Privation

Privation

1. Hodges and Tizard (1989)

   • Longitudinal natural experiment
     • Followed a group of 65 children placed in institutional care when they are less than 4 months old
       • Caregivers were told not to make attachments with the infants
       • Showed that at age 16 the children that had been adopted were closely attached to their families, which was not the same as children who had returned to their natural families.
         • However, both groups of ex-institutional children had problems with peers and sought more attention from adults (a sign of disinhibited attachment

2. Isolated Child - Genie

   • Genie was locked in her room by her father until she was 13 and a half because he thought she was retarded.
     • When she was found she could not stand up straight and could not speak properly. She also showed a disinterest in people.
       • This could be due to age she was found or the extreme early emotional privation.

3. It was not possible to recontact all the children used in the study, this could suggest ex-institutional children need more time than normal to mature sufficiently.

4. Not all children who experience privation do not recover. In the study of Romanian orphans, one-third recovered well. Privation cannot explain negative outcomes. This theory suggests there needs to be multiple risk factors.