Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation; Romanian Orphan Studies

Question 1

What does Bowlby believe is vital for development?
What will happen if this is not received?

Answer 1

Continuous care in the Critical Period
Irreversible long-term consequences on the child (eg. low IQ, depression, and aggression)

Question 2

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 2

Prolonged separation from the primary caregiver (mother) during the critical period (eg. mother/infant going to hospital, mother going back to work, infant going to nursery)

Question 3

What is Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
What did he find?

Answer 3

88 children were referred to a clinic for behavioural problems, 44 of which were thieves and of these thieves, 14 were “affection-less psychopaths”
86% of the “affection-less psychopaths” had early, prolonged separation from their mothers compared to only 16% of the other thieves and 4% of the non-thieves

Question 4

What are 2 strengths of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Answer 4

1. There is supportive evidence in the 44 thieves study
2. Bowlby has major practical applications as he changed healthcare to allow for parents to stay with children while they are in the hospital

Question 5

What are 3 weaknesses of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Answer 5

1. There is challenging evidence from Bowlby’s TB study as he found that children who were under 4 who were in hospital and could only see their parents once a week had no problems with delinquency or social interaction compared to a control group
2. Rutter suggests it depends more upon the reason for being separated as he thinks difficult family circumstances in early life may cause behavioural problems rather than the actual separation
3. Rutter also suggests Bowlby overemphasised the effects of deprivation and may have confused them with privation which is the cause of “affection-less psychopathy”

Question 6

What did Rutter et al investigate?
What did they find?
What does this show?

Answer 6

The effects of institutionalisation on 165 Romanian Orphans who were adopted by British families (at which point they were behind the British children)
The orphans who were adopted before the age of 6 months went on to develop normally and overcome the negative experiences, however those adopted after the age of 6 months ended up with lower IQs and disinhibited attachments
Institutionalisation has negative short-term effects that may persist long-term if children don’t form a subsequent attachment

Question 7

What did Zeanah et al investigate?
What did they find?

Answer 7

They compared the attachment types of children in Romania who spent 90% of their lives in institutions to a control group of Romanian children who were never in an institution
74% of the control group were securely attached but only 19% of the institutionalised group were and 44% of the institutionalised group had disinhibited attachments compared to less than 20% of the control group

Question 8

What are 5 effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 8

1. Disinhibited attachments
2. Physically smaller
3. Lower IQ
4. Lack of a secure attachment
5. Delayed language development

Question 9

What is a strength of the Romanian Orphans Studies?

Answer 9

They have practical applications which changed adoption policies so that they now take place before 6 months where possible

Question 10

What are 3 weaknesses of the Romanian Orphan Studies?

Answer 10

1. There is a confounding variable as the children in the Romanian Orphans were kept in poor physical conditions so it is not clear whether it was the institution or the conditions which affects the children
2. The study suffered from attrition as people dropped out of the study meaning the sample is biased and the results are not generalisable
3. The findings are unrepresentative as not all of the institutionalised children were adopted