Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory

    Cards (4)

    • Describe Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory
      • emotional deprivation would have long-term effects on emotional development
      • value of maternal care - children need a warm, intimate, continuous relationship w/ mother or mother-subsitute
      • critical period - frequent or prolonged separations from mother will have negative effects if occuring before age of 2 1/2 (critical period) or 5 years (sensitive period)
      • long-term consequences of emotional maladjustment or mental disorders like depression
    • Describe Bowlby's 44 thieves study
      • 44 juvenile thieves and 44 control group
      • analysed case histories of patients in child guidance clinic - all emotionally maladjusted
      • suggested some were affectionless psychopaths - lacked normal signs of affection, shame, responsibility or empathy
      • found 86% affectionless thieves had frequent separations before 2 yrs old compared w/ 17% other thieves and 2% control group
    • AO3 - strengths maternal dep theory
      • support for long-term effects - Bifulco - women experiencing separation from mothers for more than a year more likely to experience mental health problems than those who weren't separated - supports notion of critical period
      • real world application - impact on post-war childbearing and care in hospital
    • AO3 - limitations of maternal dep theory
      • Radke-Yarrow et al - may also be related to psychological separation - found depressed mothers more likely to have insecurely attached children
      • individual differences - Barret - not all children affected by emotional disruption in same way - reviewed studies + found securely may cope well with separation and insecurely may become especially distressed
      • Rutter - deprivation vs privation - Bowlby not clear whether bond had been broken or never formed