CONTEMP DEBATE: Maternal deprivation Bowlby etc Flashcards
What is the name of Bowlby’s hypothesis?
The maternal deprivation hypothesis.
What was the aim of John Bowlby’s 1944 research on 44 juvenile thieves?
Whether early separation from the mother could be related to behavioural problems later in life.
What are Bowlby’s methods in his 1944 research on 44 juvenile thieves?
Taking 88 children who would be referred to a London child guidance clinic, he split them into two groups of 44 a “thieves” group and the other for the control group who had been referred for emotional rather than criminal/legal issues.
He matched the two groups members with IQ tests and ages.
Other information was gained from interviews and court records and school reports.
He then divided children according to behavioural types: normal, depressed, hyperactive, and affectionless psychopaths.
What are the findings of John Bowlby’s 1944 research into the 44 juvenile thieves?
14 of the 44 “thieves” group were diagnosed as psychopaths; 12 of these 14 had experienced early and even permanent separation from their mothers.
None of the children the control group were characterised as psychopaths.
What are the conclusions of John Bowlby’s 1944 research on the 44 thieves
Bowlby concluded that there was a strong relationship between early separation and antisocial behaviour and the ability to be affectionate in relationships in later years.
This led to the “maternal deprivation hypothesis” being supported, i.e., a lack of maternal (or caregiver’s) love in the first two years created troublesome issues regarding affection.
Evaluate John Bowlby is 44 juvenile thieves research of 1944
Reliability: since interviews were conducted on parents’ and children’s recollections of early life, there could be a drop in accuracy.
Sample size: sample was relatively small and consisted of children who had been referred to the clinic where he worked. This may mean that there is a lack of generalisability from the group study.
Ethical issues: While children and parents had a level of consent, there would’ve been an element of deception to as the parents and children would not have known that Bowlby was researching maternal deprivation. (This, it can be argued, is common in much psychological research though).
Reductionism: Other external variables, such as family conflict, parental income, education, etc. were ignored, and may provide competing explanations to the disruption of maternal love.
What are the social implications of Bowlby’s 1944 44 juvenile thieves study?
Raises a socially sensitive issue about parents going back to work early, or mothers depriving their babies from critical affection has profound social implications in a modern society when both parents need to work or would like to continue work.
That is, many professional mothers return to work relatively early, and they may not want to hear that the lack of a primary or constant caregiver could have an affect on their child’s emotional development.
Likewise many may react to the hypothesis that a child’s later problems are because of the mothers lack of attention or care in early months.
A variation on Bowlby is to introduce other care givers, such as those found in extended families or grandparents whose affection for a young child maintains a continuity of love/attention. Possibly, it could be argued from that approach, disruptions to a child’s on-going caring e.g., the loss of grandparents, or the loss of nannies or other carers, may disturb a child’s sense of affection/bonding to an extent.
Why does Bowlby stress the importance of the special bond between the mother and infant?
Coming from a psychodynamic point of view, the bond is stressed as important for creating the foundations for relationships for the rest of a child’s life.
If the bond is broken in the first three years, there will be serious consequences for later development.
This also implies that the level of self-sufficiency and independence displayed by an individual in adult is due to the sense of security forms in early years (1 to 3).
In its context, why was Bowlby’s hypothesis useful for the British government at the time? (Social, ethical economic implications)
It was the end of the Second World War and men were returning to their jobs, and encouraging women to stay with the children for the first few years would relieve some unemployment in the country, as well as reduce the need for the government to provide nursery places.
On the other hand the rebuilding of the country needed more more people, hence the British government turned to immigrants in the mid fifties to early sixties to help rebuild the country.
The hypothesis would be challenged by feminists as being unethical and demeaning towards professional women, for example that they should give up their career to raise a child in a culture in which attaining professional careers was difficult for women.
On the other hand other feminists coming from other approaches may note that Bowlby’s hypothesis is a natural (instinctively correct, evolutionarily supported…) one and that it is only normal and instinctive for mothers to look after children until they are more independent..
What is Buss’s 1995 take on the maternal hypothesis?
That variations in childcare between men and women is related to evolutionary demands. The mother’s investment in the baby is relatively high compare to that to the male and she has a strong incentive to look after child as the child is carrying 50% of her genes. As a breastfeeding mother, she also has the added incentive that she is providing primary food for her child.
We can add to Buss’s argument to acknowledge that in breastfeeding, oxytocin is released which also creates an strong bond between the mother and child.
What does other cultural research suggest regarding the maternal hypothesis?
Hunter gatherer tribes show a traditional division between the men and the women, and studies have shown that children are far more likely to die when the mother dies early compared to the father.
Indeed if the mother dies before the child reaches 1, mortality rates of 100% have been noted in some tribes by Hill and Hurtado, 1996.
Does the primary caregiver have to be the mother?
Bowlby’s emphasis was on a primary caregiver, which during the time of his studies was generally women, but is deprivation hypothesis does not have to put all the emphasis on the primary caregiver being the mother.
Shaffer and Emerson (1964) challenged Bowlby’s idea of monotropy (single care giver) noting that infants after seven months showed attachment to other people in the circle, and by 18 months over the third of inference had five or more attachments.
Hrdy (1999) also suggested that reliance on the single primary caregiver creates a fragile evolutionary mechanism, and that having multiple caregivers maximises the chances of an infant’s survival and healthy development.
Keller (2003) argues that monotropy is the exception rather than the rule, and that most mothers have the primary role for the first year but afterwards that role expands to other people - eg infants in the Congo basin can have around 20 caregivers.
What is the assumption of the Children and Families Act, 2014?
The act presumes that both the father and the mother are equally capable of nurturing and providing financial support for children and this is now taken into account in divorce/separations.
What are the fors and against of the maternal hypothesis regarding ethical issues?
AGAINST: the maternal hypothesis supports gender inequality with the assumption that women have to bring up the children.
FOR: The maternal hypothesis theory actually extends to any primary care giver regardless of gender.
What are the fors and against of the maternal hypothesis regarding economic issues?
FOR: it’s encourages women to remain at home and therefore come out of employment allowing more men to get jobs in different fields. This was particularly the case after the Second World War (when men wanted to come back from serving to their normal jobs…), although that is a challengeable statement given the rebuilding that was needed whicih resulted in the UK asking for migrants from the British Commonwealth.
.
AGAINST: The hypothesis does not necessarily involve the mother remaining at home supports the mothers right to work to support itself; other care givers such as grandparents or professional nannies can pick up the role.
