Psychodynamic - PCG

Question 1

FOR - feeding

Answer 1

• NHS recommends that for at least first 6 months infants are breastfed
• healthiest start for infants as protects from infections and diseases, and builds strong emotional and physical bonds betwene mother and baby which is important to development
• research by NICHD suggests that breastfeeding has many health benefits including protection from infections and lower risk of SIDs
• skin to skin and suckling have physical and emotional benefits
• reduce risk for allergenic diseases like asthma
• improve cognitive development
• more research needed to confirm findings as can be inconclusive
• social implications that mothers must take time out of career to be with babies, not dad
• economic impact if mother is main worker - financial struggles due to social pressure to stay at home

Question 2

AGAINST - feeding

Answer 2

• behaviourists would argue that ending is not important part of bonding and therefore the need for the mother to ensure healthy development is void
• study by Harlow on monkeys demonstrated food does not equal love
• placed infant monkeys with 2 wire mothers - one with bottle and one soft
  —> 22hr of day clinging to oft mother and only moving to bottle if hungry
• shows importance of contact, not feeding
• study potentially lacks valdiity as they are monkeys
• does suggest mum doesn’t need to be PCG which prevents putting career on hold or negatively impacting gender equality
• mother and father can share a role

Question 3

FOR - deprivation damage

Answer 3

• Bowlby argued that prolonged speartion between child and mother can have long lasting emotional impacts
• can lead to affectionless characters
• children form an ‘internal working model’ for all future relationships based on role of PCG
• Bowlby also took an evolutionary approach of attachment to PCG for survival
• maternal deprivation hypothesis based on 44 thieves research
  —> London child guidance clinic, 1936-1939, home and youth lives
• concluded 5 main factors influencing thieving behaviour: genetics, PS, ambivalent mothers, hostile fathers and traumatic events —> unstable children
• shows value of having mother during formative years
• Bowlby could have bias interpretations
• negative implication for society as pressure for women not to return to work as thy risk having criminal children

Question 4

AGAINST - deprivation damage

Answer 4

• bowlby used word maternal but did not mean to refer exclusively to the mother
• evidence of the importance of children hvaing multiple relationships
• Schaffer and Emerson demonstrated tat infants had multiple attachments
• birth to 7 months - babies have indiscriminate attachment
• 7 to 9 months - special attachment
• 10 months - several attachments
  —> mother was main attachment for half the children studied at 18months, and father for rest
• mother and father of equal importance
• main thing is one parent is with them
  —> enable maternal and paternal leave, can rotate between taking time off, mother not have to sacrifice

Question 5

FOR - mothers not any adult

Answer 5

• could any other adult be the PCG?
• mothers best as biologically equipped to show child best care
  —> female hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour and is heightened post pregnancy
• Belsky suggests children who spend early, extensive and continuous time in the care of non relatives (ie daycare) are more likely to show later behavioural problems like disobedience
• children cared for by relatives that weren’t the mother also showed behavioural issues
• Aric Sigman suggested high levels of cortisol in day cares which is linked to stress related illnesses
• is it right to put guilt onto working mothers but not working fathers?
• financially, cannot have mother or both parents not working whilst raising children
• ethically wrong to blame mother

Question 6

AGAINST - mothers not any adult

Answer 6

• any adult can be PCG, including dad as they are just as capable of emotional attachments
• stereotypical to suggest only mother can love and raise a child
• number of studies that suggest daycare has benefits to a child’s development
• high quality daycare is associated with later superior cognitive - linguistic functioning (Belsky)
• Feldman 2010 also found that oxytocin levels in men rise when become parents - 43 first time fathers 6months after child’s birth were found to have high prolactin associated with encougament
• scientific valdiity
• enabling day care removes gut from parents and can have benefits further down line
• the ‘only mother argument’ risks gender inequality and is quite sexist
  —> modern day is more inclusive, and fathers tend to play active role

Question 7

Intro

Answer 7

• a PCG of an infant is who is most responsible for their health, development and well being
• following debate presupposes there is such a thing as a ‘PCG’ and consider whether the assumption of the mother as a primary care giver is grounded in evidence
• also concerns sensitive issue of living in a society that promotes equality for all and the impact his assumption could have on the career prospects of women, as well as various ethical implications

Question 8

Conclusion

Answer 8

• view of mother as PCG very out of date and there’s no conclusive evidence to suggest PCG has to be female
• mistakenly emphasises fact children have one PCG as argued that healthy development relies on multiple
  —> one doesn’t have to be primary over the others
• negatively influence economy and society if mothers are deemed as PCG