Maternal deprivation

Maternal deprivation

1. Bowlby disrupted the idea that a good standard of care was food and physical care.

   • He said that children need a warm intimate and continuous relationship with a mother or permanent substitute to ensure good mental health
     • He said that a young child who is denied such care because of frequent or prolonged separation may become emotionally disturbed.

2. Separation will only have this effect if it happens before the age of 2 1/2 years & possibly continuing to age 5.

   • And if there's no permanent replacement

3. Long term consequences of deprivation was emotional maladjustment or even mental health problems such as depression

4. 44 thieves:

   • Analysed case histories of the number of his patients in child guidance clinic in London where he worked
   • All = maladjusted
   • He studied 88 of the children - Half had been caught stealing and the other half were controlled group.
   • He suggested some were emotionless affectionless psychopaths that lacked normal signs of affection shame or responsibility, this allowed them to be thieves as they could steal from others and it didn't matter to them
   • Those diagnosed as psychopaths had experience frequent early separation from their mothers - 86%.
   • 39% of all thieves had experienced early separation
   • None of the control participants experienced early separation.
   • Lack of continuous care may well cause emotional maladjustment mental disorders and psychopathy

5. Individual differences

   • Not all children = affected by disruption in same way. Secure children = sometimes cope reasonable well, whereas insecure children = very distressed.

6. Real life application

   • Bowlby had massive impact on post war thinking about childrearing and how they're looked after in hopsitals. Often visiting children in hospitals was discouraged / forbidden. Bowlby lead a massive social change.

7. Deprivation vs privation.

   • Deprivation = bond formed but lost / broken
   • Privation = bond never formed. Potentially more harmful.
   • Bowlby never specified, Rutter defined the 2 differences.