Bowlby Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
When was it proposed
1951, prior to monotropic theory
What does maternal deprivation focus on
focuses on how the effects of early experiences may interfer with the usual processes of attachment formation
What did bowlby propose
bowlby proposed that separation or deprivation from the mother or mother substitute - primary caregiver would have a serious impact on the physical psychological and emotional development of a child and have long term consequences
What is deprivation
not having the things or conditions that are considered necessary - in attachment terms the loss or lack of emotional and physical care usually provided by pcg during the critical and sensitive periods
What is seperation
the action or state of moving or being apart in attachment terms this is a period spent away from pcg once the attachment has been formed can be short term- minute hours day or long term- days weeks ,months years. This can be within the critical or sensitive period
What is maternal deprivation
the emotional and intellectual consequences of having short or long term separation during the critical or sensitive period, can be physical or emotional absence
How long does a child need continuous care from the pcg for
2 years (sensitive period)
What are the 5 main consequences of maternal deprivation
- delinquency (criminal behaviour)
- Low IQ
- Increased levels of aggression
- Higher rates of depression
- Affection-less psychopathy: behavioural pattern shown by inability to show affection or concern for others ( lack of guilt or empathy) etc e.g acting on impulse without consequences
Why could mothering be useless
If delayed or not formed in the critical period
Strengths of maternal deprivation
- supporting research (bowlby 1944,44 thieves study) found a positive correlation between AP,MD and criminal behaviour
- Other research highlights MD ( robertson and Robertson, goldfarb and spitz and spitz and wolf) has consequences
- Highlights the importance of the attachment process during early life as if it is distrusted there are consequences
- Continue to show the importance of the mother child relationship
- Reflects the importance of the mother (PCG) at a time when men did very little regarding the care of their children
Weaknesses of maternal deprivation
- researcher bias- bowlby wrote the theory and conducted one of the pieces of supporting research himself, diagnosing AP
- Over emphasises MD what about PD
- Does not explain MD and no long term consequences forming normal relationships
- Reflects the 1950s amd N/A to 2000+
what made the world be aware of the Romanian orphans
Fall of nicolae ceausescu in 1989
100,000 children In over 600 orphanages
How where children treated in Romanian orphanages
The conditions were deplorable and the children where extremely deprived
Children where malnourished and spent most days alone in cribs lacking in physical social auditory and visual stimulation
What is an institution
place dedicated to a particular task e.g school,hospital,orphanage and prison
What is institutionalisation
the impact of institutional care seen in those individuals who have been institutionalised beyond their control, the longer time the more impact
What is privation
the failure to form an attachment, no monotropic relationship
Why would someone be put into an institution
- orphanage
- No suitable relatives
- Neglect
- Abuse
- Easier to group children of that behaviour in one place
Effects of insitionilasation
- physical underdevelopment- developmental dwarfism
- Low IQ
- Poor parents themselves- links to internal working model
- Negative peer and adult relationships
- Disinhibited attachment- a form of insecure attachment where institutionalised children show certain behaviours compared to children who have not e.g attention seeking behaviour
Links between maternal deprivation insitionilasation amd attachment
- attachment needed for survival
- early years key role
- monotropic attachment
- effects of privation seen in those in institutions
What is disinhibited attachment
Behaviours shown by children who have been institutionalised e.g rocking
When was Rutters research proposed
2007
What did rutter examine
examined romanian orphans adopted into the uk after experiencing insitionilasation
What is the critical period
• First 30 months
o If child is separated from mother in absence of suitable substitute care and so deprived for an extended period of time, then psychological damage is inevitable
Explain 44 thieves study
BOWLBY’S 44 THIEVES STUDY
• Aim: examined links between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
• Procedure: used a sample of 44 teenage delinquents. Ppts interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Interviewed families to established whether there was prolonged early separation from their mothers.
• Control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers, with emotional problems were all assessed to see how often maternal deprivation occurred to the children who were not thieves.
• Results: 14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths
• 12 out of 14 were maternally separated in the first 2 years
• In control group 2/44 had maternal separation but 0/44 weren’t affectionless psychopaths
• Conclusion: prolonged separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
Cons of bowlbys md
• Poor quality evidence: Bowlby uses family interviews and assessments for affectionless psychopathy - open to bias (knew what teenagers to he expected to show signs of psychopathology
• Rutter et al
• Deprivation- loss of primary attachment figure AFTER attachment develops.
• PRIVATION - failure to form ANY attachment.
• Damage more likely to be result of privation - 44 thieves never formed strong attachments.
Therefore Bowlby overestimated the seriousness of effects of deprivation in children’s development
• This lowers validity — lacks accuracy.
• Sensitive period: Bowlby overestimated as critical period is more of a sensitive period.
• Koluchova (Czech Twins) faced severe physical + emotional abuse from 18 months- 7 years.
• Received excellent aftercare and were fully recovered by teenage years.
• Lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation
