maternal deprivation

• theory of maternal deprivation

  Bowlby proposed that continuous care and nurture from a mother is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddlers.Prolonged separation from a mother causes serious consequences.
• separation vs deprivation

  Separation means the child is away from their primary attachment figure.This only becomes an issue for development if deprivation occurs(they lose an element of care).
• critical period

  Bowlby said the first 30 months of life are a critical period for psychological development.If a child was separated from their mother and substitute care and so deprived from her care for an extended period during the critical period then psychological damage was inevitable.
• effects on development

  • Intellectual development-Bolwby believed that maternal deprivation would cause delayed intellectual development ,characterised by abnormally low IQ.This has been demonstrated in studies of adoption.
  • Emotional development-Bowlby believed that maternal deprivation would affect emotional development. Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others.This stops the person from forming normal relationships and is associated with criminality
• 44 juvenile thieves procedure

  • Bowlby studied the case histories of his patients in the Child guidance clinic where he worked.The children in the clinic were emotionally maladjusted.He studied 88 children(44 had been caught stealing,the other 44 were a control group).
  • The ‘thieves’ were interviewed for affectionless psychopathy (lacking emotions of affection,shame,responsibility).Their families were interviewed to see if the ‘thieves’ had prolonged separation at an early age from their mothers.
• 44 juvenile thieves findings

  • 14/44 of the thieves were described having affectionless psychopathy.Of this 14,12 had prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives. 5 of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced prolonged separation. In the control group only 2/44 had experienced prolonged separation. It was concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy.