Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

• Deprivation: This is when the child is deprived of either their primary caregiver as a whole or elements of their emotional care, which leads to developmental issues with the child. They have had a primary caregiver but this has been interrupted, permanently
• Privation is different from deprivation in that the infant never has a primary caregiver figure, and so never even gets close to forming an attachment
• Theory of maternal deprivation Bowlby used the term maternal deprivation for the long-term separation or loss of a mother. Bowlby's theory looks at how early experiences may interfere with attachment formation and later life.
• Consequences of deprivation


  Delayed social development - Behaviour is often delinquent and outside of social norms.
• Consequences of deprivation


  Delayed intellectual development - Due to the deprivation, children often have low cognitive functions and a low IQ.
• Consequences of deprivation

  Delayed emotional development - Bowlby claimed that children who had maternal deprivation could not experience guilt or strong emotion is known as affectionless psychopathy.
• The 44 thieves study involved:


  44 participants, consisting of teenage criminals accused of stealing - Participants were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy (lack of guilt for their actions, lack of empathy for their victims, lack of affection) - Researchers also interviewed the participant's families to see if there was prolonged early separation (deprivation) from their mothers/ mother figure - Compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers who had emotional problems. They were also assessed to see how maternal deprivation affected the children who were not thieves
• 44 thieves study Results


  showed that 14 of the thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and that 12 of the 14 had been affected by prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. Whereas only 2 in the non-criminal group were subjected to prolonged separation. And none of the control group were diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths.
• 44 thieves study conclusion


  It suggests that affectionless psychopathy and thieving behaviour are linked to the periods of separation they experienced from their mother/mother figure in early life
• 44 thieves study evaluation


  Led to a focus on child welfare in hospitals introducing new rules e.g Children in the hospital were allowed to have their PCG stay with them, whereas before they were only allowed in during visiting hours. There was also an increase in the ratio of childcare workers per child and children were also allocated a key worker/nurse
• 44 thieves study evaluation


  Researcher bias

  Bowlby himself carried out the interviews and research, which means he already knew what he

  was looking for from the teenagers.

  I.e he could have drawn false conclusions from the interviews to support his theory
• 44 thieves study evaluation


  Bowlby confuses early experiences of deprivation and privation. Rutter drew a distinct difference between them and pointed out that the severe damage Bowlby suggests happens with deprivation, is actually more likely due to privation.
• Romanian orphan study


  Rutter et al conducted a longitudinal study on 165 Romanian orphans adopted by British parents. The children were split into 4 groups: - Children under the age of 6 months - Children between the ages of 6 and 24 months - Children over 48 months - British adoptees who were the control group Each group was assessed at the ages of 4, 6, 11 and 15
• Romanian orphan study


  At the start of the observations, over half of the Romanian children were suffering from severe malnutrition and a low IQ, showing delayed intellectual development, compared to the control group.
• Romanian orphan study


  Age 6 - those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (overly friendly behaviour towards unknown adults)
• romanian orphan study


  Age 11 - 54% of those children who were adopted after 6 months still showed disinhibited attachment
• Age of adoption was also a key factor in attachment type, Those adopted before 6 months 27 showed signs of a secure 'normal' attachment, whereas those older than 6 months displayed disinhibited attachment
• ros


  The mean IQ score for those adopted before 6 months was 102, compared with a mean score of 86 for those children adopted between 6 months and 2 years but the mean score fell to 77 for those adopted after the age of 2
• ros


  In conclusion Adoption after the first 6 months of life, means the child will have longer-term effects of institutionalisation However, recovery is possible - if they are able to form attachments and instead they may just have slower development rather than irreversible damage (like Bowlby suggested)
• ros

  This challenges Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation as Rutter shows recovery is possible: Difficult but possible
• evaluating ROS


  This study could lack external validity as the quality of care was so poor in the Romanian orphanages that it cannot be compared to others. This means the harmful effects seen in the studies of Romanian orphans may represent the effects of poor institutional care rather than institutional care in general.