5 Flashcards
Who proposed the theory of Maternal Deprivation?
Bowlby
Define maternal deprivation
Child and caregiver (mother) are separated and their attachment bond is disrupted, which is believed to negatively affect the child’s intellectual and emotional development
Outline how maternal deprivation occurs
- Child and caregiver separated for extended period
- Child becomes deprived of emotional care
Can deprivation sometimes occur without separation?
Yes - sometimes poor care from a present caregiver can also lead to a deprivation of emotional care
When did Bowlby believe that children were vulnerable to maternal deprivation?
Critical period of first 2.5 yrs (with lesser risk continuing up to 5yrs)
Did Bowlby believe that maternal deprivation has negative consequences?
Yes - thought to negatively affect intellectual and emotional development
What intellectual effect did Bowlby suggest maternal deprivation can have?
Delayed intellectual development : shown in low IQ
Give a piece of research evidence to support the idea that maternal deprivation negatively effects intellectual development
Goldfarb (1947)
Aim:
- To investigate whether the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis is correct in suggesting childhood separations can impair intellectual development
Procedure:
- Sample: wartime orphans
- Group 1: first few months in orphanage, then fostered
Group 2: first 3 yrs in orphanage, then fostered
Findings:
- Lower IQ in those who remained in institutions for longer
Conclusion:
- Maternal deprivation can stunt intellectual development, evident in low IQs
What emotional effect did Bowlby suggest maternal deprivation can have?
Impaired emotional development, which may lead to the development of disorders, e.g. AFFECTIONLESS PSYCHOPATHY
Define affectionless psychopathy
Inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others
What type of people commonly have affectionless psychopathy?
Criminals - can complete crimes with no remorse
Give a piece of research evidence to support the idea that maternal deprivation negatively effects emotional development
Bowlby’s 44 Juvenile Thieves Study (1944)
Aim:
- To investigate whether the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis is correct in suggesting childhood separations can impair emotional development and trigger disorders
Procedure:
- Sample = 88 children, age 5-16, attend guidance clinic
- Group 1: Experimental group. 44 children referred for theft
Group 2: Control group. 44 children referred for other reasons
- Interviewed ppts + families to determine: type of upbringing (deprived?) and whether ppts were affectionless psychopaths
Findings:
- Group 1: Higher level of separation from mothers in childhood (86%) and higher level of affectionless psychopaths (32%)
- Group 2: Lower level of separation from mothers in childhood (4%) and no affectionless psychopaths
Conclusion:
- Early life separations can cause maternal deprivation, which can have negative effect on emotional development + cause disorders
Give 2 positive evaluation points for Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Theory
Research support
- Concept of damaged intellectual development supported by Goldfarb
- Concept of damaged emotional development support by Bowlby
- This research support increases the theory’s validity
Practical applications
- Theory has highlighted important considerations for childcare, that can reduce deprivation
- E.g. ‘Attachment + Family Centred Care Programme’ encourages parents to remain in contact and routine with hospitalised children, so attachment isn’t lost and child isn’t emotionally deprived
Give 3 negative evaluation points for Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Theory
Research to refute
- Hilda Lewis (1954) replicated the 44 thieves study using 500 young people
- Didn’t find any link between early separation (deprivation) + criminality or affectionless psychopathy
- Suggests Bowlby was wrong, maternal deprivation doesn’t hinder emotional development
Methodological issues with supporting research
Bowlby:
- May have had observer bias + interviewer bias (particularly as he was a deprived child)
- Didn’t observe any other variables (e.g. poverty) that linked to delinquency, so may have ignored third intervening variable - reductionist
Goldfarb:
- Confounding variables, as all children in wartime orphanages had varying levels of trauma, so intellectual development may be result of this, not of deprivation
Alternative explanation
- Effects of deprivation may actually be effects of privation
- Goldfarb’s orphans + Bowlby’s thieves suffered separation at a such a young age that they may never have formed attachments
- The lack of development may be due to the ppts suffering privation
Define privation
Child-caregiver attachment is never formed
What is the difference between deprivation and privation?
- Deprivation is removal of an attachment
- Privation is never forming an attachment
Who pointed out that those raised in institutional care may never form attachments, so always suffer from privation not deprivation?
Rutter (1981)
Why were orphan studies initially used?
- To see affects of maternal deprivation on intellectual + emotional development
- Over time became clear that these studies were actually a measure of the affects of privation, as attachments didnt have time to form
Define institutionalisation
Effects of living in an institution (e.g. hospital, orphanage) where emotional care is limited
Why are institutionalised children studied?
To see the effects of maternal deprivation/privation
What country provided a great opportunity to analyse institutionalised children?
Romania
Outline the orphan issue in Romania
1960s - President Ceausescu banned contraception + abortion until women had 5 children in hope to boost population
Many Romanian children placed in institutions (orphanages) as parents couldn’t afford to care for them
1989 onwards - Romanian Revolution ended oppressive period + many existing orphans were adopted, including by British parents
How did the orphan issue in Romania provide a psychological opportunity?
Psychologists (e.g. Rutter + Zeanah) were able to do research into the impacts of institutionalisation and the maternal deprivation/privation that it causes, in NATURAL EXPERIMENTS
What type of research did Rutter do + when?
- Longitudinal study
- 1998 onwards
What type of research did Zeanah do + when?
- One off controlled observation + interview
- 2005
Outline Rutter et al’s research
Aim:
To investigate whether the negative effects of maternal deprivation/privation from institutionalisation were long term or could be overcome by good care
Procedure:
- 165 Romanian orphans tracked longitudinally (in 3 age categories: under 6 months, 6 months-2yrs, over 2yrs)
- Intellectual + emotional development assessed at age 4,6,11,15,22-25
- Control group of 52 UK children adopted at similar time, assessed too
Findings:
- When first adopted, all showed lack of emotional + intellectual development
- Recovery rate depended on age of adoption (earlier adoption - better)
- Intellectually, in age 6 assessment, found higher IQ when adopted earlier
Adopted before 6 months: 102
Adopted 6 months-2yrs: 86
Adopted over 2 yrs: 77
- Emotionally, in age 11 assessment, found more regular attachment type when adopted earlier
Adopted before 6 months: More regular
Adopted after 6 months: Many had disinhibited attachment
What is disinhibited attachment?
Children don’t form secure attachments
- Equal affection to strangers + caregivers
- Behaviour appears clingy + attention seeking, even to strangers
Outline Zeanah et al’s research
Aim:
To investigate whether maternal deprivation/privation from institutionalisation affects attachment type
Procedure:
- 95 Romanian orphans aged 12-31 months who had spent most of life in institutions
- Assessed attachment type by…
Controlled observation in form of the Strange Situation Procedure
Interviewing caregiver about unusual behaviours associated with irregular, disinhibited attachment (e.g. clinginess)
- Control group of 50 children, never in institutions assessed too
Findings:
- Experimental group: Low secure attachment (19%)
High disinhibited attachment (44%)
- Control group: High secure attachment (74%)
Low disinhibited attachment (less than 20%)
What were the overall conclusions of the Romanian orphan studies (Rutter + Zeanah)?
- Institutionalisation can cause maternal deprivation/privation + the associated negative effects on development
- Emotional issues that can occur include: disinhibited attachment - as children adapt to living with multiple caregivers
- Intellectual issues that can occur include: intellectual disability
- Supports sensitive period - those institutionalised at a young age CAN have long lasting issues, but they do have a chance of recovery, with best recovery seen in those adopted at an early age
Why does disinhibited attachment type develop?
Believed to be associated with being raised with multiple caregivers (no primary caregiver), so learn to show everyone equal affection
Give 3 positive evaluation points for the Romanian orphan studies
Methodology
- Higher internal validity than previous orphan studies (e.g. Goldfarb)
- All Romanian orphans had similar background due to national situation in Romania
- Greater focus on measuring institutionalisation, with fewer impacts of confounding variables (e.g. affects of previous trauma)
Practical applications
- Understanding institutionalisation + how it can cause damaging deprivation/privation allows avoidance of negative affects
- E.g. More efforts to place orphans in foster care (less issues with institutionalisation, can get emotional care + attachments)
- E.g. Existing institutions have made effort to reduce negative effects - each child has 1-2 ‘key workers’ to reduce disinhibited attachment
Ethical issues
- Experiments are natural (As IV of institutionalisation is naturally occurring)
- Allows assessment of deprivation + privation without putting ppts at additional risk (utilising negative situation)
Give 3 negative evaluation points for the Romanian orphan studies
Methodology
- Romanian orphanages may have been so extreme in lacking emotional care that institutionalisation issues are exaggerated
- Findings may not be generalisable, as other institutions may be better
Methodology of Rutter
- Used longitudinal study
- Study unfinished (adult data may provide diff results currently unknown)
- Some data may be lost by ppt attrition
Issue of social sensitivity
- Findings suggest lack of development in Romanian orphans
- Published during orphans’ lifetime
- Ppts’ lives may be affected, so maybe shouldn’t have been published so soon
- E.g. Discrimination (low intellectual expectations if applying for job) or Preferential Treatment (people feel bad so are biased towards them)
