maternal deprivation

• bowlby 1953 claimed that 'mother love in infancy is just as important for a child mental health, as vitamins and minerals are for physical health'
• bowlby 1951

  • strong attachment to a mother figure, essential for psychological emotional and intellectual development of babies and toddlers
  • maternal deprivation - loss of an existing attachment
  • could result in serious and long-lasting problems, even affectionless psychopathy
  • critical period - first 2.5 years of life, crucial
  • if the child was separated from their primary attachment figure for an extended period of time (more than two weeks) and in the absence of substitute care, damage is inevitable
• brief separations do not have any long-lasting effects, according to Bowlby deprivation only occurs if the child is separated from the person they have made a primary attachment with for an extended period of time in the absence of substitute emotional care
• separation

  distress when they are separated for a relatively short period of time, from primary caregiver to human attachment has been formed
• deprivation

  a bond that has been formed is broken, following a longer separation
• privation

  the child never formed in attachment to the primary caregiver
• separation vs deprivation

  • separation = short-term
  • deprivation = long-term
• affectionless psychopathy

  a lack of normal affection shame or sense of responsibility
• bowlby 1944, 44 juvenille thieves

  a = long-term effects of maternal deprivation

  p =

  • opportunity sample of 88 children from his clinic group

  group 1 - thief group, 44 teens referred to him due to the stealing

  group 2 - control group, 44 teens referred because of their emotional problems

  • two groups - matched for age and IQ
  • children and parents were interviewed and tested by psychiatrist (bowlby), a psychologist and a social worker focusing specifically on the early life experiences
• bowlby 1944, 44 juvenille thieves

  f =

  • thief group - 14 identified as affectionless psychopaths
  • 12 /14 had experienced prolonged separations (more than six months) from their mothers in the first two years of life
  • 5 / 30 remaining thieves had experienced separations
  • control group - 2/44 experienced prolonged separation and none of them were affectionless psychopaths

  c = there is a relationship or correlation between prolonged separation of more than two weeks and becoming an affectionless psychopath
• bowlby 1944 findings

  • 85% affectionless psychopaths had a prolonged separation
  • 16% non affectionless psychopaths had a prolonged separation

  
• golfarb 1955

  a = if the effects of maternal deprivation can be reversed

  p =

  • 15 orphaned children during ww2, raised institution first 3yrs of life then placed into foster care
  • group of children foster care since early infancy
• goldfarb 1955

  f =

  • fostered = 96 IQ (population average is 100)
  • institutionalised = 68 IQ (70 classifies an intellectual disability - retardation)
  • institution group displayed more behaviour problems, socially less mature and had problems forming and sustaining reltionships

  c = early institutionalisation resulted in developmental deficits, that were not overcome once children were placed in more stimulating and loving environments
• evaluation of bowlby 1944

  • correlational study
  • researcher bias
  • social desirability bias
  • retrospective data
  • deterministic
  • other research - rutter 2011, lewis 1954
• • bowlby study was correlational, it doesn't mean it was causation
  • just because one variable correlates with another doesn't mean that is the underlying cause of it
  • this may just be coincidences
• • bowlby carried out interviews and assessments himself but he knew what he was looking for
  • researcher bias
• • bowlby data was obtained through interviews so people may not be entirely truthful
  • social desirability bias
• • bowlby, study used retrospective data meaning it relied on participants recollection of early experiences
  • data may be inaccurate or biased
• • bowlby argued that there must not be a prolonged separation during the critical period otherwise damage was inevitable
  • this argument is deterministic
  • czech twins - maternal deprivation cause damage to speech and mental disability but a loving environment, reverse these affects meaning damage was not inevitable. good after-care meant that they formed attachments in later life and were married
  • genie she did not recover
• • rutter 2011 - undermined bowlby 44 thieves study, as was he accused of not distinguishing between deprivation and privation (a lack of attachment bond vs the loss of a bond)
  • stresses quality of attachment bond is much more important factor not just deprivation during the critical period
  • if good quality care comes later this can make up for poor treatment in early life
• • lewis 1954 - replicated bowlby 44 thieves study with 500 young people
  • prolonged separation didn't predict criminality or forming of close relationships, this critiques as his study was postwar which could affected the results
  • affectionless psychopathy due to the trauma from the war not being separated
  • his study doesn't account for substitute care
  • bowlby had confounding variables, which decreases validity of research
• • goldfarb 1955 - study of children orphaned during ww2
  • traumatised from war and often had poor after-care, could've been the cause of the later development damage and not the prolonged separation
  • lacks validity, decreasing credibility of research
• • bowlby and goldfarb were both studying the effects of privation rather than deprivation as they didn't account for if an attachment was ever formed
  • they didn't distinguish between privation and deprivation (lack of attachment or broken bond)
• • bowlby assumed that physical separation on its own lead to deprivation but psychological separation must be considered
  • mother who may be physically present, may be unable to provide suitable emotional care
  • radke- yarrow 1985, found that 52% of children whose mothers suffered with depression, were insecurely attached showing the influence of psychological separation
• • bifulco et al 1992, supports mdh study
  • 250 women who had lost mothers through separation or death before they were 17
  • doubled the risk of depressive and anxiety disorders as adult women
  • the rate of depression was highest in women whose mother died before they reached the age of six
• • bowlby 1956 - 60 children treated in the hospital for tb
  • treatment involves prolonged separation from parents
  • nurses could not provide emotional care and parents only visit once a week
  • assessed children when 7 and 14
  • found had normal intellectual development compared to children who had not had a prolonged period of disruption of attachment during the critical period
• • early maternal loss significantly increases the risk of depression and anxiety later in life especially if the loss occurs before the age of six
  • prolonged separation impacts on emotional well-being but doesn't necessarily affect intellectual development if other support is available (substitute care)
  • often violent in later life and bad parents
• mdh summarised

  • prolonged separation
  • from primary caregiver
  • in critical period
  • without substitute care
  • damage is inevitable
• mdh evaluation

  • retrospective recall
  • investigator effects
  • correlational conclusions
  • oversimplified concept
• oversimplified concept

  • rutter argues that bowlby fails to distinguish between separation from an attachment figure, loss of an attachment (deprivation) and complete lack of an attachment (privation)
  • three circumstances have different long-term effects on which will be overlooked