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MATERNAL DEPRIVATION - BOWLBY 1951 - Coggle Diagram
MATERNAL DEPRIVATION - BOWLBY 1951
explanation
If the attachment bond is broken or disrupted during the critical period the child WILL suffer irreversible long-term consequences
risk continues until the age of 5 if there is no suitable replacement available
idea that a warm, intimate and continual presence of nurture from a mother or mother substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies and toddlers
consequences of maternal deprivation
Problems with intellectual (cognitive) development
Negative effects on emotional development. identified ‘affectionless psychopaths’ which is the inability to feel guilt, remorse or strong emotion for other
negative impact on social development; an inability to form secure attachments in the future (due to the internal working model and the continuity hypothesis).
Bowlby (1944) 44 ‘Juvenile Thieves’ Study
interviewed 88 children (5-16). 44 criminal teenagers, 44 'non -thieves' but still emotionally disturbed teenagers
Aim : to test Bowlby's Theory of Maternal deprivation
findings:
None of the control group were affectionless psychopaths.
More than half of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their mothers for longer than six months during their first five years.
14 of the young thieves showed 'affectionless psychopathy' (they showed a remarkable lack of – since early infancy - affection or warmth of feeling for anyone.)
In the control group only two had had such a separation.
conclusion: Therefore these findings do seem to validate the MDH, as there appears to be a link between disruption to attachments in the first 5 years and later maladjustment.
strength
250 women lost mothers, through separation or death, before they were 17
Loss of mother doubles the risk of depressive and anxiety disorders in adult women
Empirical support - Bifulco et al (1992)
However, the rate of depression was highest in women whose mothers had died before they were 6
loss of a mother at a very early age (during the critical period) does seem to be associated with mental health problems in later life. validated MDH
Strength
focussing on the importance of positive attachment experiences and maintaining a monotropic bond in the first five years e.g. day care centres, hospital visiting hours reviewed
, Swedish government now offer 480 days of maternity
significant real world applications
weakness
knew whether the children were in the ‘theft group’ or the control group
knew whether the children were in the ‘theft group’ or the control group
Bowlby conducted the psychiatric assessments himself and made his own diagnoses of affectionless psychopaths
undermines the validity of much of the evidence supporting the MDH.
are problems with Bowlby’s evidence as his studies had major flaws, most importantly researcher bias