Role Of The Father

Question 1

What is the traditional role of the father and what does it stem from?

Answer 1

Evolutionary purposes
Provides and protects
Being the breadwinner

Question 2

Marital intimacy?

Answer 2

Fathers who have close, intimate relationships with their wives are more likely to be involved with their child emotionally and practically

Question 3

Belsky (2009)?

Answer 3

Higher levels of marital intimacy show secure and stronger infant father attachments

Question 4

AO3 of marital intimacy?

Answer 4

Hard to measure
Fathers reporting their own data (self-report)- social desirability bias

Question 5

Father’s style of behaviour?

Answer 5

Often more physically stimulating and playful
More thrill seeking and risk-taking

Question 6

Father’s style of talking?

Answer 6

More dominant and assertive
More direct and instructive

Question 7

Mother’s style of talking?

Answer 7

Use a wider range of vocabulary
Around reassurance and emotional support

Question 8

Hrdy (1999)?

Answer 8

Found that fathers are less biologically equipped than others to detect low levels of infant distress

Question 9

Biological differences?

Answer 9

Argued that mothers are biologically predisposed to be more nurturing and sensitive compared to fathers

Question 10

Lamb et al (1985)- 3 factors

Answer 10

1) interaction- how actively engaged the father is
2) accessibility- how physically and emotionally available the father is to the child
3) responsibility- the role in focusing on the child

Question 11

McCallum and Golambok (2004)?

Answer 11

Show that children growing up in households with 2 parents of the same sex develop no differently to children raised in a heterosexual household
BUT we dont know if households with no fathers present adapt to accommodate the loss of the role of the father

Question 12

Biological differences?

Answer 12

Argued that mothers are biologically predisposed to be more nurturing and sensitive compared to fathers

Question 13

AO3: free will vs determinism?

Answer 13

Fathers cant control their hormones/biology
May make fathers feel that they cant form proper attachments- may develop a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 14

Nomothetic vs Idiographic?

Answer 14

Nomothetic- all fathers are not biologically equipped
There will be individual differences

Question 15

Sex-role stereotypes?

Answer 15

Influence the role of the mother and the father
Sets of rules and expectations about appropriate behaviour for the sexes
Men work whereas women stay at home and look after the children
Lacks temporal validity

Question 16

AO3: looking at the father as a primary attachment role vs a secondary role figure?

Answer 16

Some researchers look at the father as primary whereas others look as secondary
Can’t compare the findings if one researcher is looking at primary and the other is looking at secondary

Question 17

Looking at the role of parents?

Answer 17

Should look at the role of parents in general- not socially sensitive
Those growing up in same sex/single sex parent families show no developmental differences

Question 18

Schaffer and Emerson- in how many cases was the father the first sole object of attachment?

Answer 18

3%

Question 19

By the age of 18 months, how much of Schaffer and Emerson’s study had formed an attachment with their fathers?

Answer 19

75%

Question 20

Grossmans study?

Answer 20

Longitudinal

Question 21

What did grossman’s study look at?

Answer 21

Babies attachments were studied until they were into their teens

Question 22

What did the researchers in grossman’s study look at?

Answer 22

Both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their babies later attachments to other people

Question 23

Grossman- baby’s attachment with mother?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What did grossman find about the quality of fathers play with babies?

Answer 24

The quality of fathers play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments
Suggests that fathers have a different role from mothers- one that is more to do with play/stimulation- less to do with emotional development

Question 25

Tiffany Field?

Answer 25

Filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than the secondary caregiver fathers Shows that fathers have the potential to be the more emotion- focuses primary attachment figure- they can provide the responsiveness required for a close emotional attachment but perhaps only express this when given the role of primary caregiver

Question 26

Do fathers have an important and distinct role in their children’s development?

Answer 26

Grossman says YES but if fathers have such an important role, in single-mother and lesbian parent families children may turn out differently than those in two-parent heterosexual families. McCallum and Golombok show that these children dont develop differently from children in 2 parent heterosexual families Means that whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered

Question 27

Single-mother and lesbian parent families?

Answer 27

These families may have adapted to accommodate to the lack of the role of the father When present, families can adopt a distinctive role, but families can adapt to not having a father

Question 28

Real-world application?

Answer 28

Can be used to offer advice to parents Research into the role of the father can show that fathers are capable of becoming primary attachment figures Also lesbian parent and single-mother families can be informed that not having a father around doesn’t affect a child’s development