Maternal Deprivation

Question 1

What is Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 1

-bond is essential for healthy psychological and emotional development

Question 2

Consequences of maternal deprivation

Answer 2

1. Inability to form attachments in the future
2. Affectionless psychopathy
3. Delinquency
4. Problems with cognitive development

Question 3

How can attachments be disrupted?

Answer 3

-put into day care
-prolonged hospital care
-institutional care
-can have temporary effects or permanent

Question 4

Bowlby’s maternal deprivation study

Answer 4

• 44 juvenile thieves
  -14/44 affection less psychopathy
  -12 of these suffered from maternal deprivation during critical period

Question 5

Issues with Bowlby’s maternal deprivation study

Answer 5

-suffers from methodological limitations
-researcher bias - knew what he wanted to conclude so may have phrased Q’s around this

Question 6

What are some effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 6

-likely to experience privation
-usually respond with acute distress
-Study by Hodges + Tizard

Question 7

What was the aim of Hodges + Tizard’s study?

Answer 7

-observe effects of institutionalisation on how infants form attachments and quality of them they form

Question 8

Procedure of Hodges + Tizards study

Answer 8

• followed 65 from early life to teens
  -had been placed in 1 institution when they were less than 4mths old
  -70% described as not able to care deeply
  -conclude that children had experienced early emotional privation

Question 9

Conclusions from Hodges + Tizards study

Answer 9

-early deprivation had a negative effect on the ability to form relationships even when given good subsequent emotional care

Question 10

What was the aim of rutter in the Romanian orphan study?

Answer 10

-investigate the effects of institutionalisation in a group of 165 Romanian orphans

Question 11

Procedure of the roman orphan study

Answer 11

-assessed them at 4, 6 and 11 years old in terms of emotional and physical development
-compared to 50 adopted children in Britain

Question 12

What were the findings of the roman orphan study?

Answer 12

-majority malnourished
-IQ was dependent upon the age of which they were adopted
-those adopted after 6mths showed signs of disinhibited attachment (attention seeking)

Question 13

Conclusions of the roman orphan study

Answer 13

-importance and effects of adopting orphans at different ages are directly related to their rate of recovery
-full recovery could be made if adoption occurred before the age of 6mths

Question 14

Positives from the Romanian Orphan Study

Answer 14

-able to study effects of institutionalisation in isolation through removing EV variables of PTSD and trauma
-increases confidence in reliability

Question 15

Negatives from The Romanian Orphan Study

Answer 15

-focus on short term recovery rather than LT
-need to be carried out over a longer time scale
-low ecological validity as conditions were poor