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Attachment is a deep emotional bond formed between an infant and their primary caregiver over time. But what happens when the child is deprived of that bond? Bowlby’s idea of maternal deprivation provides an answer.
John Bowlby proposed the maternal deprivation theory in 1951. The theory states that separation from the mother in early childhood can have harmful long-term effects on the child’s psychological and social development. Bowlby assumes that continuous care from the mother (or another primary caregiver) is essential for normal psychological development, and therefore separation from this figure harms development.
What would be the definition of maternal deprivation?
Deprivation refers to the lack of emotional care usually a primary caregiver provides, in the case of maternal deprivation, the mother.
An example of this would be when a child’s mother becomes seriously ill and cannot care for her child for an extended period.
Let us now describe Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation.
In Bowlby’s monotropic theory, Bowlby explains a child’s attachment to their mother is their most crucial bond and that children need to bond with their mothers for the first three years of life. In his theory of maternal deprivation, Bowlby goes a step further and explains the effects of disrupted or absent attachment.
The maternal deprivation hypothesis explains Bowlby’s theory of what can happen when the bond between mother and child is absent or disrupted. He hypothesises that attachment disruption leads to severe, permanent damage to the child’s emotional, social, and intellectual development.Bowlby stated that ‘maternal love in infancy and childhood is as important to mental health as vitamins and protein are to physical health’, underscoring how important he considered this maternal bond. He also established a link between maternal deprivation and later delinquency and unloving psychopathy, which we will discuss in more detail later in this article.
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There are three types of disruption to attachment: short-term separation, long-term deprivation, and privation.
Short-term separation – when mother and child are separated for a short time.
When a mother goes away for a weekend and leaves her baby with the grandparents, the child may experience short-term separation.
Long-term deprivation – when the child loses the care of their mother.
When social service takes away the child and places them in foster care, they may experience long-term deprivation.
Privation – when a child never has the opportunity to bond with their mother, such as when their mother passes away during childbirth.
Separation and deprivation are two types of disruption to the attachment bond. It is essential to distinguish between separation and deprivation because, in most cases, separation is harmless in the long term, while deprivation can have lasting adverse effects.
Separation is the absence of a caregiver for shorter periods. Separation is very unlikely to cause psychological harm to the child unless it happens so regularly that the child has no opportunity to form an attachment.
Deprivation is the loss of something wanted or needed over an extended period. If a child experiences the loss of their primary caregiver after establishing an attachment, this is a deprivation that can lead to developmental problems later in life.
Bowlby and Robertson (1952) found that children show signs of distress when they experience a short-term separation from their primary attachment figure. They divided this response into different stages of despair and described them using the PDD model:
Long-term deprivation occurs when a child loses their primary caregiver, and their attachment to them is disrupted. According to Bowlby, this type of separation can have serious negative consequences.
Privation occurs when a child has no chance to bond with a primary caregiver.
An example of this would be a child placed in a foster home almost immediately after birth. The child has not had enough time to bond with its mother and, because of the nature of foster homes, cannot attach to any of the rotating staff members.
For example, Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQ in children placed in institutions than those in foster care. Foster children had a higher standard of emotional care and a higher IQ.
To further investigate maternal deprivation and its effects, Bowlby conducted a study on the relationship between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy. In this study, his participants were 44 adolescent thieves and 44 control participants of the same age group. Bowlby examined the children’s early childhood attachments and how these might correlate with unloving psychopathy and their criminal acts.
The purpose of this study was to examine the possible relationship between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy.
The sample in this study consisted of 44 delinquent teenagers accused of theft. Researchers interviewed all ‘thieves’ for signs of affectionless psychopathy, characterised by a lack of affection, guilt, and empathy for their victims. They also interviewed their families to determine if the ‘thieves’ had experienced a long, early separation from their mothers.A control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed adolescents was formed to see how often the children who were not thieves were separated from or deprived of their mothers. These participants were matched to the ‘thief group’ based on age and IQ, which a psychologist tested at the beginning of the study. The IQ test was also used to measure the emotional attitudes of both groups towards the test.Bowlby took the information gathered about the children’s emotional state and early childhood and compared it to see a correlation between these factors.
Bowlby found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Of these 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers. Of the thieves who were not diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths, only 3 of the remaining 30 had experienced a maternal separation in childhood.In the control group, only 2 of 44 had experienced prolonged separation.It was concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy.
What would be the strengths and weaknesses of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
Here we go into some criticism of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation through the limitations of the 44 thieves study.
John Bowlby proposed the maternal deprivation theory in 1951. The theory states that separation from the mother in early childhood can have long-term adverse effects on the child’s psychological and social development.
It assumes that the disruption of the attachment relationship leads to severe, permanent damage to the child’s emotional, social, and intellectual development.
Bowlby stated that ‘maternal love in infancy and childhood is as important to mental health as vitamins and protein are to physical health’, underscoring how important he considered the maternal bond.
There are three types of disruption to attachment: short-term separation, long-term deprivation, and privation.
To further examine maternal deprivation and its effects, Bowlby conducted a study on the relationship between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy. Bowlby found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. He concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation leads to affectionless psychopathy.
The theory states that separation from the mother in early childhood can have harmful long-term effects on the child’s psychological and social development. Bowlby assumes that continuous care from the mother (or another primary caregiver) is essential for normal psychological development, and therefore separation from this figure harms development.
Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation is socially sensitive as it states the mother is crucial to the child's development. This could put a lot of pressure on mothers who for example need to go back to work and would need to leave their children. Mothers may also face discrimination and judgement from others who think their place is at home.
John Bowlby proposed the maternal deprivation theory in 1951.
The main principle in Bowlby’s theory on child development is that attachment to a primary caregiver is crucial for a child’s emotional, social, and intellectual development.
Bowlby’s theory leans to the nature side as he believed all infants have an innate need to attach to their mothers or a motherly figure.
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