Maternal Deprivation

Question 1

define maternal deprivation

Answer 1

Frequent temporary seperation from the mother

Question 2

what does maternal deprivation result in ?

Answer 2

• serious and perminent damage to a child’s emotional, social, intellectual development
• eg: low IQ, delinquency, inability to form attachments, affectionless psychopathy

Question 3

what is affectionless psychopathy

Answer 3

an inability to show concern or affection for others

Question 4

when does maternal deprivation occur

Answer 4

between 6 months and 2 1/2 years
continuing risk of up to 5 years

Question 5

how can the effects of maternal deprivation be prevented/reduced ?

Answer 5

if child is provided with a maternal substitute who proiveds good emotional care

Question 6

what was the aim of the 44 thieves study ?

Answer 6

to investigate the long term effects of maternal deprivation

Question 7

what was the procedure of the 44 thieves
study ?

Answer 7

• 88 children were selected from Bowlbys work- 44 of which were juvenile thieves , the other 44 were the control group
• each childs IQ was tested by a psychologsit who also tested emotional attitudes towards the test
• a social worker interviewed the parents to record details of the childs early life
• bowlby then conducted an initial interview with the child and parent

Question 8

what were the findings of the 44 thieves study

Answer 8

• 14/44 thieves showed affectionless psychopathy
• 12/14 psychopaths had experienced maternal deprivation before the age of 5

Question 9

what was the conclusion of the 44 thieves study ?

Answer 9

maternal deprivation in a childs early life can cause permanent damage to emotional development

Question 10

A weakness of maternal deprivation

methodological

Answer 10

I: methodological issues with the evidence
E: extranious variables may be responsible for poor developments. the children used were deprived of many things not just maternal care. children growing up in the era also would have suffered trauma from WW2.
Bowlby carried out the interviews for psychopathy creating researcher bias as he would have used his own expectations to inlfluence the results
C:reeduces the validity of Bowlbys theory, cannot establish caue and effect

Question 11

A weakness of maternal deprivation

contradictory

Answer 11

I: contradictory findings for Bowlbyd msternal deprivation theory
E: lewis replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger scale looking at 500 young people and found that a history of maternal deprivation did not predict criminality or difficulty forimg relationships
C: reduces the validity of bowlbys theory as it suggests maternal deprivation doesn’t have any long lasting effects on development and doesn;t always cause psychopathy

Question 12

A weakness of maternal deprivation

privation

Answer 12

I: bowlby failed to distinguish between maternal deprivation and privation
E: privation is never forming an attachment but deprivation is prolonged temorary speration from the mother. Rutter claims that the severe damge Bowlby associates with maternal deprivation was more likely privation
C: reduces the validity of the thepry as it suggests that effects such as psychopathy are less likely to result from the loss of an existing attachment than a complete lack of attachment