Disruption of Attachment

Question 1

Define separation

Answer 1

time away from primary attachment figure, short/long term

Question 2

What are 5 short and long term separations a child might experience?

Answer 2

ST: daycare, parent working/in hospital
LT: boarding school, divorce, death

Question 3

What is the first behaviour that will be shown following separation?

Answer 3

Protest: screams and cries, cling to parent, struggle from others

Question 4

What is the second behaviour shown following separation?

Answer 4

Despair: calmer but still upset, refuse others attempts at comfort, withdrawn

Question 5

What is the last behaviour shown following separation?

Answer 5

Detachment: if separation continues, child may engage with others again but still wary, likely to reject care giver when they return, signs of anger

Question 6

Who has found evidence for the PDD model?

Answer 6

Robertson and Robertson 1971
John’s case in residential nursery, became more withdrawn and despairing, rejected mother when she collected him, continued angry outbursts

Question 7

What is deprivation?

Answer 7

loss of something wanted/needed (mother/care giver in maternal deprivation), long term term effect of separation, affects future behaviour and relationships

Question 8

What are the 3 main points of Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?

Answer 8

Continous relationship with mother/mother substitute, must occur during critical period but separation is risk up until 5yrs, can be with any primary care giver

Question 9

What evidence does Bowlby provide for the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 9

44 thieves, 90% of thieves and 67% psychopaths separated longer than 6 months by age 5

Question 10

Why is the evidence from the 44 thieves study weakened?

Answer 10

Bowlby made psychopath diagnosis from 1 interview with child and parent, potential for interviewer bias, difficult to replicate, extraneous variables not controlled, childhood separation has to be recalled (retrospective)

Question 11

What is privation?

Answer 11

lack of ever having had any attachments

Question 12

Who conducted research on Genie? What are the details of this case study?

Answer 12

Curtiss 1977
father neglected until 13yrs, isolation and physical restraint, punished if noise made, unspecialised and primitive, never achieved good social adjustment/language despite intervention

Question 13

Who conducted research on the Czech twins? What are the details on this case study?

Answer 13

Kolochova 1976
mother died after birth, home for 11m, 6m with aunt, then with father/step mother- cruel, kept in closet or cellar, at 7yrs hardly walk and speech bad, after hospital and fosters improved, as adults appear adjusted, cognitively able

Question 14

What are 4 methodological issues with using case studies as a way of studying privation?

Answer 14

valuable info on human behaviour which would be hard to get otherwise, difficult to pinpoint part of abuse that caused effects, difficult to gain accurate info retrospectively, reliability issues

Question 15

What are the 4 factors affecting the reversibility of privation?

Answer 15

Quality care at following institutions, age of child removed from privation, quality of care after institutionalisation, later life experiences

Question 16

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 16

deficits in social and life skills which develop after a person has spent a long period living in mental hospitals, prisons or other remote institutions

Question 17

Who conducted a study into institutionalisation?

Answer 17

Hodges and Tizard 1984, 1989
2.5yrs privation as staff discouraged from forming emotional relationships, disinhibited attachment patterns shown, adopted/restored (returned to bio parents) at 4yrs, 20/21 adopted and 6/13 restored= close attachment

Question 18

What did both the adopted and restored children in the H and T study have in common?

Answer 18

Both has difficulties with peers, less likely to belong to a crowd

Question 19

What sampling issue is present with longitudinal research?

Answer 19

Attrition: pulling out as the study goes on. In H and T: 65 to 51 when observed aged 8yrs

Question 20

What is disinhibited attachment?

Answer 20

1 effect of institutionalisation, attention seeking behaviour towards all adults, not afraid of strangers, inappropriate physical contact with adults

Question 21

Who conducted a study into disinhibited attachment on UK and Romanian orphans?

Answer 21

Rutter 2007
Orphans in institutions with poor conditions, early adopted meant less disinhibited attachment R 6m= 8.9%, 6-24m= 26.1%, disinhibited attachment doesn’t always last, interviews and observations

Question 22

What was different about the care studied in the Dontas 1985 study?

Answer 22

Greek, each child had specific carer, attachments could form after 2 weeks, made attachments with adoptive carers, no institutionalisation effects, privation prevention

Question 23

What is a developmental pathway?

Answer 23

positive experiences in early adulthood can affect later development in relationships

Question 24

What study gives evidence for the reversibility of privation?

Answer 24

Quinton and Rutter 1984/1988
early effects of privation can be reversed by good developmental pathway, women who had good marriages had fewer criminal records and parenting difficulties