Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

What is the Law of Accumulated Seperation?

Accumulating issues of attachments

AO3: practical application - children in nurseries were now allocated a key worker to prevent the law of accumulated seperation

What is Bowlby’s (1951) Theory of maternal depreivation?

• Continuous emotional care from a mother is necessary for healthy emotional and intellectual development

• Mother-love in infancy is important for mental health

Deprivation: losing emotional care as a result of separation

Critical period: first 2 ½ years - psychological damage is inevitable if a child is separated from their mother-figure without any replacement emotional care

-ve effects on intellectual development: delayed intellectual development

-ve effects on emotional development - affectionless psychopathy: inability to experience guilt or strong towards others

= problems with future relationships + associated with criminality

What are the factors that make children more vulnerable to the long term effects of maternal depreivation?

• Age (7months - 3 years) - critical period

• Gender - boys tend to fare (succeed/ do well/ get along) worse than girls and temperament

• Previous mother-child relationship - e.g. secure/ insecure

• Previous separation experience

• Attachment to others - multiple attachments

• Quality of care

• Type of separation - e.g. death or illness, if properly managed, it can have less of a determined effect than divorce or desertation

What is the aim and procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study (1944)?

Aim: examined the links between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation

Procedure:

Sample of 44 teenage delinquents (accused of stealing)

• interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy

• families also interviewed - checking for prolonged separation

Control group of 44 non-criminal teenagers - emotional problems assessed to see how often maternal deprivation occurred

What is the results of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study (1944)?

• 14 out of 44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths

(Of the 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation in the first 2 years of life)

• 17 out of 44 had maternal separation

= prolonged separation / deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy

Which 2 studies investigated the effects of institutionalisation?

1. ERA - English and Romanian Adoptee - Rutter et al (2011)

2. BEI - Bucharest Early Intervention project - Zeanah et al (2005)

What is the aim and procedure of the ERA?

Aim: determine the extent how good care can make up for early experiences in institutions

Procedure:

• 165 Romanian orphans who experienced very poor conditions before being adopted in Britain

• Longitudinal study assessed physical, cognitive and emotional development at 4, 6, 11 and 15 years

What are the findings of the ERA?

½ of the orphans showed signs of mental retardation when they came to the UK

At 11 years old, the recovery rates were related to age of adoption

• Adopted before 6 months - average IQ of 102

• Adopted between 6 months - 2 years had a mean IQ of 86

• Adopted after 2 years had a mean IQ of 77 - clingy, attention-seeking, showed lots of attention to strangers

= Institutional care is commonly damaging for mental health in later life due to trauma caused

What is the aim and procedure of BEI?

Aim: assess attachments in children placed in institutional care

Procedure:

Used the Strange Situation procedure with 95 children (12-31 months) who spent most of their lives in institutional care

Compared these results to a control group of 50 children who have never experienced institutional care

What are the findings of the BEI?

• 19% of the institutional group were securely attached

• 65% were classified with disorganised attachment (mixture of avoidant and resistant behaviours)

= support the idea of a sensitive period in development of attachments + failure to form attachments appears to have long lasting effects on the child