maternal deprivation

• what did Bowlby believe that children needed from their mother figure?

  a warm, intimate and continuous relationship to ensure normal mental health
• what can have a serious impact on the child?

  separations from the mother
• what is separation?

  the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure
• when does separation become deprivation?


  if the child loses an element of her care
• what is the critical period according to bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

  2 1/2 years and if no substitute is provided there is a risk up to 5 years
• what are the consequences of maternal deprivation?

  low IQ and delinquency, affectionless psychopathy
• what was the aim of the 44 juvenile thieves study?

  to investigate the long-term effects of maternal deprivation on people in order to see wether delinquents have suffered deprivation
• what was the procedure of the 44 juvenile thieves study?

  bowlby interviewed 44 adolescents who were referred to a child protection program in London because of stealing.

  Bowlby selected another 44 children to be controls

  Bowlby said some of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths which enabled them to steal
• what were the findings of the 44 juvenile thieves study?

  there were 14 affectionless thieves - 12 had frequent separations from mother before 2 years and 2 didn't

  there were 30 other thieves - 5 had frequent separations and 25 didn’t

  there were 44 controls - 2 had frequent separations and 42 didn’t
• what was the conclusion of the 44 juvenile thieves study?

  affectionless psychopaths show little concern for others and are unable to form relationships
• weakness - evidence is flawed:

  • 44 juvenile thieves study was open to bias
  • Bowlby himself assessed both deprivation and psychopathy knowing what he hoped to find - researcher bias
  • Goldfard’s study of wartime orphans is flawed because he used traumatised participants who lacked good aftercare - confounding variables
• weakness - conflicting evidence:

  • Lewis (54) partially replicated the 44 juvenile thieves study on a larger scale (500). She stated that prolonged separation from mother DID NOT predict criminality. therefore there may be other factors that affect the outcome of maternal deprivation
• weakness - deprivation vs privation

  • Rutter suggested that Bowlby may have got confused with the concept of deprivation
  • Privation - the failure to form any attachment in the first place
  • deprivation - the loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed
• strength - Real world application

  • Robertson filmed a 2 year old Laura during an 8 day period in hospital. she is seen to be frequently distressed and begs to go home - this work along with Bowlby led to change in the way children are treated in hospital
• weakness - critical period is more a sensitive period

  • Koluchova - Czech twins fully recovered after being looked after from age 7 by two loving adults.
  • aged 2 - identical twin boys locked in a cellar and abused for 6 years leading to physical and linguistic problems
  • aged 7 - adopted into a loving family
  • aged 14- normal behaviour
  • aged 20- emotionally and socially stable with above average intelligence