3.1.4

Multiple Attachments

Test yourself

Multiple Attachments

As Schaffer concluded, most children form multiple attachments. But the importance of these different attachment figures is disputed. One particularly important attachment figure is the father.

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Multiple attachments

  • Multiple attachments are often formed to different people for different purposes.
    • For example, to the mother for loving care, but additionally to the father for exciting unpredictable play.
  • Other attachments are often formed to grandparents and siblings.
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Opposing models

  • Bowlby believed that children had one primary attachment.
  • He also believed that all other attachment figures formed after the primary attachment were less important.
  • Rutter (1995) proposed a model of multiple attachments that stated that all attachments are of equal importance and attachments combine to help form a child's internal working model.
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Evaluation

  • There is an evolutionary advantage of multiple attachments - if a child loses an attachment figure, there are others to take its place.  

The Role of the Father

Bowlby believed that children have one primary attachment figure, usually the mother, but did agree that this could be the father in some cases.

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Key features

  • Many researchers have seen the father as less of a caregiver and more as a playmate. This is because father's play is often more physical, unpredictable and exciting than mothers.
  • Mothers have often been seen to show more sensitive responsiveness. But males can also quickly develop this ability when taking on the role of main care provider.
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Factors of father-child dynamic

  • The degree of sensitivity - fathers who are sensitive to their child's needs develop more secure attachments.
  • Single-parent fathers - tend to form similar attachments with their children as they had with their own parents.
  • Marital intimacy - the type of attachment a father develops with his children is related to the level of intimacy he has with his partner.
  • Supportive co-parenting - the level of support a father provides his partner in helping care for children affects the type of attachment he'll have with his children.

The Role of the Father

Bowlby believed that children have one primary attachment figure, usually the mother, but did agree that this could be the father in some cases.

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Research on the playmate role

  • Geiger (1996) found that the way fathers play with their children is more exciting and pleasurable than mothers. This supports the view of the father as a playmate.
  • Lamb (1987) found that children often interact with their fathers when in a positive emotional state and so are seeking stimulation rather than comfort.
  • Hardy (1999) found that fathers are less able than mothers to detect low levels of infant distress, suggesting that males make unsuitable primary attachment figures.
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Further research on the playmate role

  • Lamb (1997) discovered that once a father becomes the main care provider, he quickly develops more sensitivity towards his children’s needs, suggesting sensitive responsiveness isn’t a biological ability limited to women.
  • Belsky et al (2009) found secure father infant attachments to be associated with high levels of marital intimacy, suggesting that the closeness of the relationship between fathers and partners affect the type of attachment a father has with his children.
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Father attachment implications

  • Children with secure attachments to their fathers go on to have better relationships with peers and less problem behaviour generally.
  • Children with secure attachments to their fathers are better able to regulate their emotions.
  • Those children who grow up without the presence of a father have been found to do less well at school and have higher levels of risk-taking and aggression, especially in boys, suggesting that fathers can help prevent negative developmental outcomes.
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Evaluation of research

  • Pedersen (1979) has argued that outcomes could be due to socio-economic background, as many of the studies have focused on female single mothers and poorer families.
  • Evidence suggests that fathers are just as capable of displaying sensitive responsiveness and form the same secure attachments with children as mothers, but many social conventions still see fathers differently.
  • The amount of interaction between father and children is important; but it could be that more sensitive fathers interact more with the children.

Jump to other topics

1Social Influence

2Memory

3Attachment

4Psychopathology

5Approaches in Psychology

6Biopsychology

7Research Methods

8Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

9Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

11Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

12Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

13Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

14Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

15Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

16Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

17Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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