bowlby's maternal deprivation theory Flashcards
what is seperation?
the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. (This only becomes an issue for development if the child is deprived, e.g. loses an element of her care). Prolonged separation leads to deprivation.
what is deprivation?
the loss of emotional care that is normally provided by the primary caregiver.
what is privation?
the failure to form any attachment during early life.
what are the three main strands to Bowlby’s MD theory?
- The value of maternal care
- The critical period
- Long-term consequences
the value of maternal care - why is it important and what are the consequences?
- bowlby found that continuous care from a mother (or mother-substitute) is essential for the normal psychological development of babies and toddlers – both emotionally and intellectually.
- being separated from a mother-figure (maternal deprivation)early in childhood has serious consequences
the critical period - how long was it? what happens if attachment doesn’t form in this period?
- bowlby saw the first 30 months (2½ years) as a critical period for psychological development.
- if a child is separated from their mother (and has no substitute care) and so deprived from her emotional care during this period, bowlby believed that psychological damage was inevitable.
what are the long term consequences of maternal deprivation?
- emotional maladjustment
- mental health problems e.g. depression
- low IQ
what study did bowlby conduct?
44 thieves study
what was the aim of this study?
to investigate the long-term effects of maternal deprivation on people to see whether delinquents have suffered deprivation
what was his procedure?
44 Thieves were compared with 44 Non-thieves from a delinquency centre. Bowlby collected data via interviews and questionnaires from the 88 juveniles.
what were his findings?
- found that 17/ 44 thieves had experienced early prolonged separation from their mothers before 5 years.
- 15/17 of these thieves were classed as affectionless psychopaths (no guilt/ remorse), while only 2/44 non-thieves had experienced such separation.
- therefore these findings support the MDH, as there appears to be a link between disruption to attachments in the first 5 years and later maladjustment.
strength
P - MDH has practical applications
E - highlights the importance of positive attachment experiences and maintaining a mono tropic bond in the first five years, which have been instrumental in the developments of good childcare practices.
E - greater stability in childcare practice has been developed through daycare centres assigning caregivers to children and hospital visiting hours have been reviewed so that children can maintain contact with their parents.
L - therefore MDH and accompanying research has significant real world applications
weakness - retrospective recall might be inaccurate
Retrospective recall might be inaccurate - Bowlby was asking the adolescent participants to recall separations that they had experienced years earlier, their responses would have been subject to inaccuracies/ distortions.
weakness - investigator effects
Investigator effects - Bowlby designed and conducted the self-reports himself and as a result, his presence and interpretation might have influenced the outcome of the research. Bowlby’s diagnosis of affectionless psychopathy might have been distorted by researcher confirmation bias.
weakness - oversimplified concept
Oversimplified concept - Rutter’s Maternal Deprivation critiqued Bowlby’s concept of the MDH. Rutter argues Bowlby failed to distinguish between separation from an attachment figure, loss of an attachment figure and a complete lack of attachment (privation). These three circumstances have different long-term effects on which Bowlby overlooked.
