Maternal Deprivation Flashcards
Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
Bowlby proposed the theory of maternal deprivation 20 years before his attachment theory. However, the basis of the maternal deprivation hypothesis is the same as his idea of the critical period.
What is maternal deprivation?
Maternal deprivation refers to the potential negative consequences of a child being separated from or lacking a consistent and responsive caregiver during the critical early years of life.
When does maternal deprivation occur?
Maternal deprivation occurs when an attachment bond is formed between an infant and a caregiver but is broken in later life.
What did Bowlby claim about maternal deprivation?
Bowlby believed that ongoing maternal deprivation would have lasting negative effects on a child leading to possible mental health problems or maladjustments.
Although Bowlby believed that the effects of maternal deprivation would be at their most acute during the critical period (2.5 years), should substitute emotional care not be provided, he noted that there would be a risk of adverse consequences up until the age of 5, this includes the inability to form relationships with other people and the possibility of behavioural and emotional disorders.
Effects on development
1) Intellectual development: delayed intellectual development (abnormally low IQ).
2) Emotional development: affectionless psychopathy = the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others people.
- Prevents the development of normal relationships and is associated with criminality.
Key Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves (Bowlby, 1944) - Aim
To see if early separation from the primary caregiver (deprivation) was associated with behavioural disorders.
Key Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves (Bowlby, 1944) - Method
- Children aged between 5-16 years old, who had been referred to a guidance clinic in London where Bowlby worked, were examined.
- 44 of the children were criminals (guilty of theft).
- 44 non-criminal participants were used as a control group.
- Bowlby interviewed the children and their families to create a record of early life experiences.
Key Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves (Bowlby, 1944) - Findings
- Bowlby identified 14 of the 44 thieves as affectionless psychopaths.
- 86% (12/14) of these affectionless psychopaths had experienced early and prolonged deprivation.
- Only 17% of the ‘other thieves’ had experienced such separations and 4% of the control group had experienced frequent early separations.
Key Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves (Bowlby, 1944) - Conclusion
These findings suggest a link between early separations and later social maladjustments. The maternal deprivation hypothesis appears to lead to affectionless psychopathy and antisocial behaviour.
Maternal deprivation - Strength
point: Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation has many practical applications.
evidence: His research is particularly useful in regards to best practice institutions, such as hospitals, where infants are likely to experience prolonged separation from their caregiver. Historically, visiting children in hospitals was strictly prohibited or not permitted at all. The Robertson’s observed a 2-year-old girl named Laura, who was hospitalised for 8 days. Laura struggled to cope with emotional deprivation and demonstrated real distress. Key changes have since occurred due to the new psychological insight into how best to provide quality substitute emotional care in the absence of a caregiver to minimise negative consequences for the child.
justification: This increases the validity of Bowlby’s theory as it demonstrates how it has led to significant improvements in institutional child care practices, such as the provision of adequate emotional caregiving during the absence of a caregiver.
counterargument: On the other hand, implementing these practices can be considerably demanding for these institutions.
evidence: This is because additional staff training and infrastructure is required, which may not be feasible or accessible in certain circumstances and settings. This adds an economic constraint onto such organisations, whereby costs are largely distributed to the provision of resources for caregiving during the times that it is unavailable.
justification: This suggests that although Bowlby’s theory has been widely applicable to real-life organisations, it has proposed an inevitable resource-intensive and financial weight therefore causing further problems to arise.
Maternal deprivation - Strength
point: Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation has made significant contributions to his attachment theory proposed 20 years later.
evidence: His theory emphasises the importance of emotional caregiving in child development. This creates a balance between the focus on physical needs and emotional well-being. This was an unprecedented yet acknowledged theory at the time, which heavily influenced the development of the attachment theory. It has also sparked future research, such as Ainsworth’s Strange Situation. In addition, Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation ties in with his attachment theory, in that the children who are deprived of an attachment, typically within the critical period, may suffer long-term consequences, such as psychological maladjustments.
justification: This enhances the explanatory power of this theory as it provides a more comprehensive understanding about the effects of maternal deprivation as well as the importance of the development of emotional bonds in an infant’s life.
Maternal deprivation - Weakness
point: There is evidence which counters Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis claims.
evidence: Lewis (1944) replicated the juvenile thieves study with a larger sample of children but did not find that early deprivation, caused by prolonged separation from the primary caregiver, predicted a greater likelihood of criminal behaviour in youth. Instead, she found that other circumstances, such as parental disharmony and poverty, played a more significant role in contributing towards this criminality. Additional support for this comes from Barrett (1997) who found that securely attached children are more resistant to the negative effects of maternal deprivation in comparison to insecurely attached children. This casts doubt on Bowlby’s theory as it suggests that other factors may be involved which mediate the consequences of maternal deprivation.
justification: As a result, this lowers the validity of this theory due to issues regarding causality. Although early deprivation can lead to later misconduct, this theory fails to take into account other factors as earlier mentioned that can also contribute to such depravity.
Maternal deprivation - Weakness
point: Bowlby’s theory has been criticised for the conflation of ‘deprivation’ and ‘privation’.
evidence: Rutter (1982) claimed that Bowlby has failed to make the distinction between deprivation and privation clear. Deprivation refers to the loss of an established attachment whereas privation refers to the inability to have the opportunity to form an attachment in the first place. Rutter argued that privation leads to more detrimental consequences for the child rather than experiencing a broken attachment. His research on Romanian orphans showcased how children who endured privation demonstrated more emotional, social and cognitive deficits in comparison to children who had endured a dismantled attachment.
justification: This limits the practical application of Bowlby’s theory as intercessions cannot be accurately provided or addressed as children who experience privation in contrast to deprivation have unique requirements. Furthermore, the distortion between deprivation and privation makes the risk of misinterpretation much more likely, making it difficult to understand how to tailor support for infants depending on what they have experienced.
