Multiple Attachments & Role of the Father (AQA A Level Psychology)

Multiple attachments & role of the father

• Much of the research into attachment in infants focuses on the role of the primary caregiver which is often assumed to be the mother

• However, the father plays an important role in the development of attachment in infants

  • The father does not have to be the biological father

    • He could be a stepfather, adoptive father or even uncle or older brother (who may act as father figures)

Fathers as attachment figures

• Traditionally, in the UK (where Schaffer and Emerson 1964 focused their research) the father spent less time with the children due to being the main financial earner of the family while the mother stayed at home to care for the children

  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the father was the primary attachment figure in only 3% of families

  • By 18 months of age, 75% of infants had formed an attachment to their father

• Biological evidence suggests that men are less receptive and sensitive to the needs of an infant

  • Hormonal differences in men and women may contribute to the differences in nurturing behaviour from each caregiver

    • Biological women have more oestrogen than biological males

    • Oestrogen modifies neurotransmitters in the brain responsible for cognitive and emotional processes

    • This means that women may be more naturally emotionally sensitive than men (although this remains a 'prickly' issue, particularly in terms of debates surrounding gender)

• Some evidence suggests that when fathers take on the role of the primary attachment figure they adopt more nurturing and sensitive behaviour

  • Field (1978) filmed four-month-old babies interacting with:

    • primary caregivers who were mothers

    • primary caregivers who were fathers

    • secondary caregivers who were fathers

  • Field found that the primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, interacting with, and holding their babies compared to secondary caregiver fathers

  • These behaviours are part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Role of the father

• Psychologists have questioned whether each caregiver has a distinct role in the development of attachment in infants

  • A longitudinal study into the attachment of infants through to their teenage years involved studying both parents (mother and father) and their relationship with their child and how this predicted future attachments in adolescence

  • It was found that the quality of the father's play and stimulation with babies was related to the child's quality of attachment in adolescence

    • This suggests that fathers may play a different role in attachment from that of the mother

Evaluation

Strengths

• There is good real-world application to the research on the role of the father

  • Research into the role of the father can be used to help parents or prospective parents make decisions about who is to be the primary caregiver

  • This means that families can make informed decisions about which parent(s) returns to work following the birth of the child which has implications for society and practical applications

    • Paternity/maternity leave

    • Custody of children in the case of divorce

    • Role modelling parental skills in young men

    • More societal acceptance of the single father

• Some studies have found that fathers tend to take on the role of the 'fun playmate' with mothers being more nurturing and affectionate

  • This suggests that differences may exist between mothers and fathers in the role of attachment development in infants and children

Limitations

• Grossman's study into the role of the father does not take into account non-heterosexual partnerships

  • If fathers play a key role in the development of attachments then it would be expected that children from same-sex parents or single parents would develop differently from the children of heterosexual parents (which is unlikely)

  • Another study found that children of single mothers and lesbian-parent families do not develop differently from those of two-parent heterosexual parents

  • This suggests that the role of the father is not as important as other studies suggest

• It is difficult to research the role of the father because many factors influence it

  • e.g. work-life balance, age, health, and attitudes toward the father's gender roles, social roles of men and women

  • This means role of the father is not clear or definitive

  • Therefore it is unclear whether fathers become primary attachment figures less often because of the different factors involved or because women have a biological predisposition (driven by hormones) towards being the primary caregiver