This paper looks into the concept of self-concept in children who have been deprived of their mother. The first part of this work explores the subject of self-concept with the aim of understanding how self-concept forms and develops. In the second section, the concept of maternal deprivation is focused with the role of the mother in the childs life being central. Finally the paper discusses some of the factors that affect deprivation of the mother and childs response.
The Self-Concept
To gain a clear understanding of the link between maternal deprivation and the childs self concept, it is important to understand what constitutes self-concept. Essentially, self-concept constitutes of viewpoint, mind-set as well as opinions that every person has and stands with as true concerning their existence. These aspects of every person come in a system that is organized and complex and are usually learnt. The knowledge of self accumulates with time and this self entails the beliefs that one has as far as physical traits, personality characteristics as well as values and roles are concerned. Self-concept is ones understanding of their social characteristics, physical traits and psychological disposition. Some of the physical traits that one may consider himself to have include viewing oneself as either tall, plump or beautiful. Socially, one may consider themselves as sociable, confident or shy whereas psychologically, it is possible to perceive oneself as optimistic, a good decision maker or pessimistic.
Self-concept develops from as early as early childhood and progresses with age. Immediately an infant is capable of getting information from social interactions and organizing it such that it becomes possible to understand the social world around him it is at this point that one can say that the self-concept starts developing. The interactions between cognitive skills in the child and relationships with either the family or the childs peers form the basis for development of a self-concept in the child.
It has been proposed that self-concept develops following two aspects i.e. the existential self and the categorical self with the existential self being the most fundamental element of self concept. The self existential helps a child to become conscious that they exist separately from others and that their existence is constant. The existential self starts from when the child is barely four months old with the childs interaction with the world partly contributing to this. The categorical self comes later after the child recognizes hisher existential self. It entails the childs awareness that he or she is part of the many objects that exist in the world and therefore has properties thereof. Such properties as describes other objects in the world include color, texture as well as size. It therefore becomes part of the child to refer to themselves as for instance two years old, as a girl or a boy or as tall or short.
Important to note is that the stage of the child determines their level of understanding of the self. In early childhood, the child uses the physical features or certain skills to describe himself whereas at middle childhood, the child becomes more socially comparative thus shifting his views to those of internal psychology. As the child enters adolescence, his views of self-concept emerge to be more conceptual and multifaceted with its organization being more orderly.
There are assumptions that are taken when describing self-concept. It is for instance assumed that one learns self-concept. This is because there is no one who is born already having certain self-concept. Instead, the early days of life see the self-concept emerge and gradually develop depending on daily experiences. The implication of the fact that self-concept is learnt is that there lies much potential in everyone to develop and bring into being the self-concept. In addition, experiences of the past as well as current view of things shapes a persons view of themselves. It is also assumed that self-concept has to be organized in an orderly and consistent way. Altering the self-concept abruptly may therefore lead inconsistency in personality. This stability in self perception may persist for long even with attempts to change it. The dynamism of self-concept is also an important assumption thus helping the individual to face challenges and changes in the universe. In other words, self-concept acts as the guide in a persons life and it leaves room for adapting to prevailing conditions.
Self-concept goes hand in hand with self image, self esteem and the ideal self. These aspects are fundamental to selfconcept particularly in evaluating an individuals self concept. Self esteem is also known as self worth and it entails ones extent of self approval or self value. This evaluation therefore ends up being said as either a negativelow self worth or a positivehigh self worth. An individual with a high self-esteem ends up having greater confidence in hisher abilities and a high level of self acceptance. In addition, a positive esteem person is usually optimistic and has a strong sense of self without regard of what those around them may be thinking. An individual with low self esteem on the other hand has no confidence in himself and has a tendency to always want to appear like someone else. Pessimism also characterizes the life of a low esteemed person. From the view of self esteem, it is doubtless that the state of self esteem, which is determined largely by the environment which the child is brought up, determines the self awareness of an individual either positively or negatively. Although self esteem changes with the prevailing circumstances, its effect on self-concept are usually far reaching.
Self image is also central to self-concept and this describes what an individual sees in themselves. An important aspect about self image is that it is not a must that it represents the reality. Nevertheless, it affects ones self-concept as the individual believes and behaves in the manner in which they see themselves. Parental control is a central determinant of a persons image and therefore the lack of such influence definitely affects the persons self image and concept. Friends and the media are also known to influence an individuals self image. The media for instance may give praise to leanness and this may make a quite plump person to view themselves as a social misfit. Self image touches on aspects such as ones physical portrayal, social roles, personal traits as well as existential proclamations. All these are important factors when considering an individuals self-concept more so in children.
A third important component of self-concept is the ideal self which essentially describes a persons wish. The way a person views themselves has to be in tandem with what one would like to be i.e. ones ideal self. Without this, the self-concept or self value is definitely affected. It is however recognized that ones wishes must not always turn out to be the reality and this is allowed for when evaluating self-concept along this factor. The congruency between self image and ideal self is determined by virtually all the determinants of self-concept which include social roles, our ability to interact with the social world as well as our self regard in the presence of others.
It is conclusively right to say that self-concept is best if a person knows themselves, are able to love as well accept the way they are and they are honest with themselves having the ability to make sound choices and be responsible of the outcomes thereof.
Once self-concept has been built upon the above pillars, it is necessary to maintain and enhance this self awareness otherwise it can easily erode with unfavourable environmental experiences. A positive self-concept can be enhanced by constant self-affirmation about self. This aspect however is restricted to grown-ups who have concrete understanding of the self but not in children whose self-concept is mainly understood as personal attributes. The self-serving attribution bias has also been proposed as an effective self enhancement strategy. Again this bias can only be effectively expressed by persons who have a clear understanding of themselves. These two self enhancement theories act as an eye opener that the best and solid self-concept can only be built as from childhood and therefore persons who are responsible for the well being of a child have a vital role to play in determining the self-concept of the children. The mother who is in most circumstances closely attached to the child is of particular significance in attaining a positive self-concept in the child and so is the absence of the same.
Maternal deprivation
When talking of deprivation of the mother, it is generally referred to as the discontinuity of the mother-child relationship or otherwise the loss of the mother. This is as opposed to privation which although it refers to lack of this relationship, the mother is absent but not necessarily lost. According to Lebovici, the failed mother-child relationship may be encountered where the child totally no relationship with mother or if the relationship is discontinuous. Maternal deprivation can be classified in several forms. One instance is deprivation that happens even before the two have formed a stable relationship full of security and dependency. It can happen that the child may not even get a chance to establish a concrete relationship afterwards such as it happens in the case of institutionalisation. On the other hand, the child may be presently deprived of a maternal figure but then gets the same opportunity later in life. An extreme case of mother deprivation occurs in case the child gets separated from the mother after a solid relationship has already been established. It even becomes worse if there stands no chance of going back to the same secure relationship. Some children may happen to get back into a stable relationship later with the same mother or a person with the role of the mother. The deprivation of mother may also be temporary whereby reunion follows soon after cessation of the initial relationship.
Maternal deprivation occurs under different circumstances. The father of the child for instance may do all that it takes to get the children away from their mother. This may mean murdering the mother, accusing the mother falsely so that the mother is incarcerated or denied custody of the child. Fathers have for instance been found to accuse the mother of having syndromes such as Parental Alienation Syndrome or Hostile Aggressive Parenting thus depriving the mother the right to have custody of the child. Though maternal deprivation is done as a punishment to the mother, little is it realized that the long term consequences are left with the child who becomes socially scared due to poor self-concept.
Importance of the role of the mother in the childs life
According to Bowlby et al (1956), maternal deprivation encompasses being separated from the mother by way of losing the mother or by failing to establish an attachment with the mother. Maternal deprivation is usually more severe during the early years of the child since this is the stage at which the child gets programmed and this is mainly accomplished by the mother. It therefore implies that lack of the mother figure has dire consequences as shall be seen later. The deprivation of mother may occur for instance when the mother dies, if the mother is incarcerated, if the children are institutionalized in juveniles or care centres among other causes. To better comprehend the seriousness of mother-child separation, it is of importance to review the importance of the role of the mother in the childs life. In his work on imprinting, Lorenz identified the importance of attachment in survival and also concluded that attachment was intrinsic.
This implies that when children are born, they already have an attachment to their closest beings who most of the times happen to be the mother. For the attachment to remain a baby tends to send social releaser signal such as crying and these help to mend the bond of separation as attention is restored. Bowlby suggested that the attachment that the child had had to be with one main figure, a condition known as monotropy. Again the mother qualifies to be this main figure of attachment and that this initial attachment bears more benefit qualitatively compared to any kind of attachment that may come thereafter. Noteworthy is the fact that even if the child would get another close attachment, it would never equal that initial attachment offered by the mother at the tender age. The importance of having the motherly attachment at an age less than five years and particularly so in the first twelve months was stressed by Bowlby, et al citing that mother-child separation at this critical stage leads to severe long-lasting and irreversible outcomes. Equally, interruptions in the relationship between the baby and the mother at this tender age have long lasting social, cognitive and emotional challenges on the childs life. Some of the consequences resulting from broken mother-child attachment include depression, lack of concern and fondness for others, low intelligence, tendency to end up a law breaker and heightened aggressiveness.
A close attachment between a child and the mother is very essential in ensuring a wholesome development in later years of the child. For the child to be socially developed he or she must have had a close relationship with a special personality and preferably the mother, otherwise the attachment becomes too poor for the child to cope socially later in life. This is demonstrated by the distress caused on a child after being separated from the mother. The attachment theory suggested by Bowlby stresses the need for the mother in the first years of development if the child is to be saved from depression, emotional distraught as well as relationship difficulties. It is of emphasis that if a child gets a good attachment with their mother, then there are high chances that the child will possess a high self esteem which is a vital component of a persons self-concept. With the positive self-concept, such a child is able to attract and form solid relationships with others in the social world. In addition, the self-concept of such a person is always enhanced by the positive attitude such a person develops making them excel socially.
Maternal deprivation has potential not only to affect the cognitive and social development life of the child but also to impact on the health of the child. The health of the child more so in the development of the brain consequently affects the behaviour of the child. It has for instance been identified that maternal deprivation has adverse effects on brain development in infant monkeys. The result of poor brain development is behavioural dysfunctions such as depression, and aggression. A good example of the effect of maternal deprivation is the development of the maternal deprivation syndrome that is usually evident in children under the age of two years. Absence of the mother in this syndrome leads to the child not attaining the right weight, abnormal physical growth among other consequences. All these characteristics are indicators of failure to blossom.
If a child lacks close attachment with the mother at the early years of development, then it becomes common phenomenon to see the child grow with impaired relationship making capabilities. This is especially if the mother deprivation was complete. On the other hand, the child also has high chances of developing anxiety, and uncontrollable emotions all of which show impaired self-concept. These may have been some of the reasons why Bowlby may have equated the necessity of motherly love in ensuring a good mental health status at the tender age with essential nutrients such as proteins and vitamins that are important for physical integrity. As earlier noted, the development of self-concept begins in the first few months after a child is born. This time period correlates with the period proposed by Bowlby as the most critical period for a mother to form a meaningful attachment with the child. This means that if it happens that the child lacks the mother figure at this age, then the positive impacts of the mother to the child are ignored and so a poor or negative self-concept begins to take root in the child.
Studies on maternal deprivation in animals stress the importance of the role of the mother in the development of the child, even so the development of cognitive and behavioural skills. Harry Harlows experiments where he separated infant monkeys from their mothers have come under severe criticism due to the negative effects that were found out from his work. The monkeys were cited to have had serious problems in their emotions and behavior. They particularly become autistic and socially withdrawn due to this separation. Considering that monkeys are very close to human beings evolutionary, there is no doubt that a child also stand a chance of developing such adverse consequences. Hormonal changes in children as studied by Carlson indicate the importance of having motherly contact in children. In her study on the consequences of maternal attachment and hormonal changes, Carlson found out that children whose mothers held them during vaccination had only a slight increase in cortisol hormone levels as compared to children who were not held by their mothers. Harlows experiments further proved that maternal deprivation leads to mental development whereas the social and behavioural aspects of such monkeys came to be affected by this separation.
The importance of the mother-child relationship can also be established by looking at other consequence of maternal deprivation. Depression is at the root of maternal deprivation as found out by Munro. He identified that among the depression patients he studied most of them had lost their mothers during youthful stage to cancer. This was contrary to the control group who had their fathers die from cancer at the same age group. Depression is a mental illness and therefore falls under the classification of Bowlbys (1953) mental illnesses that develop after mother deprivation and these impair a childs ability to love objects in the environment. It is to be remembered that self-concept develops with a child having the ability to realize that he or she is an object and therefore he can perceive himself as having those characteristics.
Factors affecting the deprivation of the mother and childs response
There are several factors that have an effect on the way the relationship turns out after the child is deprived of the mother. Most of these are primarily based on what led to the deprivation and the stage at which deprivation occurs. As such, whether the deprivation is temporary or long lasting is a very essential aspect to consider. The time period in which the child is deprived of the mother is a determinant of the outcomes of the deprivation on the child. If the child stays away from the mother for quite a lengthy period, such as it happens with children in day care, it is then possible to have the child suffer more developmental problems. Such a child lacks the sense of security and has no chance of acquiring values which can only be best instilled by the mother. It has been shown that if infants are reared in institutions where they are deprived of their mothers for up to ten months, then they have a tendency to have slow growth as well as experience behavioural retardation.
The age at which the deprivation occurs is very crucial in determining how the child will turn out to be, both emotionally and mentally. At a very tender age below the age of one year, deprivation results to severe emotional and mental damage. It is therefore likely to see signs of poor self-concept in such a child as displayed by the childs withdrawal, sense of insecurity and intellectual underdevelopment. Separation at this stage brings anxiety that causes depression and immune system compromise. Physical illnesses are therefore a common phenomenon in a child deprived of the mother at a very early age.
Now and again, it has been stressed that the first three to five years of the child are very important if mother-child relationship were to be maintained constant otherwise the child ends up being impaired in thought system, intellectual ability, social life and love life. This is mainly because the child is not in a position to engage in any peer activity until he or she is more than two years when separation from the mother may be substituted to an extent by the peers. It has been established through research that maternal deprivation before two years has significant mental and social consequences as opposed to deprivation at a later age. Nonetheless, the children still suffer mild consequences of deprivation and still it is not very clear whether such individuals fully recover from the damage caused by the early childhood maternal deprivation.
A childs response after maternal deprivation is also determined by the presence or absence of a significant other. Children who are deprived of their mothers, say after divorce and they are left under the care of the father have higher chances of regaining normal life as compared to those who are not left under the care of a significant figure, the age at which deprivation occurs being constant. Guttman suggests that although children deprived of their mother and are living with their father experience some behavioural difficulties, the children usually become stable soon after. It has been established that if a child gets deprived of the mother but then another person comes in and plays the role of the mother, even if it is not the father, the child is able to heal from the adverse effects of deprivation but if this role is not supplemented, then there is no doubt that the self concept of the child will be negatively affected by social and emotional damages encountered by this child.
Other than deprivation per se, the environment in which the child is brought up after deprivation matters significantly. If the child remains at home as opposed to being institutionalised, then the effects of separation are not as adverse as in the alternative case. In fact the children who stay home with affectionate persons around them are able to cope easily whereas those who live away from home get low self esteem and socially withdrawn and may end up falling victims of habits such as having nightmares. It is therefore justifiable to conclude that institutionalisation of children affects their self-concept severely as opposed to non-institutionalisation.
The presence of the mother figure in a childs life more so in the first few months is vital to the development of a sound self-concept in the child. Self awareness is initiated once a child is born and mainly depends on the presence of a significant figure particularly the mother. A strong bond between the mother and the child is healthy to the emotional and social well being of the child and therefore it is supposed to be provided. Failure to establish such an attachment due to deprivation of the mother as happens during divorce or institutionalization or even death of the mother makes the child lack an opportunity to build a solid self-concept that enhances his or her relationship with the social world around him. The situation is made worse if the child experiences complete deprivation and there is no person to intervene in the role of the mother. Delinquency, aggression, and other socially unhealthy behaviours are always evident in children who had maternal deprivation at a tender age. This work is an eye opener into the need to always ensure the active presence of the mother in the tender age of a child if the child is to be saved from the consequences of poor self-concept later in life.
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