Developmental Psychology Discuss potential effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development 6.2

deprivation or trauma in childhood Can you give any examples?

Examples of deprivation or trauma in childhood Deprivation: neglect of basic needs (physical, emotional, social), poverty, institutionalisation, parental problems Trauma: severe shock or experience (divorce, death of a parent, physical or sexual abuse, war, natural disasters) Deprivation can also be traumatizing.

Feral child "raised by dogs” Malaya was born in Ukrainian and probably suffered from a developmental disorder. She was neglected by her alcoholic parents at an early age. As a toddler, Malaya was allegedly left outside by her parents. She crawled into the kennel of her parents' semi-stray dogs where she stayed. This led to her developing many dog-like behaviours such as barking and sniffing things, which stunted her abilities in language, normal human social and emotional skills. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93HymGXC_wM

Another example of deprivation: famous and controversial Harry Frederick Harlow (1905- 1981) was an American psychologist best known for his maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which demonstrated the importance of care-giving and companionship in social and cognitive development. Harlow's experiments were controversial; they included rearing infant macaques in isolation chambers for up to 24 months, from which they emerged severely disturb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O60TYAIgC4

Resilience Some children are resilient Reslience refers to the ability to recover or bounce back from stressful events Why do some children manage and some develop psychopathalogy or become criminals?

Potential effects of deprivation in childhood on later development Rutter et al. 2001 conducted a longidudinal study on a group of Romanian children from an institution who were adopted into the UK They compared them to children who were raised in UK institutions then adopted.

Results Rutter found that there were significant differences in three areas: 1. Romanian children had attachment problems (go with stranger) Difference in overactivity and cognitive impairment Romanien children showed near autistic features

The age of adoption was important, the older the more problems Normally functioning by the age of six Negative life event such as physical and sexual abuse have been assoicated with a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Rutter’s findings show that it is possible to recover from a deprived childhood. The degree of resilience in some children was remarkle

Koluchova 1971, 1991 Read the case study on p. 202 and answer the two questions

One potential effect of trauma: PTSD Remember the LO from the biological level of analysis that could be used here as well? Also info from the option: abnormal psychology can be used

Summary Deprivation and trauma can effect a child’s development (in line with Bowlby’s theory – how the caregiver acts) Rutter et al., Carion et al., Bremner et al. 2003, Olweus, Kidscape (human relationships) However, research shows that a lot of children will recover (it is not fixed), Koluchova, Rutter et al. Although, even children who are exposed to deprivation may eventually develop normally (resilience) Can also use: Rosenzweig and Bennet (1972) Brain Plasticity