Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

• continued emotional care from mother is essential 


  continuous emotional care from a mother or mother substitute is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development
• separation from mother may lead to maternal deprivation


  Bowlby believed that mother-love in infancy is 'as important for mental health as vitamins and proteins are for physical health'
• separation is different from deprivation


  separation = child not physically in the presence of the primary attachment figure.

  deprivation = losing emotional care as a result of the separation.

  Deprivation can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered, this separation doesn't always cause deprivation.
• critical period of 30 months


  if a child is separated from their mother (without substitute emotional care) for an extended time during the period, then psychological damage is inevitable
• intellectual development: deprivation lowers IQ


  if a child is deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they will suffer mental retardation and an abnormally low IQ. goldfarb found lower IQs in children from institutions compared to fostered children
• emotional development: deprivation linked to affectionless psychopathy


  lack of emotional care may also lead to affectionless psychopathy - the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others. this prevents the person developing normal relationships and is often associated with criminality.
• The 44 thieves study 


  Used 44 delinquent teenagers accused of stealing, their families were also interviewed to establish any prolonged separations from mothers.

  All 'thieves' were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy.

  14 of the 44 thieves could be described as an affectionless psychopath. Of theses, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives.

  Only 5 of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced maternal deprivation. This suggests prolonged early separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy.
• Limitation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is there's counter-evidence which does not support Bowlby's findings.


  Lewis partially replicated the study on a larger scale, looking at 500 young people. Early maternal deprivation did not predict criminality or difficulty forming close relationships. This is a limitation of Bowlby's theory as it suggests that other factors may affect the outcome of early prolonged separations.
• Another limitation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is that Bowlby didn't distinguish between deprivation and privation. 


  Rutter distinguished between deprivation and privation (the failure to form any attachment). He argues that the severe long-term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually more likely to be the result of privation. Many of the 44 thieves has moved from home to home in their childhood so may never have formed attachments in the first place. This could be the cause of their mental health issues, rather than deprivation.
• A strength of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is that animals studies have demonstrated maternal deprivation.


  Most psychologists are critical of this theory, but one line of research supports the idea that maternal deprivation can have long-term effects. Levy showed that separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent effect on social development. However, there is always some doubt over the extent to which animals studies can be generalised to human behaviour.
• A limitation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is later research suggests that the critical period is more of a sensitive period. 


  Koluchova's case study of twin boys isolated from 18 months. Later they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to recover fully. Shows that severe deprivation can have positive outcomes provided the child has some social interaction and good aftercare. Cases like this twin study show that the period identified may be a 'sensitive' one but it cannot be critical.