Maternal Deprivation

Question 1

What is the maternal deprivation theory?

Answer 1

Prolonged emotional deprivation will lead to long-term consequences in terms of emotional development

Question 2

Value of maternal care

Answer 2

Bowlby shed light on the importance of a ‘warm, intimate and continuous relationship’ with the mother

Question 3

Critical period

Answer 3

Emotional disruption occurs only if it takes places before the age of 2 and a half and if no mother-substitute is present

Question 4

Long term consequences

Answer 4

Deprivation leads to emotional maladjustment , mental health problems (e.g. depression)

Question 5

What research evidence is there to support the maternal deprivation theory?

Answer 5

44 Thieves

Question 6

What is the aim of the study?

Answer 6

To investigate the long-term consequences of prolonged emotional deprivation

Question 7

What is the procedure of the study?

Answer 7

88 Children studied,
- 44 had been caught stealing
- other half control group
- Bowlby described some thieves as ‘affectionless psychopaths’
- analysed case histories of his patients in the Child Guidance Clinic London,
- All children were emotionally maladjusted

Question 8

What was the findings of the study?

Answer 8

• None of the control group experienced early separation
• Those individuals described as ‘affectionless psychopath’ experienced frequent early separation from their mothers

Question 9

What are the conclusions of the study?

Answer 9

Early separation is linked with ‘affectionless psychopathy’
A lack of continuous care may cause emotional maladjustment or mental disorders

Question 10

A03 - One strength of Bowlby’s ideas is that it has real-world application

Answer 10

• In the past, children were separated from their parents when they spent time in a hospital
• Visiting was discouraged or even forbidden
• Bowlby’s research led to social change in the way that children were cared for in hospitals

Question 11

A03 - Rutter argued that this view of deprivation was overly simplistic

Answer 11

• This is because the term does not take into account whether the attachment bond had been formed then broken or it was never formed in the first place
• He argued if the latter, the lack of emotional bond would have a serious consequence
• As such, he used the term ‘privation’ to refer to the failure to form attachment and ‘deprivation’ to refer when one had formed but had been lost
• Lack of clarity in definitions may negatively affect the validity of research findings

Question 12

A03 - There are individual differences in the reaction to separation

Answer 12

• This was supported by Barrett who reviewed various studies on separation and found that sometimes securely attached children cope reasonably well
• whereas insecurely attached children become especially distressed
• Suggests the effects of maternal deprivation are not experienced in the same way and do not affect children in a uniform way

Question 13

A03 - Research studies so support the idea that maternal deprivation has long term effects

Answer 13

• Bifculo et al studied women who has experienced early separation from their mothers because of maternal death or temporary separation of more than one year
• Bifculo et al found that about 25% later experienced depression or anxiety compared to 15% in a control group
• Effects were much greater when the separation occurred before the child was 6
• Supports the idea of critical period and deprivation leads to negative outcomes later in life