Privation and the effects of institutionalisation - disruption of an attachment

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  • Created by: Safiya
  • Created on: 08-01-14 21:44

Effects of separation

Privation - Lack of attachment altogether where a child has been unable to form an attachment

Deprivation - An attachment is formed but broken later on in life 

Short-term effects of seperation;

  • Protests - Cries, screams when the parent leaves.
  • Dispair -   Child accepts the situation, becomes subdue and refuses comfort from others
  • Deattachment - Child begins to engage with others but is wary. When caregiver returns, the child may reject them.

Long-term effect of seperation;

  • Seperation anxiety - extreme clinginess when the parent/ primary caregiver leaves, the child becomes deattached from parent emotionally and/ or to adults generally.
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Institutionalisation

Institutionalisation

Hodges and Tizard (1989) looks at the behaviour pattern of children who have been raised in institutions, for example; orphanages and foster homes.

Research shows that children raised in institutions display disinhibited attachment. Children with this attachement type are;

  • attention seeking towards adults
  • too friendly and have unusual contact, e.g hugging people they have recently met, towards adults.
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Can children recover from institutionalisation?

Yes! But this depends on many factors;

  • Quality of care at the institution. How many carers are they exposed to?
  • The age of the child when they are removed from the institution or from privation - The examples of the Czech twins and Genie demonstrate that the earlier the child is removed from the situation, the better their recovery later on in life.
  • The quality of care after they have been institutionalised/ privation. Genie was looked after by various psychologist who treated her as an object of research. When she was taken to a home, she was further abused. In comparasion, the Czech twins were taken in by two sisters who cared for them well. The twins eventually progressed on to having children of their own.
  • The follow on experiences later on in life. Early experiences when followed by good experiences later in life can have positive effects on the overall outcome on the person.
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