Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Theory

Question 1

Define maternal deprivation.

Answer 1

a bond or attachment has been formed with the main caregiver but it has been disrupted for some reason.

Question 2

what does the maternal deprivation theory focus on?

Answer 2

continual presence of care from a mother or mother substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddlers both emotionally and intellectually.

Question 3

why did bowbly assume that separation may lead to maternal deprivation?

Answer 3

bowlby (1953) believed that ‘mother-love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health’.

being separated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences (maternal deprivation).

Question 4

what is the difference between separation and depression?

Answer 4

separation means the child not being physically in the presence of the primary attachment figure. brief separations, particularly where the child is with a substitute caregiver who can provide emotional care, are not significant for development but extended separations can lead to deprivation which by definition causes harm.

deprivation means losing emotional care as a result of the separation.

Question 5

how can deprivation be avoided?

Answer 5

deprivation can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered thus separation does not always cause deprivation.

Question 6

what are the three stages a baby goes through in the case of the caregiver leaving (short term separation)?

Answer 6

protest = child cries, screams and protests angrily when the parent leaves. they try to cling on to the parent.

despair = childs protesting begins to stop and they appear to be calmer although still upset. the child refuses others attempts for comfort and often seems withdrawn and uninterested in anything.

detachment = if separation continues the child will start to engage with other people again. they will reject the caregiver on their return and show strong signs of anger.

Question 7

what is privation?

Answer 7

not having the opportunity to form a bond in the first instance.

Question 8

what age does the critical period usually happen?

Answer 8

first 2.5 years of life.

Question 9

what happens during the critical period?

Answer 9

if a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute care (and so deprived of her emotional care) for an extended duration during this critical period then (bowlby believed) psychological damage was inevitable. he also believed there was a continuing risk up to the age of five.

Question 10

effects on development - what are the effects on intellectual development?

Answer 10

bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development, characterised by abnormally low IQ.

Question 11

effects on development - what was goldfarb (1947) research support for effects on intellectual development?

Answer 11

found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered and thus had a higher standard of emotional care.

Question 12

effects on development - what are the effects on emotional development?

Answer 12

lack of emotional care can lead to affectionless psychopathy = inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others.

this prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships and is associated with criminality. affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions.

Question 13

what did bowlby (1944) 44 thieves study examine?

Answer 13

the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.

Question 14

what was the sample in bowlby (1944) 44 thieves study?

Answer 14

44 delinquent teenagers accused of stealing.

Question 15

what was the procedure for bowlby (1944) 44 thieves study?

Answer 15

all thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy: characterised by a lack of affection, guilt, and empathy.

families were also interviewed to establish any prolonged separation from mothers.

the sample was compared to a control group of 44 non criminal but emotionally disturbed young people.

Question 16

what were the findings for bowlby (1944) 44 thieves study?

Answer 16

found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives.

in contrast only five of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations. only two participants in the control group of 44 had experienced long separations. so, bowlby concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy.

Question 17

limitation - flawed evidence

Answer 17

bowbly himself carried out both the family interviews and the assessments for affectionless psychopathy. left him open to bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy.

also, goldfarb (1943) study of wartime orphans is flawed because he used traumatised participants who experienced early trauma and institutional care as well as prolonged separation from their primary caregivers - introduces confounding variables.

this means that bowlby’s original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously as evidence nowadays.

Question 18

counter - flawed evidence

Answer 18

there is some evidence for newer studies to support the theory of maternal deprivation.

lévy et al (2003) showed that separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development.

this means that, although bowbly relied on flawed evidence to support the theory of maternal deprivation, there are other sources of evidence for his ideas.

Question 19

limitation - confusion between deprivation and privation

Answer 19

rutter (1981) made the distinction between deprivation (loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed) and privation (failure to form any attachment in the first place) - this may take place when children are brought up in institutional care.

so the children studied by goldfarb may actually have been ‘prived’ rather than deprived. also, many of the children in the 44 thieves study had disrupted early lives so may never have formed strong attachments.

this means that bowlby may have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in childrens development.

Question 20

limitation - critical period is more of a sensitive period

Answer 20

bowbly said that damage was inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in the first 2.5 years of life. yet there is evidence to suggest that in many cases good quality aftercare can prevent most or all of this damage - koluchová (1976) conducted a case study of czech twin boys isolated from the age of 18 months (locked in a cupboard). later they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to recover fully.

shows that severe deprivation can have positive outcomes provided the child has some social interaction and good aftercare. this means that the period identified by bowbly may be a ‘sensitive’ one but it cannot be critical.

Question 21

limitation - conflicting evidence

Answer 21

replications of bowbly 44 thieves study have generally failed to reproduce his findings on psychopathy. for example lewis (1954) looked at 500 young people and found no association between early separation and later psychopathy.

however some more recent research - gao et al (2010) - has found links between poor quality maternal care was associated with high rates of psychopathy in adults.

this means the link between maternal deprivation and psychopathy are unclear.