{"id":13401,"date":"2020-02-18T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T08:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/?p=13401"},"modified":"2024-10-26T18:40:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T17:40:52","slug":"secure-attachment-father-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/secure-attachment-father-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Secure attachment: how father-child play can help"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Researchers have found that fathers who stimulate their 9-month-olds during play are more likely to enjoy secure attachment 3 to 9 months later.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Secure attachment between fathers and their toddlers is predicted by how fathers play with them. Researchers have found that\u00a0<\/span>fathers who\u00a0<\/span>stimulat<\/span>e their<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>nine<\/span>–<\/span>month<\/span>–<\/span>old<\/span><\/a>s during play are more likely to enjoy\u00a0<\/span>secure attachment\u00a0<\/span>three\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>nine\u00a0<\/span>months later. This happens, however,<\/span>\u00a0only<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>if the father is not too intrusive during the playing<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>for example<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>by\u00a0<\/span>frequently limiting the child\u2019s activities with physical or verbal commands<\/span>, or\u00a0<\/span>by\u00a0<\/span>forcing the child to play with something that he\/she does not like.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Stimulation<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0was measured by video<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>F<\/span>ather<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>babies were recorded\u00a0<\/span>together<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>researchers\u00a0<\/span>observ<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0how\u00a0<\/span>often\u00a0<\/span>the father\u00a0<\/span>did things like\u00a0<\/span>exercis<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0the baby\u2019s arms and legs, lifting the baby up to\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>fly<\/span>\u2019<\/span>, waving a toy in front of the baby or tickling the baby with\u00a0<\/span>a toy<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The research adds to our understanding of father-child<\/a> play in early child development.<\/span><\/p>\n

In experiments looking at what predicts secure attachment, mothers and fathers show different\u00a0<\/span>patterns<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>t has bee<\/span>n<\/span>\u00a0found that when a father plays sensitively with his two-year-old (e.g.<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>plays\u00a0<\/span>cooperatively\u00a0<\/span>with the child to support m<\/span>ore mature play and tak<\/span>es<\/span>\u00a0the child\u2019s point of view)<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>then later, during adolescence,\u00a0<\/span>the child<\/span>\u00a0forms more positive understandings of close relationships. This link with<\/span>\u00a0sensitivity specifically during\u00a0<\/span>play<\/span>\u00a0has<\/span>\u00a0not\u00a0<\/span>been seen\u00a0<\/span>in research with mothers.\u00a0<\/span>Instead<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>mothers<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>show<\/span>ing\u00a0<\/span>sensitivity during it predicts more secure attachment later, more so than for fathers\u00a0<\/span>who care sensitively<\/span>. (It should be noted that all\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>this research looks at averages \u2013 there are variations among both mothers and fathers.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Research also tell us<\/span>\u00a0that fathers, on average, interact with their infants more playfully, more vigorously and more physically<\/span>\u00a0than mothers do.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Y<\/span>et\u00a0<\/span>just like mothers,\u00a0<\/span>fathers form secure attachments with their\u00a0<\/span>do<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>It seems that children benefit from\u00a0<\/span>both\u00a0<\/span>having a safe\u00a0<\/span>haven and being able to explore. On average, mothers provide more of the former and fathers more of the latter.<\/span><\/p>\n

In apparent contradiction to earlier research, in th<\/span>e\u00a0<\/span>experiment<\/span>\u00a0reported<\/span>\u00a0here<\/span>, how\u00a0<\/span>sensitively<\/span>\u00a0fathers played with their children did\u00a0<\/span>not<\/span>\u00a0predict any more or less secure attachment later (in contrast to how\u00a0<\/span>intrusively<\/span>\u00a0the father played).\u00a0<\/span>The researchers suggest\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>this may be\u00a0<\/span>because\u00a0<\/span>showing\u00a0<\/span>sensitivity is important when the child is distress<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0in this experiment, involving only five minutes of father-child play, the children were not distressed<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This research\u00a0<\/span>was conducted in the\u00a0<\/span>USA and\u00a0<\/span>involved a small sample of 58 fathers with their infants<\/span>\u00a0and was quite narrow demographically<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0A<\/span>ll the fathers were from dual<\/span>–<\/span>earner couples<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a088% were married<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>86% were white<\/span>\u00a0and the median income was $80,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

References<\/h4>\n

\u00a0Olsavsky AL, Berrigan MN, Schoppe-Sullivan SJ, Brown GL & Kamp\u00a0<\/span>Dush<\/span>\u00a0CM (2019),\u00a0<\/span>Paternal stimulation and father-infant attachment<\/span><\/a>, Attachment & Human Development<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers have found that fathers who stimulate their 9-month-olds during play are more likely to enjoy secure attachment 3 to 9 months later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":13403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5773,5780,438],"tags":[28,35,5753,27,267,400],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13401"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21546,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401\/revisions\/21546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}