Privation

Question 1

Privation

Answer 1

The lack of any attachment bond in early childhood. A complete absence of an attachment figure / attachment was never formed

Question 2

Case study of Genie - Curtis (1977)

Answer 2

• genie = 13, spent whole life in a room with nothing but a cot and a potty, chronically neglected and abused by parents who claimed she was mentally retarded from birth (no baseline prior to privation)
• mute, awkward giant, malnourished, pissed herself etc
• after a few days in care and recovery she could urinate independently and formed attachments to staff
• after several months = language development didn’t process beyond a toddler
• lived with a therapist and exposed to interviews, observations, tests and brain scans (triangulation yet inappropriate?)

Question 3

Koluchova (1972) - Czech Twins

Answer 3

• identical twins, mother died after birth and cared for by aunt until 1 year 6 months
• father remarried, stepmother abused the boys, banished them to a cellar for 5 years and a half
• on discovery at 7 years, twins were dwarfed, lacked speech, physically and mentally handicapped
• twins removed from parents, into care and good school for learning disabilities
• caught up with age peer and achieved emotional and intellectual normality, took further education, later married and had children, stable - privation is reversible

Question 4

Freud and Dan (1951) - concentration camps

Answer 4

• 6 children looked after by various adults “passing through” before they were sent to gas chambers in ghettos (concentration camps) before age 1
• 3/4 couldn’t speak when camps finished but strongly attached to one another
• brought to Britain, initially aggressive but were fostered and developed normal intelligence and learned how to speak later

Question 5

Rutter (2011) - ERA study

Answer 5

• 165 Romanian orphans - no emotional care
• assessed physical cognitive and social development
• compared to control group of 52 English children who were adopted before 6 months
• privation seemed to have a prolonged (non-reversible) effect only if Romanian orphans were adopted after 6 months

Question 6

Tizard and Hodges (1978) - Aim

Answer 6

• to examine the effect of institutional upbringing on cared attachments
• to investigate if early privation could be reversed / modified
• to investigate whether there are critical periods for development of behaviour

Question 7

Tizard and hodges (1978) - findings

Answer 7

• measured groups on social, cognitive, behavioural and emotional competence at ages 4,8, 16 years (longitudinal study)
• adopted (2-4 years) group performed best in tests, institutional group worst
• institutional group= couldn’t form close relationships, attention seeking, discipline problems
• children who went back to their natural families faired the worst due to causes of institutionalisation still being present

Question 8

Tizard and hodges (1978) - conclusions

Answer 8

• effects of privation more reversible than Bowlby believed
• longer period of privation = harder to reverse effects
• loving relationships and high quality care are necessary to reverse privation effects