Maternal deprivation - Bowlby Flashcards
What is maternal deprivation?
- A lack of love/care from a maternal figure
* ‘deprived of emotional and psychological warmth’
What can cause maternal deprivation?
- separation of mother and baby
- emotional distance from mother
- inconsistency from mother
What did Bowlby believe about the value of maternal care?
He believed it wasn’t enough to make sure the child was well fed and kept safe and warm, but that infants also needed a consistent and intimate relationship with their mother (or mother substitute) for good mental health
If not, there would be long term consequences
What have past studies told us about maternal deprivation?
children who underwent prolonged separations from their families were disturbed and lagged behind intellectually
who observed 100 ‘normal’ children that were placed in an institution & became severely depressed in a few months?
Spitz and Wolf
What did Bowlby believe about maternal deprivation having a critical period?
separation will only have this negative effect if:
• it happens before the child is 2 and a half
• there is no substitute mother (can be male or female)
However he also believed children could still be at risk up until the age of 5
Did Bowlby believe that separation was primarily the cause of maternal deprivation?
No, Bowlby believed that separation was not the cause but in fact a lack of emotional care/love was the cause -
substitute-mothers could provide this and prevent maternal deprivation
What are the long-term consequences of maternal derivation?
emotional problems and mental disorders such as depression
What are the long-term consequences of maternal derivation?
emotional problems and mental disorders such as depression
What was Bowlby’s 44 thieves study in relation to maternal deprivation?
- Bowlby analysed 88 case histories of some of his cases
- half of the 88 had been caught stealing, the other half were a control group
- out of the 44 thieves, he called 14 ‘affectionless psychopaths’
What did Bowlby mean by ‘affectionless psychopaths’ and why does it make people more likely to steal?
They lack shame, affection, and a sense of responsibility
This made them more likely to steal because it ‘didn’t matter to them’
What were the findings of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
- 12 of the 14 of the affection psychopaths had experienced frequent early separations from their mothers
- only 17% of the other thieves had experienced these separations
- shows that there may be a correlation between separations and becoming an ‘affectionless psychopath’
- this is because Bowlby believe a lack of care = mental disorders
Criticism’s of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
- it focuses on physical separation and does not include the impact of psychological separation
- Barrett - it ignores individual differences & attachment types, securely attached children can cope with separation reasonably well
- Rutter - Bowlby isn’t clear about whether the attachment never formed or if it had formed but was broken: believed never forming attachments had larger negative impact
Positives of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory n
- good real world applications - impacted how children were looked after in hospital & revolutionised hospital care
- Bifulco et al supported Bowlby’s theory - 25% of women separated from mothers developed mental heath problems (usually in those separated before the age of 6 supporting the critical period)
