counselling stages of attachement
STAGES OF CHILD ATTACHMENT
Short term effects - Teaches the child how to form good relationships, gives the child a 'safe base' to retreat to if scared (comfort for the child to have a safe trusting adult)
Long term effects - Later on in life it can reflect on how well a child can construct lasting/trusting relationships.
Stages in the development of attachment
Stage 1
0-2 months
Pre-attachment stage
Soon after birth, babies shown a preference for human faces can also distinguish mothers voice from others after a few days.
Most infants in these stages enjoy being with people. Happy to be with anyone, do not protest when parent goes away so long as there is someone to interact with. They do not show anxiety towards strangers.
Stage 2
2-6 months
Sociability stage - sociability refers to the willingness shown by infants to engage in social interaction.
Stage 3
6 months onwards
Attachment Stage
Most infants begin to attach to one person at 6/7 months. Happy with this one person, sad when separated. Show anxiety towards strangers.
Stage 4
8 months onwards
Multiple attachment stage
Most infants begin to develop a number of attachments from 8 months. May remain close to their main attachment figure.
Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
Aim - To investigate the stages that infants go through when developing attachments.
Procedure -
* Over an 18 month period they observed 60 infants from a working class area of Glasgow. The mothers were also interviewed.
* The babies were observed every 4 weeks until they were a year old, then again at 18 months. (making it a longitudinal study)
* Attachment was measured in two ways -
Seperation protest - the baby was left alone in a room, or outside the house in their pram.
Stranger anxiety - a stranger approached the baby.
If the baby protested or showed anxiety, then it was assumed an attachment had been formed.
Findings -
* In the first 6 weeks the babies showed no preferences for a particular person.
* Up to 6 months they were becoming more sociable towards anyone.
* 50% of the children showed their first attachment between 6-8 months.
* 65% of cases this first attachment was the mother.
* By 18 months most of the infants had formed multiple attachments.
* 39% of cases the primary carer was not the first attachment.
Conclusion -
* Babies do not form attachments until over 6 months.
* Up to that stage they show sociability: happy to be with anyone.
* There are enormous differences between the ways in which infants form attachments.
Strengths -
High Ecological validity - was carried out in the infants own homes, suggesting the behaviour was more natural
Longitudinal study - more variables were kept constant as the same children were used in the study.
Weaknesses -
Over Generalised Stages - individual differences in how attachments are made make the stages too general to show reality. Also may only reflect western culture as it was only carried out in Glasgow.
Contradicting recent research - Bushnell's (1989) suggests infants are more sociable at a very early age (as young as 24 hours old).
Individual Differences In Attachment
Research shows that there are differences between individuals in the types of attachment they form.
There are two main hypothesis' to why different types of attachment are formed:
Caregiver Sensitivity Hypothesis - Suggests that it is the quality of the relationship that matters in the form of attachments, not quantity. Securely attached infants have mothers that are more effective at soothing them, compared to mothers of insecurely attached infants. Supported by Ainsworth and Bell.
Temperament Hypothesis - Suggests that it is not the quality of the relationship between the infant and caregiver that matters, but the innate differences in the temperament and personality of the infant. E.g - 'difficult' children who dislike changes in their routine may be so upset by the separation that the comfort offered by the caregiver is not effective, classing them as having an insecure attachment.
It is likely to be a combination of both hypothesis' that determine attachment styles. A majority of the research supports the caregiver - child hypothesis.
Ainsworth and Bell (1970)
Aims - To look at the individual differences in the types of attachments formed by infants.
Procedure -
* Infants were observed in lab, with set arrangement of toys/furniture.
* Infants were between 12-18 months old.
* Infants behaviour was observed/videotaped by hidden researchers.
* Following procedure was followed and lasted 20 minutes:
. Mother & child left alone in room
2. Stranger enters & talks to mother, approaches infant with a toy
3. Mother leaves child alone with stranger who interacts with child
4. Mother returns to greet/comfort child, stranger leaves
5. Mother leaves child alone in room
6. Stranger returns to be with child
7. Mother returns again, stranger leaves.
Findings -
Three patterns of attachment were found using the strange situation:
Avoidant - do not seem concerned when the mother leaves, do not seem interested in her when she returns. Treat the mother and stranger in the same way. (20% of cases)
Securely attached - cry when mother leaves, but are easily comforted when she returns. Prefer mother to the stranger (70% of cases)
Ambivilant - show great distress when mother leaves, reject her comforting when she returns (10% of cases)
Conclusion:
* 2/3rd of infants form secure attachments with caregivers, 1/3rd don't.
* If a child forms a secure attachment their more likely to form stable relationships later on in life.
* Whether a secure attachment is formed seems to depend on the sensitivity of the caregiver. When caregivers can see things from the infants perspective and are more reactive to their needs, a secure attachment is formed.
Strengths -
Reliable - Can be easily repeated as the procedure was standardised, and the same for all the participants. This means the same results could be found repeatedly.
Several Measures - The strange situation measured many aspects of attachment, such as the response to separation, to reunion and the stranger. This emphasises the complexity of attachment.
Weaknesses -
Ecological Validity - because the procedure took place in a laboratory the children were not in a natural setting making the procedure unrealistic to real life.
Culturally Biased - The findings of the attachments are seen as being a reflection of American culture and may not be relevant to other cultures which have different child rearing practices, so what could be seen as an insecure attachment in America, may be secure in Japan.
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)
Aims - to examine the differences in attachment behaviour between cultures.
Procedure -
* Examined 32 worldwide studies covering eight countries and over 2000 infants.
* All the studies used the strange situation technique (see Ainsworths study) in which infants between 12 and 18 months were separated from their mothers and introduced to strangers in a lab setting.
Findings -
* Worldwide, approx 65% secure, 35% insecure attachments were found.
* In Japan there was a high percent of ambivalent infants were found. They showed intense distress when left alone, due to child rearing practices. (children in japan and rarely left by their mothers)
* In Germany a high proportion were avoidant. The infants paid little attention to their mother coming or going, due to child rearing practices. (In Germany children are brought up to be independent and self reliant).
Conclusion -
* Secure attachments were most common worldwide.
* Significant differences between cultures were largely due to differences in child rearing practices. Different cultures place more/less value on certain behaviour, e.g. independence.
Strengths -
* Study looked at a large amount of infants in many countries. This means generalisations can be made.
* Study looked at research which had used the Strange Situation. All of the 32 studies would have observed the children in the same 7 steps. This means it has a high level of reliability.
Weaknesses -
* The original pieces of research lacked ecological validity. This ...
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* Significant differences between cultures were largely due to differences in child rearing practices. Different cultures place more/less value on certain behaviour, e.g. independence.
Strengths -
* Study looked at a large amount of infants in many countries. This means generalisations can be made.
* Study looked at research which had used the Strange Situation. All of the 32 studies would have observed the children in the same 7 steps. This means it has a high level of reliability.
Weaknesses -
* The original pieces of research lacked ecological validity. This is because the strange situation is in a lab setting, which could lead to the behaviour of the children being different.
* Most of the research involved was American, and the categories of attachment were from an American point of view. This could make the study culture biased.
Explanations/Theories of Attachment
Learning theory
The learning theory is linked to behaviourism. These psychologists believe that behaviour should be studied in a laboratory setting, which means that most research involves experiments. This method was favoured as it gave them maximum control over variables, meaning the results had high reliability but low ecological validity. They also believed that what applied to animals also applied to humans, so most of their research was carried out on animals: rats, cats and dogs.
Classical Conditioning -
Pavlov - Noticed that dogs salivated in response to a bell even before they got their food. This was because they associated the sound of the bell with the food. He thought human behaviour was learned by association in a similar way.
Sound of the bell - conditioned stimulus
Food - unconditioned stimulus
Salivation - unconditioned response.
Operant Conditioning -
Skinner - developed the learning theory further. Put a rat inside a box with a lever, which when pressed released rewards (banana milk condensed tablets). He believed any behaviour that was not reinforced would stop, and that if behaviour was reinforced it would occur.
Milk tablets - acted as a reinforcement to press the lever
Learning theory sees attachment as a learned process rather than innate.
Dollard and Miller - When an infant is fed it feels pleasure. This makes the food the UCS (unconditioned stimulus) and the pleasure the UCR (unconditioned response or a innate reflex). The person providing the food then becomes associated with the pleasure felt by the infant and there fore becomes a conditioned stimulus. The food giver is consequently seen as a source of pleasure by association. Therefore an attachment is formed through classical conditioning.
Operant conditioning is also involved in attachment as it views the food as being a reinforcer to the infant, and the person providing the food as a secondary reinforcer. The child seeks an attachment with the caregiver because it provides food and attention as reinforcement. The caregiver also seeks an attachment with the child as it acts as a reinforcer - e.g. the child smiles, the caregiver feels valued. This method of reinforcement for both caregiver and child means it is likely to occur repeatedly.
Strengths -
* Based on a scientific approach. The original learning theory was based on experimental evidence and carried out under controlled conditions with control over all the variables. The work was also objective and value free. This all makes the learning theory of attachment high in reliability.
* The theory makes common sense and emphasises on the relationship of food as a reinforcer for attachment.
Weaknesses -
* The person to whom an infant is attached is not always the person who feeds them. This contradicts with the major assumption of the theory. E.g. - Schaffer and Emerson found that in 39% of cases the person who fed the infant was not the person whom they were first attached to. This makes the theory problematic.
* The theory is also reductionist. This means it reduces complex human attachment behaviour down to simple stimulus and response bonds. This is a problem as its over simplistic, in reality attachment behaviour is highly complex.
Bowlby's theory of the development of attachment
Bowlby's theory is very different from the learning theory in many ways. Bowlby believed that :
* Attachment is innate/inborn
* Both mothers and babies are genetically pre-programmed to form attachments
* Attachment behaviour is innate because it is essential that babies are given the maximum chance of survival so they can reproduce later in life. Bowlby called this innate tendency Monotropy.
Monotropy - The strong innate tendency to become attached to one particular adult female - usually the mother.
* This attachment to the mother figure is different from other attachments, and it leads the infant to stay near his/her mother, and to show fear of strangers
* It is vital for the later social and psychological development of the infant
* If this attachment with the mother is not formed the individual will be unable to form a permanent attachment to anyone, due to a lack of an 'internal working model'
* There is a critical period between 7 months and 3 years when the attachment bond must be formed.
Bowlby : 'mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as are vitamins for physical health'
Strengths -
* Bowlby realised that attachment is to some extent innate and has a strong survival purpose, in contrast to the learning theorists. If babies don't form attachments they are less likely to survive, and therefore wont reproduce. This is a convincing argument, which is supported by Bowlby's explanation, and his concept of Monotropy.
* Bowlby's explanation of attachment is valuable because it has had many useful applications which have improved the quality of childrens and parents lives. E.g - his ideas have lead to policies of allowing parents to stay in hospital with their sick children.
Weaknesses -
* Bowlby tended to overemphasise the importance of the attachment to the mother. Many attachments are with people other than their mothers, (e.g. fathers). Schaffer and Emerson found 35% of attachments were to people other than their mothers. These attachments can just as well provide the 'internal working model'. This overemphasis had serious consequences after World War Two when women were encouraged to give up the work they had been doing in order to be full time with their children.
* Other researchers are critical of Bowlby's idea of the critical period. E.g. KULUCHOVA studied twin boys who were unable to form attachments with their mother in this period (they were brought up in a cellar until they were 5) yet after being fostered they developed into 'normal' intelligent adults.
Deprivation And Privation
Deprivation - Deprivation refers to the separation from a caregiver, as a result of which the attachment bond is broken.
Privation - Privation refers to the situation where a child has never formed an attachment with anyone.
Robertson and Bowlby (1952)
Aim - to examine the short term effects on children of deprivation from their caregivers.
Procedure -
* Young children were studied who had been separated from their mothers for some time.
* The mother going into hospital was one of the common reasons for the deprivation.
* They also made a number of short films of the children reactions. E.g. one film showed a two year old boy being admitted to a residential nursery for 9 days.
Findings -
* The two year old boy changed rapidly from a cheerful and affectionate child to a withdrawn and despairing child. On his return home he was sullen, rejecting his mother. There were severe behaviour problems throughout his life, including repeatedly running away from home. Although his physical care was good, he lacked a mother substitute and appropriate emotional care. This was typical of most of the children in the study.
* Robertson and Bowlby observed 3 stages in the short term responses of the children who reacted badly to the deprivation, which they called the PROTEST DESPAIR DETACHMENT model.
Conclusion -
* Robertson and Bowlby concluded that good substitute maternal care was vital if children were not to suffer short and long term effects of deprivation.
Bowlby (1946)
Aim - To examine the long term effects of deprivation.
Procedure -
* He compared 44 juvenile (teenage) thieves with a control group of 44 emotionally disturbed juveniles who had not been convicted of theft. They were all clients at the London Child Guidance Clinic where he was a psychiatrist.
* He interviewed the children and their families, asking about their early childhood etc.
Findings -
* 32% of the thieves were suffering from what Bowlby called Affectionless psychopathy. None of the controls were affectionless psychopaths.
* 86% of the thieves suffering from affectionless psychopathy had experienced early separation for at least a week, and often prolonged separation, before the age of 5. Many of them had spent time in children's homes, or in hospital.
Conclusion -
* Bowlby concluded that maternal (mother) deprivation/separation early in life can lead to a lack of emotional development, and hence to affectionless psychopathy (lack of guilt). He thought this would often lead to a life of crime.
* Affectionless psychopathy Bowlby decided involves a lack of guilt and remorse, and little sense of social responsibility. People suffering from it act impulsively, with little regard for the consequences of their actions. They find it difficult to form meaningful and long lasting relationships.
Strengths -
* Bowlbys research was important because the findings raised awareness that separation from parents in early life can be very damaging for children, and can lead to psychological and emotional problems later in life.
* The study also brought about a number of changes in the way that separations from parents are handled.
Weaknesses -
* Bowlby's study was retrospective
* Figures highlight another weakness which is he failed to account for why over two thirds of the thieves had got involved in juvenile delinquency. It was not due to affectionless psychopathy or separation.
Bowlby's Explanation of Maternal Deprivation
Maternal Deprivation - The result of the premature loss or absence of the mother, or the lack of proper mothering.
Bowlby said that if the bond between a mother or mother substitute and child is broken in the early years of life, it is likely to have serious long-term negative effects on the intellectual, social and emotional development of the child. For example they would also have difficulties forming relationships, and would have behavioural disorders. He also believed that these effects would be permanent and irreversible.
Bowlby's theory was first put forward in the 1950's and at that time his ideas were very revolutionary. People generally felt that so long as you looked after the physical care of a child then all would be well. They did not think that emotional care was as important.
Bowlby based his theory on his research study of '44 juvenile thieves' and also referred to a study by Goldfarb (1947) to support his ideas. Goldfarb compared a group of infants from a poor orphanage, who were fostered after a few months, with another group of infants from the same orphanage, who were fostered after three years. They were tested up to the age of 12. He found that the infants fostered aged three rather than at a few months did less well on IQ tests, and they were less socially mature, being more aggressive.
Strengths -
* Even thought there are problems with Bowlby's theory, he had an enormous impact on the care of children. He was the first person to point out that looking after a child's physical needs is not the only important thing, and that the emotional needs are as important.
* Some support for Bowlby comes from recent research into reactive attachment disorder. This is a serious psychological illness which some children experience which is thought to be due to disruptions in the attachment process. However it is probably only a relatively small number of children who suffer from RAD and it may be they have a difficult temperament as well as disruption in attachments.
Weaknesses -
* More recent research rejects his idea that it is inevitable that maternal deprivation will lead to serious problems later in life.
* Studies on which Bowlby based his ideas were largely of children in institutions, eg Goldfarb. There children would have had faced lots of difficulties of which the lack of their mother was only one. E.g. they would have faced physical deprivation through lack of warmth, food, etc. It may have been these problems that caused the negative effects.
* Rutter has highlighted the major weaknesses of Bowlby's maternal deprivation idea. E.g. he says Bowlby's cause and effect relationship between delinquency and maternal deprivation is only a correlation, and may not be causal. He also points out that Bowlby failed to distinguish between deprivation and privation, which is crucial.
As a result of all these criticisms, psychologists now think maternal deprivation should be seen as a vulnerability factor which raises the likelihood of a child becoming disturbed, nut not a factor which implies that maladjustment will follow.
Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)
RAD has recently appeared on the DSM - IV. This is a manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders.
Symptoms -
* Lack of ability to give and receive affection
* Cruelty to others, especially pets
* Abnormalities in eye contact and speech patterns
* Lying and stealing
* Lack of long-term friends
* Lack of trust in others
The main cause is thought to be a lack of attachments due to early maternal rejection and/or separation. It also seems likely that children with RAD have a difficult temperament as well. They seem unable to recover from their deprivation.
Rutter (1981)
Aim - To assess Bowlby's research, and to question Bowlby's view that it is separation itself that produced harmful long term effects for the child.
Procedure -
* Rutter studied over 2000 boys between the ages of 9 -12, living on the Isle of Wight.
* He used interviews with the boys and their families to see if the boys who had been separated from their mothers in early life turned to crime later on.
Findings -
* Rutter found that if the separation was due to physical illness or death of the mother, the boy was unlikely to turn to crime.
* If the separation was due to the psychological disorder of one or both of the parents or to stress and arguments within the family, then the boys were four times more likely to turn to crime.
Conclusion -
Rutter concluded it was the conflict and stress which came before the separation rather than the separation itself, which was the cause of the antisocial behaviour, which is a very different conclusion from the one Bowlby came to.
Strengths -
* Rutter's study involved 2000 participants. This is a very large number to do detailed interviews with. This makes the findings possible to generalise and high on reliability. It is likely that his findings don't just apply to those boys living on the Isle of Wight, but to all boys.
* Rutter believed that Bowlby had failed to distinguish between deprivation and privation. Rutter said that some of Bowlby's participants had been separated from their mothers for a short time, and others for a long time, and others had never known their mothers. Rutter felt privation had much more severe long-term effects than deprivation did, and the longer the deprivation the more severe the effects. So a strength of Rutter's work is helping us to appreciate the importance of distinguishing deprivation from privation.
Weaknesses -
* Like Bowlby's work, Rutter's study was retrospective. The boys and their families had to recall events and emotions from up to 12 years ago.
* Like Bowlby's results, Rutter's are correlational. In other words, Rutter found a statistical relationship between the amount of stress in a family before separation and the amount of antisocial behaviour. However we cannot assume that it as necessarily the family stress that caused the delinquency, it could have been another background factor. One variable is not necessarily causing the other.
Curtiss (1989)
Aim - To investigate the long term effects of privation.
Procedure -
* Curtiss and other researchers carried out a case study of one girl, Genie.
* They came across Genie when she was brought into a hospital in LA, aged 13.
* She had been locked in a dark room in her families house, with virtually no human contact, since she was a few months old.
* The researchers observed Genie closely for several years. (at first she was in hospital, then fostered by one of the researchers)
* She was given intensive training in social skills, language, walking, reading, etc.
* She was frequently tested for IQ, language, etc.
* The research ended when Genie's mother refused to allow the researchers to continue observing and testing her daughter.
Findings -
* When the study started the researchers found genie weighed 59lb's and was severly malnourished, and had the mind of a toddler.
* They found she could not speak, walk, eat solid food, etc.
* Even after intensive teaching, her language skills stayed poor, she knew lots of words but never learned proper sentences.
* They found her IQ remained very low, even after several years.
* Her social skills remained poor, (e.g. ability to make friends)
Conclusion -
* Genie did not manage to over come the damage caused by her long-term privation. However, this to some extent may have been due to brain damage at birth, we don't know.
Strengths -
* This investigation was a CASE STUDY. This is research based on one participant. The research findings are very detailed and in depth. The study of Genie lasted for many years.
* The study also has some valuable practical applications. It illustrates how vital it is that societies reduce the number of child abuse cases such as Genie's that still continue to occur. In addition Curtiss' findings would be helpful to care workers who might be involved in similar circumstances to Genie's.
Weaknesses -
* As it is based on one participant only, you cant make generalisations. The findings of the Genie investigation might only be applicable to her, and not to other children who have experienced privation. These are called FERAL children, and include many others such as the wolf children. Thus curtiss' study is low on application.
* Other research suggests that some children who have suffered privation have made remarkable recoveries, and as adults have had normal IQ's.
* E.g. Koluchova (1976) studied two identical male twins who's stepmother kept them in a cellar. When discovered at 7, they could not walk, had rickets, couldn't talk etc. A caring adult fostered them, and they are now both well adjusted.
Tizard And Hodges (1978)
Aims - Tizard and Hodges carried out a longitudinal study to examine the long term effects of privation caused by years of institutionalisation. (living in a care home).
Procedure -
* They studied 65 children who had been placed in an institution (children's home) when they were less than 4 months old, hence experiencing maternal deprivation.
* The staff of the home had been instructed not to form attachments with the children.
* Group 1, who were adopted, formed close attachments with their adopted parents. (presumably because they were desperately wanted).
* Group 2, who went back home, failed to form close bonds with their families, (presumably because the same problems existed as before).
* Group 3, who stayed in the home, were said to 'not care about anyone'.
* The children were assessed at 4,8 and 16. They had a mean IQ of 105 at 4, thus maternal deprivation did not seem to hold back their intelligence.
Findings -
* All the children experienced difficulties at school. They were very attention seeking and had difficulty forming good relationships with their peer group.
They were less likely than other children to have a special friend.
* Before the age of 4, the children had had an average of 50 different caregivers.
* By the age of 4, 24 of the children had been adopted, (group 1) and 15 had returned to their natural homes, (group 2) and the rest (group 3) remained in the home.
Conclusions -
* They concluded that the harmful effects of privation can be overcome to some extent through sensitive and consistent care (e.g. adoption). This is different from what Bowlby suggested, as he thought deprivation/privation would always lead to severe problems in later life. However Tizard and Hodges did conclude that all institutionalised children who have experienced privation show some negative effects later in life, such as difficulty with friendships.
* Shared care leads to problems with social and emotional development.
Strengths -
* It was a longitudinal study, conducted on the same children over a long period of time. This suggests that the other variables, besides type of care, such as genetic make up and IQ were kept constant, therefore the effect these had on the results were minimised.
* A second strength is that its a natural experiment. All the conditions in the experiment occurred naturally, as opposed to in the laboratory. Therefore the independent variable (the type of care) and the dependent variable (The ability to form attachments) were not manipulated by the experimenters.
* This suggests that the study has ecological validity as Tizard and Hodges did not artificially create the 3 groups, the findings probably relate to real life.
Weaknesses -
* A significant number of participants dropped out during the 16 years of the experiment. Initially the study had 65 participants, but only 42 participants remained in the study until the end. This is a problem as the participants who left the study could have been different from the remaining sample. E.g. the pps who dropped out of group 1 had more social problems at age 4 than those who didn't drop out. This suggests that the final sample of 42 pps could have been biased.
* There were considerable individual differences within groups 1 and 2. Within group 1 some of the adopted children did not manage to form close attachments with their adoptive families, and conversely some of the children who were returned to their original home did manage to develop close attachments with their parents. This suggests that factors other than type of care, such as personality or IQ can influence the likelihood of institutionalised children being capable of forming attachments.
Day Care
Daycare - childcare during the day while parents work
The effections of Daycare on development
Bowlby suggested that maternal deprivation (separation from the mother) would have a negative effect on a child's development, particularly their social and cognitive development.
In 1950 the world health organisation, influenced by Bowlby's ideas, went as far as to say that the use of day care would cause 'permanent damage to the emotional health of the future generation.'
Cognitive development - the changes in a persons way of thinking and intellectual ability over a period of time. E.g, reading,IQ.
Social development - development of a child's social skills, and their relationships with other people. E.g, interacting with others, thinking, friendships.
Andersson (1992)
Aim - To examine the effects of day care on the cognitive development of children.
Procedure -
* Andersson used a longitudinal design, he studied the same group of over 100 children from 3 to 13.
* The children came from a variety of situations, such as working class, middle class, and single parent backgrounds.
* When the children were 3 or 4, Andersson noted the type of child care they were experiencing, (home, nursery etc). He also noted at what age they had entered day care, (if they had done so).
* He then assessed the children at 8 and 13. This was achieved using the children's class teacher's ratings of their cognitive ability, as well as the results of IQ tests.
Findings -
* He found that school performance and IQ was highest for those children who had entered day care before the age of 1.
* School performance and IQ was lowest for those who had not experienced day care.
Conclusion -
* He concluded that day care has a positive effect on the cognitive development of children, particularly if they start day care at a very young age.
Bryant (1980)
Aims - To examine the effect of childminding on the children's cognitive development.
Procedure -
* Bryant studied 100 children who were all being child minded in the leafy suburbs of Oxfordshire, a relatively well off area.
* He interviewed the mother and childminders.
* He also observed the children with both their mothers and childminders.
Findings -
* Bryant found that the children were not given a great deal of attention by the minders.
* The minders felt it was their responsibility to ensure the children were physically cared for, rather than stimulated or encouraged cognitively.
* There seemed to be little play or one to one conversation between the minder and the child.
* The minders did not encourage the mothers to stay a while. (even though this has beneficial effects for children),
* About 25% of the children were happy at the minders and at home. 37% were unnaturally quiet, passive and detached at the minders but responsive at home. 37% were unresponsive in both environments. 25% of all the children were disturbed and had poor speech.
Conclusion -
* Bryant concluded that childminding often has negative effects on a childs cognitive development.
* However, he also concluded that childminding can be successful if children are introduced slowly to their new environment and if that environment is stimulating and affectionate.
Shea (1981)
Aim - To examine the effect of day care on a child's social development
Procedure -
* Shea videotaped 3 - 4 year old children in the playground during their first 10 weeks at nursery school.
* He assessed the children's level of sociability using 5 criteria:
o Aggression
o Rough and tumble play
o Frequency of peer interaction
o Distance from the teacher
o Distance from nearest child
Findings -
* He found that children became increasingly sociable over time.
o A decrease in the distance from the nearest child
o An increase in the distance from the teacher
o An increase in rough and tumble play
o An increase in aggression
o An increase in frequency of peer interaction.
* The increases in the social behaviour were greater in those who attended 5 days a week than those who attended only two days a week. This suggests that it was the day care that was increasing the rate of social development.
Conclusion -
* Shea concluded that day care at a nursery has a positive effect on a child's social development.
Belsky et al. (1988)
Aim - To examine the effects of day care on a child's social development.
Procedure -
* Belsky et al used the strange situation technique
* There were 464 young participants in this study
* The researchers observed how the participants who were in day care responded to their mothers leaving, and to strangers. They also studied children who were not in day care, observing their responses.
Findings -
* They found that a higher percentage of children in day care developed insecure attachments than children who stayed at home, if this day care had started in the first year of life, and had been for more than 20 hours per week.
* The differences were not great, but they were statistically significant,
* However, Belsky found no negative effects in attachments if the day care had started after the child was one. But he did find day care children were inclined to be more aggressive with their peers.
Security of attachment and extent of non-maternal care (Belsky 1988)
Extent of Maternal Care
20 hours + a week
20 hours - a week
Secure Attachment
59%
74%
Insecure Attachment
41%
26%
Conclusion -
* They concluded that day care can have negative effects on children's relationships and social development if they start before the age of a year.
Differences In Day Care Across Cultures
Uganda
Ainsworth (1967) compared Ugandan mothers with American mothers.
Ugandan mothers and children have a great deal of physical contact -
* the infants are carried by their mothers everywhere in slings
* they sleep with their mothers
* typically breast feed for 2 years.
This greater amount of contact results in more anxiety on separation and earlier fear of strangers than American babies. These babies seem to attach earlier than babies in the western world.
Israel
Kibbutzim mothers (communes) stay with their newborn babies for a few weeks then slowly return to fulltime work. By about 1 a child will be cared for by a nurse (called a metapelet) in the childrens house. Children return to their parents at the end of the working day. They have high quality day care and good quality time with their parents. Such children seem to have multiple attachments to a number of carers, but their strongest attachment is still with their parents.
Day Care Research Evaluation
Strengths -
* It has practical applications. Research findings suggest that what is important is the quality of day-care, so government inspectors now visit all day care places to ensure they are at a high standard.
* Research suggests that day care is particularly valuable for children from deprived homes. This suggests that research has helped us to realise the way in which we can give deprived children a head start s they are not so disadvantaged when they start school.
Weaknesses -
* It is difficult to generalise the results of research into day-care because the effects depend on factors other than just whether the child is in day care or not.
* There are a number of problems with the methodology involved in some of the studies of day-care.
* Day care studies have been done in a number of different countries, e.g. Sweden, Canada, USA, GB. Different countries have different methods or style of day-care which could make the studies unfair when comparing the countries to one another or using the results gathered. An example is in Sweden the government subsidises day care, so it is of high quality.
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