DESCRIBE AND DISCUSS THE ABOVE QUOTE WITH REFERENCE TO BOWLBY’S WORK.

The major and related components of Bowlby's theory of development are concerned with maternal deprivation, especially the effects of separation from their mothers on young children, and the explanation for these effects in terms of the nature of their attachment to her. Bowlby's theories have evolved over a thirty-year period, and any brief résumé is bound to do them less than justice. His later writings are much more theoretical, sophisticated and circumspect than his early writings; however, it was the earlier writings which had the most impact on public opinion.

An important aspect of Bowlby’s theory is that he believed attachment to be monotropic, which is to one person only. Bowlby acknowledged that children became attached to a number of people, but believed that the principal bond is formed with the mother or permanent mother substitute, and is different in kind from all others. He claimed that the bond develops around the age of seven months to three years, and that this period is known as the criti

cal period. It is this relationship which is essential for the child’s security, and it is breaks in this relationship which Bowlby believes leads to psychological disorder. So Bowlby states that mothering cannot be shared; children can only have one mother figure. A young child may be separated from one or both caregivers for a variety of reasons, including divorce, death or hospitalisation. When the separation involves the loss of the primary attachment figure and consequent bond disruption, it is called deprivation. Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis states that if the child experiences prolonged periods of separation such as those already stated, then the child will be at risk of suffering a number of short term and long-term consequences.

However Bowlby’s theories did have its criticisms. It is said that in his study of juvenile thieves, his sample was biased, he chose from a target population of juvenile thieves; there was nothing to compare them with. Also his study was retrospective, it was backward looking, it relied on incomplete records and distorted memories to piece together the youths histories. Bowlby put forward the idea of a critical period in the imprinting study; this was later changed to a more flexible sensitive period. This meant that the time for attachment was not as fixed as was first thought. There are many researchers that consider it to be incongruous to generalize from animals to humans and that the imprinting process bears little relationship to attachment behaviour in primates. In light of the criticisms and a large body of later research, other researchers, such as Rutter, have offered considerable modification of Bowlby’s theory.

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