8. Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

critical period in which maternal deprivation will have a damaging effect

0-2.5 years of age

44 thieves study

A: investigate long-term effects of maternal deprivation on people in order to see whether delinquents have suffered deprivation

P: 88 children selected from child guidance clinic Bowlby worked at. 44 thieves, 44 controls (had emotional problems yet had not committed crimes). tested their IQs and interviewed the parent on the child’s early life

F: more than half of the thieves had experienced separation from the mother for over 6 months before the age of 5 years old compared to only 2 in the control group. 32% of the thieves group showed affectionless psychopathy whereas 0% of the control group did

C: maternal separation/deprivation in the child’s early life caused permanent emotional damage. Bowlby diagnosed this as a condition called affectionless psychopathy

define affectionless psychopathy

a lack of emotional development characterised by a lack of concern for others, lack of guilt, and inability to form meaningful and lasting relationships

what did Bowlby believe disruption to the primary relationship between the infant and the mother could cause

juvenile delinquency, emotional difficulties, antisocial behaviour

effects on intellectual, social, emotional development

one limitation of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study is that the evidence provided for his theory was in the form of clinical interviews

Bowlby interviewed the parent of each child in the study to record details of the child’s early life (e.g. periods of separation)

this is retrospective data on who had and had not been separated from their primary caregiver

memories may not be accurate

mothers may also alter their reports of their child’s early life as a result of social desirability bias or demand characteristics

lacks reliability

one limitation of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study is the data is correlational

Rutter (1972) suggested that Bowlby’s conclusions were flawed as he mixed up cause and effect with correlation

Bowlby concluded affectionless psychopathy was caused by maternal deprivation (correlational data), but other external variables (family conflict, parental income, education) may have affected the behaviour of the 44 thieves

one limitation of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study is it is biased

Bowlby designed and conducted the experiment himself

may have lead to experimenter bias, especially since he was responsible for making the diagnosis of affectionless psychopathology

one limitation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation is that physical separation may not be the only cause of maternal deprivation

Yarrow et al (1985) studied mothers who were severely depressed and found that 55% of their children (mean age 32 months) were insecurely attached, compared to 29% in the non-depressed group

suggests that a mother who is physically present but unable to provide suitable emotional care can also cause deprivation

shows that emotional separation can also lead to deprivation

one strength of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation is there are real-world applications

before Bowlby’s research, children were separated from parents when they spent time in hospital.

Robertson (1952) filmed a 2-year-old girl called Laura during the 8-day period she was in hospital who is seen to be frequently distressed and begs to go home

Bowlby’s study and theory had positive impacts on post-war thinking about childrearing and also on how children were looked after in hospitals

Bowlby’s and Robertson’s work led to a major social change in the way children were cared for in hospital