Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

Maternal deprivation

The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his or her mother or mother substitute. Bowlby proposed that continuous care from her mother is essential for healthy psychological development, and that prolonged separation from this adult causes serious damage to emotional and intellectual development

Bowlby maternal deprivation

Focused on the idea that continual presence from a mother or mother substitute is essential for healthy psychological development of babies and toddlers, both emotionally and intellectually. He believed that being separated from my mother an early childhood has serious consequences

Difference between separation and deprivation

Separation is a child not having a primary attachment figure present. This only becomes a problem if the child becomes deprived of emotional care. Brief separations whether the child is with a substitute caregiver are not significant for development but extended separations can lead to deprivation which causes harm.

Bowlby critical period

Bowlby saw the first 2 ½ years of life as a critical period for psychological development. If a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute and therefore deprived of her emotional care for an extended duration during this critical period then psychological damage was inevitable and a continuing risk up to age 5

Intellectual development

Bowlby believe that if children were deprived of total care for two long during the critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development, characterised by very low IQ.

Goldfarb 1943 found lower IQ in children who had remained an institutions as opposed to those who were foster on this had a higher standard of emotional care

Emotional development

Maternal deprivation may also affect children’s emotional development. Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others, as well as a lack of empathy for any person they have harmed period this prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships and associated with criminal.

If an affectionless psychopath harm someone else, they don’t understand the other person‘s feelings and so lack remorse for the actions

Bowlby’s research

44 the study exam the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.

44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing. All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Their families were also interviewed to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers. The sample was compared to a controlled group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people.

Bowlby I found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as a affectionless psychopaths and 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. In contrast only five of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations. Only two participants in the control group had experienced long separations.

Bowlby concluded that prolonged early separation or deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy

W Flawed evidence

Bowlby interviewed the children, decided the diagnosis of AP.

He also selected the sample for the study

Makes research invalid and his theory questionable

W Lewis

Looked at 500 young people rather than 44 in Bowlby’s study.

Found no link between MD and AP

S Čater and Majdič

W Čater and Majdič

Reviewed research and rodents. Both deprived of maternal care

Found that short periods of deprivation affects the developing brain.

Animal research so hard to generalise

W Koluchová

Reported case of Czech Twins

Both had severe physical and emotional abuse 18m - 7y

Adopted by a family and had great care, recovered fully

Suggests that lasting harm is not inevitable