4.6 Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis and Romanian orphan studies Flashcards
What is Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis?
Bowlby argues that disruptions to the att bond, even shrot-term ones, result in serious and permanent damage to a child’s psychological development
How can disruption to the att bond occur?
- Short-term separation
- Long-term deprivation
- Privation
What is short-term separation?
Brief, temporay separation from att figure e.g. attending day care - Bowlby described stress caused by this in PDD model:
- Protest - crying, screaming to prevent mother from leaving
- Despair - apathetic behav and child rejects comfort from others and comforts itself (thumb-sucking)
- Detachment - signs of anger and rejection of caregiver upon return are common
What is long-term deprivation?
Length or permanent separations from att figures, most commonly due to divorce
What is privation?
Privation concerns children who have never formed att bond - some indivs make full recovery, some make little improvement
What are the effects of maternal deprivation on development?
- Intellectual development - Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during critical period, they would suffer from mental retardation characterised by abnormally low IQ
- Emotional development - Bowlby saw maternal deprivation as possibly leading to affectionless psychopathy, the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others
What support is there for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
- Support from 44 thieves - Bowlby examined 44 thieves - 14 showed affectionless psychopathy - 12 of these had experienced separation from mothers for first 2 years of their lives - only 2/44 control group had experienced prolonged separation - suggests link between early separation and later social maladjustment
- Support for short-term separation causing distress - Robertson & Robertson made 5 films showing effects of brief separation from mothers on children’s mental state - John, 17 mths, had close Rship w mother - experienced stress in residential nursery while mother was in hospital having baby - upon mother’s return he struggled to get away from her - -ve effects were visible years later - support for PDD model
What reduces support for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
- Lewis contradicts Bowlby - Lewis replicated 44 juv thieves study w larger sample of children - did not find that early prolonged maternal separation increased likelihood of crim behav - casts doub ton B’s theory - suggests other factors may be involved - Barrett found secure att children more resistant to -ve effects of mat dep compared to insecure att children
- Deprivation or privation? - Rutter claimed Bowlby did not distinguish between deprivation and privation - depr = loss of primary att figure after att has developed - privation = failure to form att in first place - Rutter claimed severe long-term damage Bowlby associ
What is institutionalisation?
Concerns effects upon atts of care provided by orphanages and residential children’s care homes - institutional care involves distinctive patterns of att behav - mix of privation and deprivation effects
What are the effects of institutionalisation?
- Distinct disinhibited att type - characterised by clingy, attention-seeking behav and indiscriminate sociability to adults
- Mental retardation - In Rutter’s study, most children showed signs of mental retardation
What research has been done into the effects of institutionalisation on attachment?
Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee study - 1990s media attention was directed to horrific conditions of Romanian orphanages - severe malnourishment and lack of loving care
What was Rutter et al’s procedure?
Followed group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test what extent good care could counteract poor early institutional experiences
Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 yrs - control group of 52 British children adopted at same time
What did Rutter et al find?
- ~50% showed signs of mental retardation when first adopted and the majority were severely malnourished - control group did not show these deficits
- At age 4 yrs, Romanian orphans showed great improvements in phys & cog development - those adopted b4 6 mths did as well as British children
- Children showed distinct disinhibited att type - characterised by clingy, attention-seeking behav and indiscriminate sociability to adults
What did Rutter et al conclude?
• -ve effects of institutionalisation can be overcome by sensitive, nurturing care
What support is there for research into the effects of institutionalisation?
- Real-life application - studying Rom orphans has enhanced understanding of effects of instit - led to improvements in way children are cared for in instits - e.g. orpahanges and children’s homes avoid having large no.s caregivers for each child - instead have ‘key worker’ for each child - allows children to develop normal atts and avoid disinhibited att - practical value
- Longitudinal - research took place over many years allowing assessment of short and long-term effects of instit and subsequent benefits from adoption - results are valid representation of results of instit care - also shows benefits of receiving quality emotional caregiving afterward
