Theory of maternal deprivation

• Outline a study which shows a link between maternal deprivation and poor intellectual development

  Goldfarb (1947):

  Group 1- first few months in orphanage and then fostered

  Group 2- First 3 years in orphanage and then fostered

  IQ tested up until age of 12
• Findings of Goldfarb (1947)

  Group 2 performed less well on IQ test (68) compared to group 1 (96)
• Outline a study which shows a link between maternal deprivation and poor emotional development?

  • Case studies completed on backgrounds of 44 adolescents who were referred to clinic because they had been stealing
  • Was a control group of emotionally disturbed adolescents who didn’t steal for comparison.
• Findings of Bowlbys 44 thieves

  • 17 of the thieves had experienced frequent separations from mother before age of 2, compared to 2 in control group.
  • 14 thieves diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths
  • 12/14 experienced separation from mothers
  • Long-term separation from main caregiver early in life can have harmful consequences.
• An abundance of supporting evidence COUNTER

  Hilda Lewis -

  replicated the 44 thieves study on 500 young people and found early prolonged separation did not predict criminality - suggest other factors at play
• Deprivation vs Privation STUDY

  Michael Rutter (1981):

  Criticised Bowlby's view

  Privation -> failure to form an attachment in the first place

  Deprivation -> loss of primary attachment figure after the attachment has developed
• Physical and emotional separation study

  Radke-Yarow et al (1985):

  Studied mothers who were severely depressed.

  found 55% of their children were insecurely attached compared to only 29% in the non-depressed group
• What is the maternal deprivation theory?

   When children are deprived of an attachment figure during the critical period, they suffer psychological damage
• Effects on development

  1. Intellectual development - Low IQ
  2. Emotional development - affectionless psychopathy struggle caring for others and forming future relationships
• First limitation of the theory of maternal deprivation

  Case study of Czech twins by Koluchova (1976) to show effects are reversible - experience emotional and physical abuse from 18 months to the age of 7 but by the time they were teens they were fully recovered
• Second limitation of the theory of maternal deprivation

  Rutter (1981) drew an important distinction between deprivation vs privation
• Third limitation of the theory of maternal deprivation

  confounding variables
• Strength of institutionalisation

  Real world application - key workers
• Another strength of institutionalisation

  Fewer confounding variables
• Limitation of institutionalisation

  Attrition in longitudinal studies