Maternal Loss and Affection Deprivation

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the nature of the relationship between a mother and daughter when the mother in the relationship lost her own mother during childhood or adolescence. The paper hypothesizes that a woman who lacked maternal attachment in her youth will try to make up for this lack by over-zealous mothering later in life. The paper also aims to test whether fathers make themselves emotionally available to their daughters in the period after loss. If they do not, it is possible that they fail to heal or treat the wound created by the lack of maternal attachment so that the women has this cross to bear when becoming a mother herself.

From the Paper:

"The premier theoretical standpoint on loss has been provided by the writing of John Bowlby (1969). His thesis, though groundbreaking, was simple and stark; the loss of parental care and affection has a tremendous impact on the emotional and personal development of children. Writing in the 1950s, Bowlby provided the theoretical background for a greater concentration in offering opportunity and social justice for those children brought up in difficult environments. Indeed, he was called upon to advise the world Health organisation. He was keen to stress not just the simple sense of misery created by the lack of maternal affection, but also the "grave and far reaching effects on character" (Bowlby, 1969, 72) which would ensue. He, and later Fonagy (2002), built upon a notion of Freud's (1963), which will be dealt with in more depth under attachment; the concept of a trauma event and its link to neuroses. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bowlby, J (1969) Attachment and loss, London: Hogarth Press
• BrownGW & Harris, T (1978) Social Origins of depression: A study of psychiatric disorders in women New York: Tavistock
• Caplan, PJ (2000) The new Don't blame mother : mending the mother-daughter relationship New York ; London : Routledge
• Chodorow, N (1978) The reproduction of mothering : psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender Berkeley ; London : University of California Press
• Daly & Wilson (1999) The truth about Cinderella: A Darwininan view of parental love New Haven; Yale University Press

More papers on Maternal Loss and Affection Deprivation:

• Essay # 137947 : "Maternal Scaffolding and Child Development"
• Research Paper # 106748 : "Hearing Loss and Maternal Bonding"
• Term Paper # 103222 : "Maternal Disease and Prenatal Development"

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