Maternal deprivation theory

• What is Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?

  • Continual presence of care from a mother figure was essential for the normal psychological development of children, emotionally and intellectually
  • Being separated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences
• What is the difference between separation and deprivation in the critical period?

  • Separation: child briefly not being in the presence of their primary attachment figure, will not affect development
  • Deprivation: extended periods separations where child is deprived of emotional care, causes inevitable damage
  • Critical period: 2 1/2 years - deprivation during this period leads to inevitable damage
• How does maternal deprivation affect intellectual development?

  • Leads to abnormally low IQ and delayed intellectual development
  • Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQs in institutionalised children as opposed to fostered children who received better emotional care
• How does maternal deprivation affect emotional development?

  • Leads to affectionless psychopathy - an inability to feel strong emotion or guilt towards others
  • Prevents someone from developing fulfilling relationships and is strongly associated with criminality
  • Cannot appreciate the feelings of their victims, so lack remorse for their actions
• What was the procedure and aim of Bowlby's 44 thieves study?

  • To examine links between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
  • 44 teenagers accused of stealing were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
  • Families were also interviewed to see if there was prolonged early separation from their mothers
  • Control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers with emotional problems were assessed to see if the cause of affectionless psychopathy was maternal deprivation
• What were the findings and conclusions of Bowlby's 44 thieves study?

  • 14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths, 12 of which experienced maternal deprivation within first 2 years of life
  • Only 2/44 of the control group had experienced prolonged separations
  • Can conclude that there is an association between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy
• What is one strength of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?

  • Research support: Levy et al. (2003) found that separating baby rats from their mothers for as a little as a day had a permanent effect of their social development though not other aspects of development
  • Shows that there are modest lines of support for his ideas although he relied on flawed evidence
• What is one limitation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?

  • Flawed evidence: Bowlby himself carried out the interviews for his 44 thieves study, leaving him open to bias as he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to signs of affectionless psychopathy which were likely the maternally deprived ones
  • Also influenced by Goldfarb's (1943)'s research on development of deprived children in wartime orphanages, confounded by the children's early trauma and institutional care alongside prolonged separation from PCGs
  • Means Bowlby's original sources for evidence for maternal deprivation were seriously flawed
• What is another limitation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?

  • Deprivation vs. privation: Rutter (1981) drew an important distinction between deprivation, strictly referring to the loss of primary attachment figure after the attachment has developed, and privation, which is the failure to form any attachment in the first place - associated with institutional care
  • For example Goldfarb's children and the teenagers in 44 thieves may have been 'prived' and never formed strong attachments in the first place
  • Means Bowlby may have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in child development
• What is another limitation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?

  • Critical vs. sensitive periods: Bowlby claimed that if a child doesn't form an attachment within the first 2 1/2 years of life the damage was inevitable, however evidence suggests this can be avoided
  • Koluchova (1976)'s case study of the Czech Twins who experienced severe physical and emotional abuse from 18 months - 7 years but received excellent care and recovered fully by their teens
  • Means lasting harm is not irreversible in some cases meaning the critical period is therefore better seen as a sensitive period