Attachment Definitions

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Attachment Definitions:

Deprivation: Deprivation occurs when a child who has experienced attachment is separated for a period of time from their primary attachment figure. Short term effects of deprivation have been described in the PDD Model. The maternal deprivation hypothesis describes the long term effects of deprivation.

Privation: Privation occurs when a child has never been able to form any attachments - this is also known as 'Failure to Form Attachments'.

Rutter (1981): The main important difference between Deprivation (loss of an attachment figure) and Privation (lack of an attachment figure) is that only privation may have permanent consequences.