Disruption of Attachment - Deprivation Studies

Robertson & Robertson (1971)

Procedure

- Filmed children under the age of 3 during short separations

- One boy, John, spent 9 days in a residential nursery

- Staff couldn't attend his personal needs

- Other children filmed while Robertson cared for them

- They were visited by mothers in hospital and brought things from home for them 

Findings

- John demonstrated PDD model, first clinging to a teddy 

- Became withdrawn and despairing 

- Rejected mother on reunion 

- Had angry outbursts for months after

- Other children ate and slept well

- Welcomed parents at the end

- Maintained an emotional bond which kept the attachment in place

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Skeels and Dye (1939)

Procedure

- Compared one group of orphans raised in a home for women who were mentally disabled with control group.

- Control group remained in the original institution

Findings

- After 1 1/2 years the IQs of the control group fell from 87 to 61 points 

- Group transferred to home IQs rose from 64 to 90 points 

- Individuals assessed 20 years later and effects still apparent

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Juvenile Thieves 

Procedure

- 88 children (5-16 years) referred to Bowlby's clinic

- 44 children referred because of stealing 

- 16 of the 44 identified as 'affectionless psychopaths'

- Remaining 44 hadn't committed any crimes and showed no antisocial behaviour. None of these were identified as afectionless psychopaths but were assessed as 'emotionally maladjusted' 

- Interviewed children and families and created a record of early life experiences

Findings

- 86% of affection less psychopaths had experienced early and prolonged separation from mothers 

- 17% of other thieves hadn't experienced separations

- 4% of non-thieves had experienced frequent early separations

Evaluation

- Social desirability bias - interviews

- Not a large enough sample - low population validity 

- Not enough of each age considered - low population and ecological validity 

- Only looked at one type of crime

- Investigator bias

- Errors of retrospective data 

- Theft could have been due to other reasons - can't establish cause and effect