Outline and Evaluate Research Into Privation

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Outline and evaluate research into privation (12 marks) Privation is the lack of having any attachments due to failing to form them in early life. Hodges and Tizard conducted a study into privation in 1989. They analysed the lives of 65 British children from early life to adolescents. These children were placed in institutional care when they were less than four months old and carers were told to avoid making attachments with the children. Early studies found that 70% were unable to show feelings towards anyone. The children were assessed regularly and some of the children had even left due to adoption or they had been reunited with their families. Hodges and Tizard found that the children who had been reunited with their families were less likely to form attachments with their mothers; however the adopted children were as closely attached to their parents as ‘normal’ children. On the other hand, both groups did have problems with peers as they struggled to make secure friendships. This shows that privation had an effect on the children and had affected their ability to form attachments. Hodges and Tizard’s study suggests that privation has negative effects on people in later life; however there may be other factors that affect people. Privation is only one of these numerous factors and other studies have proven that children can recover from privation to form attachments in later life. Privation is more likely to cause damage when paired with other factors and therefore privation cannot be solely to blame for the inability to form attachments. In addition to this, the Hodges and Tizard study did not follow the participants into later life. Therefore we cannot be sure that they were unable to form attachments as adults as they may have recovered from privation. The children may have needed more time to mature sufficiently and learn how to form attachments. This
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