Role of the father

Starter Define reciprocity Define interactional synchrony Who studied caregiver-infant interaction Identify one weakness of the research What is inter-observer reliability How do we know whether we have high inter-observer reliability

What role does the father play? Fathers not important? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_5L24XLFCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6czxW4R9w2g Consider the question below as you watch the video… What role does the father play?

Fathers not important?.... Grossmann (2002) provided evidence suggesting the role of dad was less crucial than that of mum.  The attachment with mum was found to be by far the best predictor of later attachment style in teens.   This was supported by MacCallum & Golombok (2004).  Children brought up by a single parent (in this case mum) or by two female parents didn’t develop any differently to children brought up in a more traditional family by a mum and dad. 

According to Bowlby, a father is more likely to engage in physically active and novel play than the mother and tends to become his child's preferred play companion. Field compared the behaviours of primary caretaker mothers with primary and secondary caretaker fathers. Face-to-face interactions were analysed with infants at 4 months Overall, it was observed that fathers engaged more in game playing and held their infants less. However, primary caretaker fathers engaged in significantly more smiling, imitative grimaces, and imitative vocalizations than did secondary caretaker fathers and these were comparable with mothers’ behaviour. Freeman found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children and in males and females, the father becomes more important in later childhood Verissimo found that paternal attachment was important for positive peer relationships in later childhood. The researcher found that the quality of this relationship was correlated with the number of friends at preschool. The research from Brown and Field indicates that the gender of a caregiver is not crucial in predicting attachment types/ quality, rather it is the extent of caregiver involvement.

Marital intimacy (Belskey, 2009) Marital intimacy has been linked to security of father-child interactions. Fathers with secure father-infant interactions had secure and intimate relationships with the child's mother

Outline the role of the father in attachment (6) Research has shown that a father has an important role in play and cognitive development. Fathers tend to be more involved in play and stimulation rather than caretaking behaviours. Freeman found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children and in males and females, the father becomes more important in later childhood. Verissimo found that paternal attachment was important for positive peer relationships in later childhood. The researcher found that the quality of this relationship was correlated with the number of friends at preschool. However, other research has found that the attachment to the father is less crucial to social development than the attachment to the mother. Further research suggests that children raised by a single mother or two mothers do not differ significantly to those raised more traditionally, with a father present. This questions the importance of the role of the father in attachment