father?

Answer 1

Schaffer and Emerson {1964}

Question 2

What did Schaffer and Emerson find?

Answer 2

That the mother was usually the primary attachment figure.
- The father was only the PAF in 3% of cases.
- However, fathers were commonly the secondary attachment figures.
- 75% of infants studied had formed an attachments to their father by the age of 18 months.

Question 3

Who studied the role of the father as a secondary attachment figure?

Answer 3

Grossman et al {2002}

Question 4

What did Grossman et al {2002} study and find ?

Answer 4

• Conducted a longitudinal study for 44 families.
• Looked at the quality of infant-mother and infant-father attachments.
• They found the quality of the infant-mother attachment was related to the quality of adolescent relationships.
• The quality of infant-father attachment had no effect. { ROLE OF FATHER IS MORE TO DO WITH PLAY AND STIMULATION AND LESS WITH EMOTIONS}

Question 5

Who studied the role of the father as the primary attachment figure?

Answer 5

Field {1978}

Question 6

What did Field {1978} study and find?

Answer 6

• Filmed 4 month old infants in face to face interactions with primary caregivers mother and secoundary caregivers father, aswell as primary caregiver father.
• They found that PCT like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants rather then SCF.
• This suggests that fathers have the potential to provide attachment and the responsiveness needed for it.