My notes summarise the role of the father in attachment efficiently, sometimes offering a simple explanation and sometimes offering a more detailed approach to the subject.
Shaffer and Emerson- the primary attachment figure is generally the mother. Only 27% of
the time babies attached to their mothers and fathers at the same time. Only 3% of babies
had the father as the primary attachment figure. However, at 18 months old the babies had
formed a bond with their fathers, showing the importance of a paternal figure. This suggests
that mothers are more involved, and they have the role of naturing and development.
Grossman- studied the attachments between babies and their mother/father. He then
assessed the corrolation betweeen this and later relationships. No significant correlation was
found for fathers but there were correlations for the mothers for relationships. However,
there was a correlation between the amount of play between father and baby and teenage
relationships. This suggests that the roles of both parents are different, mothers are
important for nurturing and fathers are important for play.
Field- compared the roles of fathers when they were the primary attachment figure and the
secondary attachment figure. When the two parents were present the mother took on the
primary attachment role and the father took on the secondary attachment role. When
fathers were the primary attachment figure, they took on both roles of nurturing and playing
with the child. This suggests that gender does not matter. If the father is the only carer then
he will take on both roles.
-Conclusion:
The research is varied. Some research proves that fathers are less important because they
are rarely the primary attachment figure, however other research suggests that they just
have a different role to the mother, which is just as important to the child. If one parent is
available, then both roles will be fulfilled.
-Evaluation:
Difficult to conclude when fathers are both primary/secondary attachment figures in
different research.
Research tells us that fathers have a distinct role so surely those without fathers would be
different, but they are not. McCallum and Golombok studied children from single parent
families and same sex families. They found no differences. Perhaps this implies that single
parent families take on both roles. This study has real life application as it advises parents on
bringing up children.
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