A variety of research has suggested that there is a critical period, or sensitive period when forming attachments in early childhood. Bowlby (1969) argued that this critical period ends between around one and three years of age and that after that it would not be possible to form a strong attachment to the mother or indeed any other person. Klaus and Kennell (1976) investigated into this by comparing the progress of two groups of infants. One group had routine contact with their mothers during regular feeding sessions whereas the other group had extended contact both over the first three days of life. One month later the mothers returned to the hospital and it was found that more bonding had occurred with the extended contact group than the routine contact group. Even one year later the extended mothers group seemed to have a closer attachment then the other group. This therefore shows the importance of skin-t

Psychologists disagree strongly about the developmental consequences of day care. It is clear however that day care can have both negative and positive. Sociability is a key issue to look at that can be affected by day care. For example a variety of studies have shown that children who frequently attend a day nursery become more active, outgoing and playful but less aggressive a clear positive consequence. One of these studies in question was conducted by Shea (1981) who videotaped three and four year old children in the playground during their first ten weeks at nursery school. It was found that sociability increased over this time, for example there was a decrease in aggression and a decrease in the child’s distance from the teachers. In addition these increases in sociability were stronger in those children that attended the nursery five times a week rather than just three times a week. This therefore shows that it is the experience of the day nursery rather than maturation that was producing most of the changes. Based on the evidence above it can therefore be seen that day care can have positive consequences in terms of increased sociability on children. In addition it can also be seen that it is important for the child to have a break away from his/her parents in order to gain a certain amount of independence and so that the child is not permanently reliant on his/her parents.

Institutionalisation is a further important area to look at when discussing the maternal deprivation hypothesis and key research comes from Spitz (1945) and Goldfarb (1947). Spitz investigated into children in poor orphanages in South America. The staff in these orphanages gave little attention to the children and as a result the children became apathetic. Furthermore some of the children appeared to suffer from anaclitic depression, when the child has a loss of appetite and resigned helplessness. Spitz claimed that this occurred due to their lack of emotional care and separation from there mothers, thus supporting the maternal deprivation hypothesis giving further evidence that there can be negative consequences within attachment relationships. In addition Goldfarb has also provided evidence to support Bowlbys hypothesis. Goldfarb compared two groups of children from a poor and understaffed orphanage. One of the groups had spent just a few months there before being fostered whereas the other group of children had spent three years at the orphanage before being fostered. The two groups were tested a number a times using intellige

Some topics in this essay:
South America, Strange Situation, Bristol University, Klaus Kennell, , Furthermore Bowlby, negative effects, negative consequences, Mary Ainsworth, day care, maternal deprivation, deprivation hypothesis, attachment relationships, maternal deprivation hypothesis, social skills, children spent orphanage, lack emotional, 1981 argued, negative consequences attachment, his/her parents, consequences attachment relationships, distressed caregiver leaves,