李博祥
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N C H I L D D E V E L O P M E N T F I F T H E D I T I O
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The Role of the Father in Child Development
Fifth Edition
The Role of the Father in Child
Development
Fifth Edition
民主
社会主义Edited by
University of Cambridge
John Wiley&Sons,Inc.
page tm
C H A P T E R1
How Do Fathers Influence Children’s Development?Let Me Count
the Ways
MICHAEL E.LAMB
丽池ceo会所I T IS OFTEN claimed that psychology became a science in the second half of the19th century,led in part by continental(mostly German)research on perception,psychophysics,and memory,Galton’s attempts to measure intelligence and establish the importance of heredity,and William James’s efforts to create a coherent theoretical edifice,which might guide the deriva-tion of empirical answers to age-old philosophical questions.For those who study the development of personality and social behavior,however,the key figure was Freud,who pioneered the close study of pathology as a medium through which to elucidate psychological functioning and spawned a pleth-ora of admirers and critics who constructed much of the popular and scientific psychology we encounter in books such as this.For example,we owe Freud credit for the proposition,now widely viewed as an article of faith, that childhood experiences shape subsequent personality and behavior, although Freud himself only shifted the focus from late childhood and early adolescence to infancy very late in his life.Similarly,it was Freud who placed special emphasis on the formative importance of parent–child relationships, although the specific mechanisms he considered have since been wide
ly discredited.Furthermore,although Freud(and the cohort of psychoanalysts and psychodynamic theorists he inspired)published prodigiously from just before the turn of the nineteenth century to the time of the Second World War, the scientific study of social,personality,and developmental psychology really took off in the postwar period,initially dominated by social learning theorists who rejected Freud’s theoretical architecture even as they embraced many of the related beliefs and concepts,including those regarding the importance of parent–child relationships,although neo-analysts played a central role in the construction of attachment theory,which dominates parts of developmental psychology to this day.
1
2H OW D O F ATHERS I NFLUENCE C HILDREN’S D EVELOPMENT?L ET M E C OUNT THE W AYS Developmental psychology changed from a discipline dominated by theoretical analysis to one dominated by empirical research,much of it initially conducted in North America,in the years following World War II. This is often viewed as a politically conservative era,dominated by policies designed to put into the past the rigors and horrors of both the Depression and the two world wars by creating a new age of affluence and opportunity. In practice,this involved championing the‘‘traditional’’nuclear family, dominated by a breadwinning father and a home-making,child-rearing mother,often housed s
ome distance from either parent’s biological or metaphorical roots.Not surprisingly,psychologists embraced these values of the society in which they were reared and lived,so their initial empirical forays into research on children’s early development were dominated by mothers—as informants,as the cofocus of observations,and as the‘‘social-izing’’figures about whom they theorized.Where fathers did enter the picture,their roles were often represented through the eyes and voices of their partners,or they were judged against the models of family function developed by family theorists who shared similar societal assumptions.In such a context,it was easy(if exaggeratedly provocative)to entitle myfirst essay on the subject:‘‘Fathers:Forgotten Contributions to Child Develop-ment’’(Lamb,1975).
Three and a half decades later,the scholarly landscape has changed dramatically.Thousands of professional articles have explored the ways in which fathers affect their children’s development,and the contributors to this anthology provide a thorough and readable summary of our contemporary understanding.My goal in this introductory chapter is to sketch some of the overarching themes that dominate the book.
FATHERS AND THEIR ROLES
W HAT D O F ATHERS D O?
It seems logical to begin this anthology by examining definitions and de-scriptions of fathering.What roles do fathers play in family life today?What taxonomies might effectively characterize fathers’activities with and com-mitments to their children?What do fathers do when they are available to their children,and why they do what they do?In this regard,a fuller conceptualization of fathers’roles and the origins of their‘‘prescribed’’responsibilities is warranted.As several contributors illustrate in this volume, historical,cultural,and familial ideologies inform the roles fathers play and undoubtedly shape the absolute amounts of time fathers spend with their children,the activities they share with them,and perhaps even the quality of the relationships between fathers and children.
In earlier times,fathers were viewed as all-powerful patriarchs who wielded enormous power over their families(Knibiehler,1995)and vestiges of these notions continued until quite recently.According to Pleck and Pleck (1997),for example,Euro-American fathers were viewed primarily as moral teachers during the colonial phase of American history.By popular consen-sus,fathers were primarily responsible for ensuring that their children grew
Fathers and their Roles3 up with an appropriate sense of values,acquired primarily from a study of the Bible and other scriptural texts.Around the time of industrialization, however,the primary focus shifted from moral leadership to breadwinning and economic support of the family.Then,perhaps as
a result of the Great Depression,which revealed many hapless men as poor providers,social scientists came to portray fathers as sex role models,with commentators expressing concern about the failures of many men to model masculine behavior for their sons.Throughout the20th century,fathers were urged to be involved(Griswold,1993),and following feminist and scholarly cri-tiques of masculinity and femininity,there emerged in the late1970s a concern with the‘‘new nurturant father,’’who played an active role in his children’s lives.As Elizabeth Pleck(2004)explained,however,popular and scholarly discussions of fatherhood have long dwelled on the importance of involvement—often defined by successful breadwinning—and the fear of inadequate fathering.In contrast to earlier conceptualizations of fathers’roles,often focused quite narrowly on breadwinning,and later discussions focused narrowly on‘‘involvement,’’researchers,theorists,and practitioners no longer cling to the simplistic belief that fathers ideallyfill a unidimensional and universal role in their families and in their children’s eyes.Instead,they recognize that fathers play a number of significant roles—companions,care providers,spouses,protectors,models,moral guides,teachers,and bread-winners—whose relative importance varies across historical epochs and subcultural groups.Only by considering fathers’performance of these vari-ous roles,and by taking into account their relative importance in the socio-ecological contexts concerned,can fathers’impact on child development be evaluated.Unfo
rtunately,theorists and social commentators have tended in the past to emphasize only one paternal role at a time,with different functions attracting most attention during different historical epochs.
Focusing on fathers’behavior when with their children,much of the observational and survey data collected by developmental and social psy-chologists in the1970s and ,Lamb,1977)suggested that mothers and fathers engage in rather different types of interaction with their children,especially in Anglo-Saxon countries like the United States(see Chapter4).These studies have consistently shown that fathers tend to ‘‘specialize’’in play,whereas mothers specialize in caretaking and nurtur-ance,especially(but not only)in relation to infants.
Although suchfindings seem quite reliable,the results have often been misrepresented,and have led to overly stereotypical and unidimensional portrayals of fathers as play partners.Compared with mothers,fathers indeed spend a greater proportion of their time with children engaged in play,but they still spend most of their time with children engaged in other activities.In absolute terms,most studies suggest that mothers play with their children more than fathers do,but because play(particularly boisterous, stimulating,emotionally arousing play)is more prominent in father–child interaction,paternal playfulness and relative novelty may help make fathers especially salient to their children(Lamb,Frodi,Hwang,&Frodi,1983).This enhanced salience may increase fathers’influence m
ore than would be expected based on the amount of time they spend with their children.
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