Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory

Question 1

What is Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 1

The effects of early deprivation of a primary caregiver and an attachment bond with them was broken or never formed

Question 2

What is privation?

Answer 2

Children never having the chance to form an attachment

Question 3

What is separation?

Answer 3

Short term disruption to the attachment bonds

Question 4

What is deprivation?

Answer 4

Long term disruption of an attachment bond

Question 5

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 5

Looks at the effects upon attachments of care provided by orphanages and residential children’s homes

Question 6

What did Bowlby say about a critical period?

Answer 6

Deprivation during the critical period (first 3 years) will have harmful effects on the child’s emotional, physical, intellectual and social development

Question 7

What did Robertson and Robertson (1971) find relating to separation?

Answer 7

5 films showed how brief separation from their mother affected children’s mental state and psychological development. One of the children in the film, John, suffered confusion and struggled when his mother returned but other children didn’t suffer this.
Negative outcomes aren’t as inevitable as suggested by Bowlby’s MDH

Question 8

What did Douglas (1975) find relating to separation?

Answer 8

Separations of less than a week for children below 4 years old were correlated with behavioural difficulties, supporting Bowlby’s MDH

Question 9

What did Kagan (1978) point out?

Answer 9

Much evidence linking short term separation and to negative outcomes is correlational, doesn’t show causation

Question 10

What did Quinton and Rutter (1976) find relating to separation?

Answer 10

Found greater behavioural problem,s in samples of adolescents separated briefly from attachment figures before 5 years of age through hospitalisation than among adolescents who weren’t, supporting Bowlby’s prediction of long term damage

Question 11

What did Barrett (1997) find relating to separation?

Answer 11

Argued that individual differences in reactions to short-term separation are important
More mature and securely attached children handle it better

Question 12

What did Rodgers and Pryor (1998) find relating to deprivation?

Answer 12

Found that children experiencing two or more divorces have the lowest adjustment rates and the most behavioural problems, suggesting that continual broken attachments increase the chances of negative outcomes for children

Question 13

What did Furstenberg and Kiernan (2001) find relating to deprivation?

Answer 13

Children experiencing divorce score lower than children in first-marriage families on measures of social development, emotional wellbeing, self concept and academic performance

Question 14

What did Schaffer (1996) find relating to deprivation?

Answer 14

Nearly all children are negatively affected by divorce in the short term

Question 15

What did Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan (1999) find relating to deprivation?

Answer 15

Only about 25% of children experience long-term adjustment problems with most being able to adapt

Question 16

What did Richards (1987) argue relating to deprivation?

Answer 16

That attachment disruption caused by divorce lead to resentment and stress whilst death of an attachment figure is more likely to lead to depression.

Question 17

What did Demo and Acock (1996) say relating to deprivation?

Answer 17

Even children experiencing divorce would react in different ways, for some children it enables them to make better attachments to their parents due to the removal of the negative environment of martial conflict

Question 18

What did Freud and Dann (1951) find relating to privation?

Answer 18

Reported on 6 children placed in Nazi concentration camp who were orphaned at a few months old so they had no maternal attachments. They were placed in the Bulldog Bank centre at 3-4 years old. They were hostile to adults but devoted to each other. Over time, they became attached to their carers and made huge developments in physical and intellectual capabilities

Question 19

What did Curtis and Rymer find relating to privation?

Answer 19

Looked at Genie
Genie was deprived of human interaction, beaten and strapped to a potty until age 13. She couldn’t walk or talk and had poor physical development so she had some therapy. At 18, she returned to the care of her mother and then returned to care. She couldn’t adapt to 6 different foster homes so she was eventually put into a home for those with learning difficulties. Shows long term effects of MDH.

Question 20

What is the problem with using case studies to study privation?

Answer 20

They are extreme and its hard to generalise the findings to all privation cases

Question 21

What did Goldfarb (1943) find relating to institutionalisation?

Answer 21

Compared 15 children raised in social isolation in institutions from 6 months to 3 years old with 15 children who were in foster homes. At 3 years old, the socially isolated children lagged behind the foster children on most social and intellectual measures

Question 22

Outline the methodology for Bowlby’s 44 thieves study (1944)

Answer 22

Compared 44 juveniile thieves to a control group of 44 similarly emotionally disturbed teens who weren’t thieves

Question 23

What were the results of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study (1944)?

Answer 23

17 of the thieves had experienced frequent separations from their mothers before the age of two, compared with 2 in the control group.
14 (32%) of the thieves were diagnosed as “affection less psychopaths” with 12 of these 14 having experienced separation from their mothers

Question 24

What conclusions can be drawn from Bowlby’s 44 thieves study (1944)?

Answer 24

Deprivation of the child from it’s main carer early in life can have very harmful long-term consequences

Question 25

What evaluative points can be made for Bowlby’s 44 thieves study? (1944)

Answer 25

• There is a link but it cant be said one causes the other
• There may be other factors which caused the criminal behaviour
• case studies provide detailed information but they rely on retrospective information and the results are hard to generalise to the whole population

Question 26

Outline the methodology for Hodges and Tizard (1989) study on institutionalisation?

Answer 26

Longitudinal study of 65 children who had been placed in a residential nurse before they were 4 months old.
They didn’t have the opportunity to form close attachments due to high staff turnover

Question 27

What were the results for Hodges and Tizard’s study on institutionalisation?

Answer 27

At 16 years old, the adopted group and strong family relationships, although compared to a control group of children from a ‘normal’ home environment, they had weaker peer relationships.
Those who stayed in the nursery or who returned to their mothers showed poorer relationships with family and peers than those who were adopted

Question 28

What conclusions can be drawn from Hodges and Tizard’s study on institutionalisation?

Answer 28

Children can recover from early maternal privation if they are in a good quality, loving environment, although their social development may not be as good as children who have never suffered privation

Question 29

What evaluative points can be made for Hodges and Tizard’s study on institutionalisation?

Answer 29

• It was a natural experiment so it has high ecological validity
• Small sample
• Hard to generalise the results
• Other factors such as being underfed and malnourished may have influenced their behaviour rather than the lack of the attachment itself

Question 30

According to research, what are the possible long term effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 30

1) Affectionless psychopathy
2) Anaclitic depression
3) Deprivation dwarfism
4) Delinquency
5) Reduced intelligence

Question 31

Outline the methodology for Rutter et al’s (2007) study on institutionalisation?

Answer 31

Looked at 111 Romanian orphans who came to the UK. Compared by 52 UK adoptees (control). Each child assessed for level of cognitive functioning
3 groups of orphans looked at; adopted before 6 months, between 6 months and 2 years, adopted after 2 years

Question 32

What were the results of Rutter et al’s study (2007)?

Answer 32

50% of the Romanian orphans were retarded in cognitive functioning in initial assessment and most were underweight, control group didn’t show these deficits.
At 4 years old, the Romanian orphans showed significant improvements in physical and cognitive development with the orphans adopted before 6 months old doing as well as the British adopted children

Question 33

What are the issues with Rutter et al’s study (2007)?

Answer 33

• Weren’t studied in Romania
• other factors in Romania may have affected them but they weren’t studied so cause and effect relationships can’t be established
• Only studied up to age 4, need to look at them for longer to see long-term effects of institutionalisation.
• Longitudinal study means some may have dropped out of the study once adopted
• They were only studied in Britain so can’t gain a full understanding of their life
• The quality of their relationships wasn’t shown.