bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

• Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation (MDH)


  Explains what happens when an attachment is broken between an infant and their mother or mother figure, known as the primary caregiver
• Bowlby (1953): '"mother-love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health"'
• Monotropy


  Infants form a single, unique attachment bond with their mother and Bowlby claimed this is needed for the healthy psychological development of infants
• Maternal deprivation


  The consequences, in terms of both emotional and intellectual development, caused by the separation between a child and their mother or mother substitute can be very serious and lead to many psychological and relationship issues in later life
• Separation


  When the child is not in the presence of the primary caregiver, brief separations and, especially when the child is with a substitute caregiver, do not have a significant impact on the Child's development
• Deprivation


  When the child is deprived of either their primary caregiver as a whole or elements of their emotional care, which leads to developmental issues with the child. They have had a primary caregiver but this has been interrupted, permanently
• Privation


  The infant never has a primary caregiver figure, and so never even gets close to forming an attachment
• Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation


  • Looks at how early experiences may interfere with the processes of attachment formation
  • Bowlby used the term maternal deprivation for the long-term separation or loss of a mother
• Critical period


  If an attachment is disrupted or not formed with a mother figure (who provides adequate care) in the first 30 months of life (from birth) then it is too late and the child will possibly never form any attachments at all
• Affectionless psychopathy


  Lack any remorse for their actions, and as the condition is untreatable, it can have serious consequences for those around the sufferer
• Bowlby's 44 thieves study

  1. Aim: To examine the links between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy

  2. Procedure: Sample of 44 participants, consisting of teenage criminals accused of stealing, interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy and their family history of prolonged early separation (deprivation) from their mothers/ mother figure. There was a control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers who had emotional problems also assessed.
• Rutter et al. (2011) study on Romanian orphans


  Procedure: Longitudinal study on 165 Romanian orphans adopted by British parents, split into 4 groups based on age of adoption, assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15.
• Maternal deprivation


  Long-term separation or loss of a mother
• Critical period


  • If an attachment is disrupted or not formed with a mother figure (who provides adequate care) in the first 30 months of life (from birth) then it is too late and the child will possibly never form any attachments at all
• Bowlby believed psychological damage was inevitable past this point, and he also claimed there was a risk up until the age of 5
• Consequences of deprivation


  • Delayed social development: Behaviour is often delinquent and outside of social norms
  • Delayed intellectual development: Due to the deprivation, children often have low cognitive functions and a low IQ
  • Delayed emotional development: Bowlby claimed that children who had maternal deprivation could not experience guilt or strong emotion is known as affectionless psychopathy
• 14 of the thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths
• 12 of the 14 had been affected by prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives
• Only 2 in the non-criminal group were subjected to prolonged separation
• None of the control group were diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths
• Strengths of Bowlby's 44 thieves study


  • Bowlby's maternal deprivation research and research on attachment led to many policy changes around institutions and how they treated children
  • Improving child welfare and ensuring it remains a key focus became a key part of the child welfare policies based on this research
  • Children in the hospital were allowed to have their PCG stay with them, whereas before they were only allowed in during visiting hours
  • There was also an increase in the ratio of childcare workers per child and children were also allocated a key worker/nurse who would be there for them during their hospital stay
  • Other research supports Bowlby and shows the impact of maternal deprivation
• Deprivation


  The loss of the primary attachment figure after the attachment has been developed
• Privation


  The failure to form any form of attachment in the first place
• Most attempts to replicate Bowlby's study have failed to produce similar results, Lewis (1954) found no association between separation and psychopathy in the 500 young people she studied
• During the 1990s, horrific images flooded the news of children in poor conditions in Romanian orphanages
• The former Romanian president, Nicolai Ceausescu, had required Romanian women to have 5 children
• Many of the parents could not afford to keep their children and so many children ended up in large orphanages, where they were kept in poor conditions and received little in the way of emotional care
• After the Romanian Revolution of 1989 many of these children were adopted, some by British families
• Institutionalisation


  The term relates to living in an institutional setting, like a hospital or an orphanage
• People can live in an institution for long, continuous periods of time and there is very little emotional care
• Rutter et al. (2011) study


  1. Conducted a longitudinal study on 165 Romanian orphans adopted by British parents

  2. Children were split into 4 groups based on age of adoption

  3. Each group was assessed at the ages of 4, 6, 11 and 15
• At the start of the observations, over half of the Romanian children were suffering from severe malnutrition and a low IQ, showing delayed intellectual development, compared to the control group
• Age 6: those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (overly friendly behaviour towards unknown adults)
• Age 11: 54% of those children who were adopted after 6 months, that had shown disinhibited behaviour, still showed disinhibited attachment
• Symptoms of disinhibited attachment


  Attention-seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults, whether familiar or unfamiliar
• Those adopted before 6 months, showed signs of a secure 'normal' attachment
• Those older than 6 months displayed disinhibited attachment
• At age 11 there was a significant difference between children adopted before 6 months and those adopted later in terms of attachment style and IQ
• The mean IQ scores were: for those adopted before 6 months = 102, for those children adopted between 6 months and 2 years = 86, for those adopted after the age of 2 = 77
• It has been found that children as old as 9 or 10 made a good recovery if they were adopted by sensitive, loving parents