Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

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maternal deprivation, which is the prolonged loss of emotional care from the mother figure, can have serious long term consequences.

bowl by believed that ongoing maternal deprivation would have negative effects on a child in terms of their emotional development, leading to possible mental health problems or maladjustment

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although Bowlby believed that the effects of maternal deprivation would be most acute during the critical period, he noted that there was a risk of adverse consequences up until 3 years old.

He also acknowledged that the presence of another-substitute could prevent the long term consequences if they were able to provide adequate and sensitive surrogate emotional care.

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Bowlby claimed that maternal deprivation could result in delayed intellectual development which would lead to low IQ.

Furthermore, Bowlby also argued that deprivation could lead to affection less psychopaths characterised by individuals with a lack of shame or guilt. this leads to further problems, such as diffculty forming relationships and a higher probability of criminal tendencies

AO3 - research support for his theory of maternal deprivation

He examined 88 children from 5-16 who were referred to a guidance clinic where he worked.

44 of these children were thieves. Bowlby identified 14 of these thieves as affection less psychopaths.

he then noted that 86% of the affectionless psychopaths experienced early and prolonged attachment separations in comparison to just 17% of the ‘other theievs’ and 4% of the control group.

these findings suggest a link between early ongoing separation form the primary caregiver and later social maladjustment. the maternal deprivation hypothesis appears to lead to affection less psychopathy and greater risk of engaging in antisocial behaviour.

further evaluation = There have been many cultural changes since bowlby's 44 thieves study which suggests it has a lack of temporal validity. Due to the study being conducted in the 1940s where there was no child benefit system and the children were experiencing world war 2 the findings from his study could be explained by the impacts of aboloute poverty on children which could have forced them to steal in order to survive. This undermines the validity of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation.

AO3 - counterargument to Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis claims

Lewis 1944 replicated the juvenile thieves study with a larger sample of children but did not find that early deprivation, caused by prolonged separataion from the primary caregiver, predicted a greater likelihood of criminal behaviour in the youths.

this casts doubt on bowlbys theory as it suggests that other factors may be involved which mediate the consequences of maternal deprivation.

fro example Barrett 1997 found that securely attached children are more resistant to the negative effects of maternal deprivation in comparison to insecurely attached children.

AO3 - further support

A further support for Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is that it can be applied to real world situations. Bowlby's study and theory had an enormous positive impact on post war thinking about child rearing and also on how children were looked after in hospitals.

Before Bowlby's research children were separated from parents when they spent time in hospital. Visiting was discouraged or even forbidden. One of Bowlby's colleagues, James Robertson filmed a two year old girl called Laura during the 8 day period she was in hospital. She is seen to be frequently distressed and begs to go home. Bowlby and robertsons work led to major social change in the way that children were cared for in hospitals.