Separation, Deprivation and Privation

• Separation is when the caregiver is temporarily absent from the child for a short time; unlike deprivation because the caregiver's absence occur long enough for the attachment to be severely damaged or broken completely if it happens regularly
• Deprivation is when a child's attachment to its mother or other caregiver is significantly broken due to no or poor-quality care being given to the child
• Privation is the complete absence of the primary caregiver; this means the child could not make an attachment with a primary caregiver
• Privation:

  • Occurs when children have suffered extreme neglect/ placed in poor quality institutional care
  • Affects child's emotional, social and cognitive development
  • Not clear if effects are irreversible
• Privation- Rutter:

  • Deprivation and separation are loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed
  • Privation is failure to form any attachment in the first place
  • Claims Bowlby muddled concepts in maternal deprivation hypothesis
• Law of Continuity is the principle that the more constant and predictable the primary caregiver is, the better the attachment
• Law of Accumulated Separation is a principle stating that the effect of every separation from the mother add up, and the safest dose is the zero dose
• Role of IWM in Deprivation:

  • If child is deprived from the primary caregiver because the person is physically or emotionally absent, the child will have problems to form relationships in the future
  • Bowlby suggest critical period (2.5y) to form an attachment and sensitive period (up to 5y); if attachment not formed, child damage for life: socially, intellectually, emotionally, and physically
• The IWM is a cognitive framework comprising mental representations for understanding the world, self and others; based on relationships with primary caregiver. Becomes prototype for all future social relationships and allows individuals to predict, control and manipulate interactions with others
• Short-term effect of separation (Bowlby & Robertson):

  1. Protest- child cries profusely and seeks for mother figure; refuses comfort from others OR clings desperately to an adult
  2. Despair- child no longer anticipates return of the mother and becomes hopeless; child becomes withdrawn, apathetic and refuses comfort (behaviours displayed: thumb sucking, cuddling inanimate objects)
  3. Detachment- child regains interest in environment and accepts comfort; when mother returns, child rejects mother
• Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis:

  • First attachment is different from any other attachment
  • Social, emotional and intellectual development adversely affected if mother-child bond broken early in life
  • Effects in adulthood are permanent and irreversible
  • Broken attachments lead to delinquency, and, lack of guilt and regard for consequences of their actions (affectionless psychopathy)
• Consequences of Maternal Deprivation:

  • Inability to form attachments in future
  • Affectionless psychopathy- inability to feel remorse
  • Delinquency- behavioural problems in adolescence
  • Problems with cognitive development
• Bowlby's 44 Juvenile Thieves:

  Aim: to determine whether there is a correlation between maternal deprivation and infancy and adolescent delinquency

  Method: 44 juvenile thieves who attended a child guidance clinic where 14 adolescents that were classified as 'affectionless', compared with none in the control group. 17 thieves had been separated from mother for more than 6 months before 5y/o compared to only 2 who'd experienced separation in the control group

  Conclusion: there is a correlation between maternal deprivation in infancy and subsequent criminal behaviour in adolescence
• W- Researcher bias (Thieves study):

  Bowlby designed and conducted self-reports himself; his presence and interpretation may have influenced outcome. Supporting evidence in form of clinical interviews of those who had and had not been separated from their primary caregiver. Bowlby asked participants to recall separations- may not be accurate due to their early occurrence. Concluded affectionless psychopathy caused by maternal deprivation; correlation data only shows relationship (not cause + effect)
• W- Rutter (Thieves study):

  Thieves in study moved around a lot during childhood, never forming childhood, never forming attachment. Thieves only suffered privation (not deprivation). Rutter claims Bowlby confused deprivation and privation. Difficult to conclude if consequences of deprivation are irreversible and deprivation has severe intellectual, emotional and physical impact on children
• S- Spitz (1945) (Thieves study):

  Spitz followed social development of institutionalised babies who were removed from mothers early in life. Some children placed with foster families, others raised in institutions. Individuals in institutions had no family-like environment, care provided by shift nurses. Babies raised in nursing home suffered: 1/3 died, 21 were still living in institution after 40 years; most physically, mentally and socially affected
• S- Research support (Goldfarb, 1947)(Thieves study):

  15 children reared in institutions for first 3 years of life placed in foster care, G1- first few month in orphanage, then fostered, G2- 3ys in orphanage, then fostered; tested at 12y/o- G2 performed less well on IQ tests, less social, more aggressive

  'Babies should be kept out of institutions'
• S- Application to real word (Thieves study):

  MDH highlights importance of positive attachment experiences and maintaining monotropic bond in first 5ys, stability in childcare developed through day-cares assigning caregiver to children/ hospital visiting hours reviewed so children can maintain contact with parents