CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
John Bowlby, a British psychoanalyst, formulated attachment theory and in the
process revolutionised thinking about the mother -infant relationship and about the importance
and function of close relationships. Attachment theory has emerged as a major field of
inquiry among researchers interested in human development and has generated an enormous
body of research that focus on understanding the social, emotional, and interpersonal
development of children. It has been valued for having the potential for prognostic power,
based on findings of continuity between early quality of attachment and later socio-emotional
development (Senior, 2002).
Bowlby took issue with the emphasis that psychoanalysis placed on the child’s inner
fantasy world, rather than on actual life events and interactions. He thus compared
psychoanalysis to a single-track railway, insisting on the inevitable path toward examining
early developmental phases – whereas ‘multi-track’ attachment theory allowed for a myriad
web of possible tracks (Fonagy, 2001). Bowlby chose to emphasise external reality and the
importance of environmental influence in psychological development, as he felt that within
psychoanalysis there was a detachment from external realities (Gullestad, 2001). Unlike
Bowlby and like so many psychoanalysts, Klein, for example, placed emphasis on the child’s
inner fantasy world, at the expense of looking at actual life events and interactions. She saw
mental structures as arising out of a variety of internal objects (phantasies about people in the
infant’s life), which changes in character in unconscious phantasy as the child develops from
infancy (Watts, 2002). The infant’s phantasies are modified by actual experiences of
interaction with the environment (Fonagy, 1999). Klein made a fair contribution to
psychoanalysis, but Bowlby did more than any other psychoanalyst to change social policy
1
and inform government thinking about the needs of children and families (Gomez, 1997). He
questioned the Kleinian view that children’s emotional problems are mainly due to infantile
fantasies generated from internal conflicts related to aggressive drives, rather than to
environmental failure and trauma. Most importantly within the context of this thesis, he
focussed our attention on the importance of intergenerational transmission of attachment
relations and to the importance of maternal deprivation and separation (Gullestad, 2001).
Attachment theory began with Bowlby’s attempt to understand the psychopathological effects
of maternal deprivation by studying the normative course of the ontogeny of this earliest
relationship. His hope was that if we better understood this normative course, we would be in
an improved position to understand the effects of its disruption (Fonagy, 1999). This will
then be the focus of this thesis. It seeks to explore the attachment patterns of children who
have suffered from maternal deprivation, separation, attachment abuse and who were
institutionalised as a result.
1.1
Motivation for the study
A number of events motivated this thesis. The researcher’s interest in attachment
theory was initially stimulated when she was exposed to the theory in her undergraduate
studies in Psychology. Among others, the theory elucidated for the researcher, the function of
close relationships and how and why the parent-child relationship plays a central role in the
child’s psychological development. It further clarified for her how these relationships are
formed and what impact they have on future relationships. Attachment theory moved away
from the psychoanalytical emphasis on the child’s inner fantasy world by incorporating actual
life events and interactions in what Bowlby considered to be the most important relationship,
which is the relationship between the child and his caregiver. An additional stimulating force
for the researcher was A.H. Bowley’s ‘Psychology of the unwanted child’ published in 1947.
2
This book gave an account of the adjustment struggles of children of varying ages orphaned
during World War II, to the children’s homes and institutions they were placed in. It thus
elucidated for the researcher, the implications of maternal deprivation on the development of
the child’s relationship patterns.
What further prompted the researcher’s interest in this field of study was her practical
placement in a children’s home. She was in a position to view children of differing ages and
cultures in the context of a children’s home - how they interacted with each other, with
strangers, and how the care workers (caregivers) and staff interacted with them. These
children appeared to be ‘love starved’ and uninhibited. Many would indiscriminately attached
to any person that gave them attention. Some of the children at the researcher’s practical
placement were placed in the children’s home merely because their parents rejected and
abandoned them and they had nowhere else to go, while others came to the home as a
measure of protective care against neglect and/ or abuse. According to Goldberg (2000),
research done in the 1940s on children in orphanages indicated that the children were
developmentally delayed and that their social and emotional behaviour was unusual. These
children did not seem to form close relationships, and were instead described as
inappropriately friendly towards everyone, including strangers (Goldberg, 2000).
This study was done in an effort to highlight the importance of the attachment
relationship and how attachment abuse and maternal deprivation, which in some instances
land children in protective care (i.e. children’s homes), can be detrimental to the forming of
close relationships.
1.2
Conceptual framework for the study
The study is rooted in a qualitative approach and aims to describe the nature of
attachment patterns in institutionalised adolescents. The emphasis will be on exploring the
3
participants’ experience of maternal deprivation, attachment abuse and institutionalisation
and examining how these issues have affected their attachment patterns. Three 16-year-old
adolescents were chosen to participate in the study. The central reason relates to the
researcher’s interest in exploring what will happen in terms of attachment if adolescents are
separated from their families and placed in a different environment, such as a children’s
home. The adolescent tries to answer the question, “Who am I, and what is my place in
society?” A key task of adolescence is to develop autonomy so as no longer to need to rely
(as much) on parents’ support when making one’s way through the world. The growing push
for autonomy from parents may create healthy pressure to begin to use peers as attachment
figures, so that attachment needs can be met while establishing autonomy in the relationship
with parents (Steinberg, 1990). Self-chosen values and occupational goals lead to a lasting
personal identity. The negative outcome if these values and goals are not reached is confusion
about future adult roles. Young people generally work on establishing intimate ties to others.
Because of earlier disappointments and negative life events, some individuals cannot form
close relationships and remain isolated from others.
1.2.1
The research question
The study is primarily concerned with the following question: What are the
attachment patterns of children who have suffered from maternal deprivation, separation,
attachment abuse and who were institutionalised as a result?
1.2.2
The method
The study was conducted by means of a qualitative methodology. Qualitative research
is concerned with exploring everyday perceptions of the world and uncovering the
experiential, subjective dimensions of people’s worlds. Inherent in qualitative research are
4
assumptions about the nature of social life, knowledge, research objectives and ways to deal
with data (Neuman, 1997). A clinical interview was conducted with the three participants. In
addition to the interview, two projective drawing tests and two projective story telling tests
were conducted with each participant. The transcribed interviews and the stories and
drawings of the projective tests constitute the units of analyses. Interview data and projective
story-telling tests were analysed using the thematic content analytical process, while the
projective drawing tests were analysed by means of classification systems specifically
designed for such purpos es. The choice of method was motivated by its compatibility with
the research question, which has as its focus, real people and their real life experiences.
1.3
The study process
Chapters 2, 3 and 4 provide the theoretical framework for the study. Chapter 2 starts
with a discussion of “normal” child development from infancy to adolescence. The relevance
of this chapter is to create a benchmark against which we can gauge any straying from the
developmental path that is considered ‘normal’ in the child deve lopment field. Attention is
given to the contributions of traditional theorists/theories to the field of developmental
psychology, specifically child development. In addition to this, a brief outline will be given
of some of the more modern theories and the importance of the family context for
development. This is followed by a detailed delineation of the developmental stage of
adolescence, with specific reference to cognitive development and emotional and social
development.
Chapter 3 offers a broad overview of attachment theory. It starts with the definitional
complexities around attachment and ultimately focuses on the contributions of John Bowlby
and Mary Ainsworth to the field of attachment theory. Included here is a discussion of the
psychoanalytical view on attachment. This is done primarily because it serves to better
5
understand Bowlby’s attachment theory, which ultimately provided the theoretical framework
on which the study is based and because Bowlby essentially developed his theory as a result
of disagreements with psychoanalytical theories in general and more specifically, the
Kleinian views on attachment. Attention is also given to Bowlby’s discussion on the phases
of the development of attachment and attachment behaviour, as well as Ainsworth’s “Strange
Situation” and types of attachment patterns that were delineated from this procedure. This is
followed by a discussion of the quality of maternal responsiveness to the infant as well as
Bowlby’s elucidation of the internal working model or mental representations. Attachment in
the family system is also expanded on, looking specifically at attachments to fathers and
siblings and how the marital relationship contributes to children’s behaviours and the
attachment patterns formed. The focus then shifts to attachment in adolescence followed by
an outline of traumatised and abused children and a discussion on attachment abuse.
In chapter 4 various aspects of institutionalisation that are pertinent to the study are
outlined, starting with a discussion of the essentials for good personality development as well
as effective childcare practices. This is followed by an outline of what residential care is and
what it offers to children that are placed there. Attention is given to the situations that
encourage institutionalisation, namely maternal and other forms of deprivation, rejection,
neglect, separation and abuse. In addition to this, the consequences of institutional rearing
and factors that negatively affect the impact of institutionalisation are re flected on. Finally,
the importance of parental involvement in institutional placements is highlighted.
Chapter 5 entails a detailed delineation of the empirical study. Chapter 6 contains the
presentation of the results, while chapter 7 entails a discussion of the results by means of
contextualizing these within the broader literature. In chapter 8 the study is concluded.
6
CHAPTER 2
THE DEVELOPING CHILD
2.1
Introduction
Developmental psychology is usually described as the study of human development
over the entire lifespan - from conception to death (Louw, 1991). Developmental
psychologists aim to identify the determinants of development and to determine the extent
and nature of their influence precisely (Hook, 2002a). This enables us to explain a wide
variety of psychological changes, both cognitive and social, which occur between birth and
death. These various psychological changes are multifarious, and include insights into how
children and adults learn, perceive, understand, recall, and process aspe cts of the world
(Hook, 2002a). The focus of this research is on the developmental stage of adolescence - 16
year olds in particular. However, the first part of the chapter will give a broad overview of
child development, starting at infancy. The relevance of this chapter is to create a benchmark
against which we can gauge any straying from the developmental path that is considered
‘normal’ in the child development field. It will thus look at development starting at infancy
and not just adolescent developme nt because the aim of the study is to explore the nature of
the participants’ attachment patterns. According to Fonagy (2001), attachment theory is a
developmental theory that emphasises infancy and how it influences or impacts on later
development. It is therefore important to see how early experiences influence and shape the
type of person the infant becomes.
Child development is a field of study devoted to understanding all aspects of human
growth from conception through adolescence (Berk, 1996; Louw, 1991). Social pressures to
better the lives of children have also stimulated research about child development. For
example, the beginning of public education in the early part of this century led to a demand
7
for knowledge about what and how to teach children of different ages (Santrock, 1999). The
interest of paediatricians in improving children’s health required an understanding of physical
growth and nutrition (Santrock, 2001). The social services profession’s desire to treat
children’s anxieties and behaviour problems required information about personality and
social development (Mussen, Conger, Kagan, & Huston, 1990).
2.2
Theories of child development
Child development theories seek to explain three basic questions.
•
The first is whether the child is an organismic or mechanistic being? In other words,
are children active beings with psychological structures that underlie and control
development, or are they passive recipients of environmental inputs? In the
organismic theory put forward, children are viewed as active, purposeful beings that
make sense of their world and determine their own learning and the surrounding
environment supports development (Berk, 1996). In contrast, the mechanistic theory
focuses on relationships between environmental inputs and behavioural outputs. The
mechanistic theory regards the child as a passive reactor to environmental inputs
(Berk, 1996).
•
The second basic question is whether development is a continuous process, or
whether it follows a series of discontinuous stages? In ot her words, is child
development a matter of cumulative adding on of skills and behaviours, or does it
involve qualitative, stage wise change? Continuous development views development
as a cumulative process of adding on more of the same types of skills that was there to
begin with (Hook & Cockcroft, 2002; Louw, Louw, & Schoeman, 1995). In contrast
to this view, the discontinuous development theory holds that new and different ways
8
of interpreting and responding to the world emerges at particular time periods (Hook
& Cockcroft, 2002; Louw et al., 1995).
•
The third question is whether development is primarily determined by nature or
nurture, that is, whether genetic or environmental factors are the most important
determinants of child development and behaviour? The nature theory of development
(inborn biological givens) is the hereditary information we receive from our parents at
the moment of conception that signals the body to grow and affects all our
characteristics and skills (Hook & Cockcroft, 2002; Moshman, 1999). According to
the nurture theory of development, children are formed and affected by the complex
forces of the physical and social world they encounter in their homes,
neighbourhoods, schools and communities (Hook & Cockcroft, 2002; Moshman,
1999).
Though many theories have enriched the field of child development over the decades,
this research will only focus on the main traditional theories of child development as well as
some contemporary perspectives. The scope of this research does not allow for an exhaustive
history on child development.
2.3
Traditional approaches
Modern theories of child development are the result of centuries of change in Western
cultural values, philosophical thinking about children, and scientific progress (Berk, 1996).
These theories of child development have roots extending far back into the past. In medieval
times children were thought of as miniature adults, a view called preformationism (Santrock,
2001). By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, childhood became a distinct phase of the
life cycle. Children came to be seen as people in their own right, experiencing emotions and
being influenced by what happens in society (Santrock, 2001).
9
2.3.1
The psychoanalytic perspective
In the 1930s and 1940s, child guidance professionals turned to the psychoanalytic
perspective for help in understanding children with emotional problems (Fonagy, 1999;
Hook, 2002a). The psychoanalytic perspective is an approach to personality development
introduced by Sigmund Freud. It assumes that child ren move through a series of stages in
which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. The way
these conflicts are resolved determines psychological adjustment – person’s ability to learn,
get along with others, and cope with anxiety (Berk, 1996; Hook & Watts, 2002).
2.3.2
Freud’s psychosexual theory
Freud argued that infants and young children are sexual beings and that the way they
are permitted to express their impulses lay at the heart of their adult behaviour (Berk, 1996;
Freud, 1977; Hook & Watts, 2002). Freud constructed his psychosexual theory of
development on the basis of adult remembrances. It emphasises the fact that how parents
manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years of life is crucial for
healthy personality development (Hook & Watts, 2002). Freud’s psychosexual theory
highlighted the importance of family relationships for children’s development. It was the first
theory to stress the importance of early experience for later deve lopment (Fonagy, 1999). In
Freud’s psychosexual theory, children move through five stages, during which three portions
of the personality – id, ego, and superego – become integrated (Hook & Watts, 2002; Kaplan
& Sadock, 1998). The id - the largest portion of the mind, is inherited and present at birth. It
is the source of basic biological needs and desires. The id seeks to satisfy its impulses head
on, without delay (Freud, 1991). The ego (the conscious), rational part of the personality,
emerges in early infancy to ensure that the id’s desires are satisfied in accordance with reality
10
(Freud, 1991). Between the ages of 3 and 6 years, the superego (the seat of conscience), the
third portion of personality, appears. It contains the values of society and is often in conflict
with the id’s desires. The superego develops from interactions with parents, who eventually
insist that children control their biological impulses. Once the superego is formed, the ego is
faced with the increasingly complex task of reconciling the demands of the id, the external
world, and the conscience (Berk, 1996; Hook & Watts, 2002; Louw, 1991).
Strong critique of Freud’s psychosexual theory indicated that the theory is culturally
biased and that he emphasised the role of the unconscious in determining behaviour. Freud
prioritised the sexual level of development. Erikson by contrast, focussed on the adaptive
abilities of the ego and prioritised the social level of development.
2.3.3
Erikson’s psychosocial theory
Erikson’s psychosocialtheory builds on Freud’s theory by emphasising the
development of culturally relevant attitudes and skills and the lifespan nature of development
(Hook, 2002b). Although Erikson accepted Freud’s basic psychosexual framework, he
expanded the picture of development at each stage. For Erikson, the psychosexual stages
concerned zones for relating to objects, and they entailed unconscious expressions of the
child’s needs (McCarthy, 2000). In his psychosocial theory, Erikson emphasised that social
experiences at each Freudian stage do not just lead to an embattled ego that mediates between
id impulses and superego demands. The ego is also a positive force of development. At each
stage, it acquires attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member
of society (Berk, 1996; Hook, 2002b). A basic psychological conflict, which is resolved
along a continuum from positive to negative, determines healthy or maladaptive outcomes at
each stage (Moshman, 1999).
11
Erikson’s first five stages parallel Freud’s stages. However, Erikson did not regard
important developmental tasks as limited to early childhood. He believed that they occurred
throughout life. Unlike Freud, Erikson pointed out that normal development must be
understood in relation to each culture’s unique situation (Moshman, 1999). Erikson
postulated eight psychosocial stages:
2.3.3.1 Basic trust versus mistrust (birth – 1 year)
From warm responsive care, infants gain a sense of trust, or confidence, that the world
is good. Mistrust occurs when infants have to wait too long for comfort and are handled
harshly. This stage involves developing, or failing to develop a basic sense of trust in the
world.
2.3.3.2 Autonomy versus shame and doubt (1 – 3 years)
Using new mental and motor skills, children want to choose and decide for
themselves. Autonomy is fostered when parents permit reasonable free choice and do not
force or shame the child. This stage involves developing a sense of oneself as an autonomous
agent.
2.3.3.3 Initiative versus guilt (3 – 6 years)
Through make-believe play, children experiment with the kind of person they can
become. Initiative – a sense of ambition and responsibility – develops when parents support
their child’s new sense of purpose and direction. The danger is that parents will demand too
much self-control, which leads to overcontrol, or too much guilt. This stage involves
developing a sense of initiative and ambition.
2.3.3.4 Industry versus inferiority (6 – 11 years)
At school, children develop the capacity to work and cooperate with others. Inferiority
develops when negative experiences at home, at school, or with peers lead to feelings of
incompetence. This stage involves developing a sense of industry and competence.
12
2.3.3.5 Identity versus identity diffusion / role confusion (adolescence)
The adolescent tries to answer the question, “Who am I, and what is my place in
society?” Self -chosen values and vocational goals lead to a lasting personal identity. The
negative outcome is confusion about future adult roles.
2.3.3.6 Intimacy versus isolation (early adulthood)
Young people work on establishing intimate ties to others. Because of earlier
disappointments, some individuals cannot form close relationships and remain isolated from
others. The central task of this stage is the development of a capacity for intimate
relationships.
2.3.3.7 Generativity versus stagnation (middle adulthood)
Generativity means giving to the next generation through child rearing, caring for
other people, or productive work. The person who fails in these ways feels an absence of
meaningful accomplishment. This stage focuses on the development of generativity, a
commitment to future generations.
2.3.3.8 Ego integrity versus despair (old age)
In this final stage, individuals reflect on the kind of person they have been. Integrity
results from feeling that life was worth living as it happened. Old people who are dissatisfied
with their lives fear death. This stage is concerned with the formation of a sense of integrity
with respect to one’s life. (Berk, 1996; Hook, 2002b; Moshman, 1999).
At the same time that Freud and Erikson gained in prominence, a very different
perspective, behaviourism, also influenced child study.
2.3.4
Behaviourism
Behaviourism is a psychological theory of human development that propose that
humans can be trained, or conditioned, to respond in specific ways to specific stimuli and that
13
given the correct stimuli, personalities and behaviours of individuals, and even entire
societies, can be codified and controlled (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998; Staddon, 1993). Edward
Thorndike (1874-1949) initially proposed that humans and animals acquire behaviours
through the association of stimuli and responses (Staddon, 1993). He advanced two laws of
learning to explain why behaviours occur the way they do: the Law of Effect specifies that
any time a behaviour is followed by a pleasant outcome, that behaviour is likely to recur. The
Law of Exercise states that the more a stimulus is connected with a response, the stronger the
link between the two (Staddon, 1993).
John Watson championed the cause of modern behaviourism early in the 20th century
(Rachlin, 1991). He claimed that psychology was not concerned with the mind or with human
consciousness. Instead, psychology would be concerned only with behaviour. In this way,
people could be studied objectively (Rachlin, 1991). Watson's work was based on the
experiments of Ivan Pavlov, who had studied animals' responses to conditioning (Rachlin,
1991). In Pavlov's well-known experiment, he rang a bell while he fed some dogs several
meals. Each time the dogs heard the bell they knew that a meal was coming, and they would
begin to salivate. Pavlov then rang the bell without bringing food, but the dogs still salivated.
They had been "conditioned" to salivate at the sound of a bell. Pavlov believed, as Watson
was later to emphasise, that humans react to stimuli in the same way (Rachlin, 1991). Watson
was reacting to emerging Freudian psychoanalytical theories of development. His scheme
rejected the entire hidden, unconscious, and suppressed longings that Freudians attributed to
behaviours and proposed that humans respond to punishments and rewards (Rachlin, 1991).
Behaviour that elicits positive responses is reinforced and continued, while behaviour that
elicits negative responses is eliminated.
Behaviourism is associated today with Skinner, who made his reputation by testing
Watson's theories in the laboratory (Nye, 1992; Todd & Morris, 1995). Skinner's studies led
14
him to reject Watson's almost exclusive emphasis on reflexes and conditioning. People
respond to their environment, he argued, but they also operate on the environment to produce
certain consequences. He developed the theory of "operant conditioning," the idea that we
behave the way we do because this kind of behaviour has had certain consequences in the
past (Nye, 1992; Todd & Morris, 1995). Like Watson, however, Skinner denied that the mind
or feelings play any part in determining behaviour. Instead, our experience of reinforcements
determines our behaviour (Nye, 1992; Todd & Morris, 1995).
In the 1950s, how ever, the popularity of behaviourism began to decline. Cognitive
development was the next focus of inquiry. In contrast to behaviourism, the cognitivedevelopmental theory emphasised an active child with a mind inhabited by rich structures of
knowledge.
2.3.5
Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory
Jean Piaget introduced the cognitive-developmental theory. It holds that children are
actively building psychological structures and cognitive development as taking place in
stages (Cockcroft, 2002). Piaget believed that just as the structures of the body are adapted to
fit with the environment, so the structures of the mind develop over the course of childhood
to better fit with, or represent, the external world (Berk, 1996). This can be achieved if the
parent-child relationship is secure and the child feels safe enough to explore his environment
and incorporate this into his cognitive structure. Piaget argued that children move through
five stages, beginning with the infant’s sensorimotor action patterns and ending with the
elaborate, abstract reasoning system of the adolescent. Piaget suggested four stages of
cognitive development:
15
2.3.5.1 Sensorimotor (birth - 2 years)
From the outset, biology and experience blend to produce learned behaviour. A
stimulus is received, a response elicited, accompanied by awareness. As children become
more mobile, these experiences build on one another.
2.3.5.2 Preoperational thought (2 - 7 years)
Children use symbols and language more extensively, but thinking and reasoning are
intuitive. Children are unable to think logically or deductively.
2.3.5.3 Concrete operations (7 - 11 years)
Egocentric thought is replaced by “operational” thought, which involves attending to
information outside. Children are able to understand another’s point of view. Children in this
stage can serialise, order, and group things according to common characteristics.
2.3.5.4 Formal operations (11 years – end of adolescence)
Children can think abstractly, reason deductively, and define abstract concepts. Not
all children enter this stage at the same time or to the same degree. Children that have had no
sensory stimulation, as is the case in abusive and neglectful family homes and in some
children’s homes, might tend to struggle with formal operations (Cockcroft, 2002).
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development have sparked a wealth of research on
children’s conceptions of themselves, other people, and human relationships – this relates to
Bowlby’s internal working model, which will be discussed in the following chapter. New
ways of understanding the child are constantly emerging – questioning, building on, and
enhancing the discoveries of earlier theories.
2.4
Current perspectives
The field of child development continues to seek new directions, one of which is the
information processin g approach. It views the mind as a complex, symbol-manipulating
16
system, operating much like a computer (Cockcroft, 2002). This approach helps investigators
achieve a detailed understanding of what children of different ages do when faced with tasks
and problems. Three modern theories place special emphasis on contexts for development.
Ethology stresses the adaptive, or survival, value of behaviour and its origins in evolutionary
history (Cockcroft, 2002). In ecological systems theory, nested layers of the environment,
which ranges from the child’s immediate settings to broad cultural values and programs, are
seen as major influences on children’s well-being (Berk, 1996; Hook, 2002c). Vygotsky’s
sociocultural theory has enhanced our understanding of cultural influences, especially in the
area of cognitive development. Through cooperative dialogues with mature members of
society, children acquire culturally relevant knowledge and skills (Cockcroft, 2002; Morgan,
1999). According to Vygotsky (in Morgan, 1999), it is the internalised voice of the other that
becomes an aid in thinking and a way of directing one’s behaviour. From a cognitive and
developmental perspective Vygotsky’s notion of mediated thought describes how the mother
acts as a social and cultural guide in extending her child’s current level of actual development
in thinking to the child’s potential level (Morgan, 1999). Just as complex as the heredity that
sets the stage for development, is the child’s environment – a many-layered set of influences
that combine with one another to help or hinder the course of growth.
2.5
Importance of family context for development
The early relationship environment is crucial not only because it shapes the quality of
subsequent relationships but because it serves to equip the individual with a mental
processing system that will subsequently generate mental representations, including
relationship representations (Fonagy, 2001). Environments can enhance growth or create
risks for children. When a vulnerable child – a youngster with physical or psychological
problems – is exposed to unfavourable child -rearing contexts, development is seriously
17
threatened. The context that fosters optimal growth is, in most cases and ideally, the family
(Hook, 2002d). The family introduces children to the physical world through the
opportunities it provides for play and exploration of objects (Senior, 2002). It also creates
bonds between people that are unique. The attachments children form with parents and
siblings usually last a lifetime, and they serve as models for relationships in the wider world
of neighbourhoods and schools (Goldberg, 2000). Within families children also experience
their first social conflicts. Discipline by parents and arguments with siblings provide children
with important lessons in compliance and cooperation and opportunities to learn how to
influence the behaviour of others. Within families children learn the language, skills, and
social and moral values of their culture (Berk, 1996; Goldberg, 2000).
Naturally the ideal then would be to place children in an environment where all these
needs are met should the family fail in this task. This is the motivation behind the children’s
home. It is meant to be a substitute environment where the child is able to achieve optimal
development in the absence of the family. Children’s homes however often fail to live up to
these expectations. The major characteristics associated with institutional care are: general
intellectual retardation, retardation in language functions, a social ‘personality’ disturbance,
chiefly disturbances centring on the capacity to establish and maintain close personal
relationships (Bowlby, 1952). In the report by Bowlby on Maternal Care and Mental Health,
he argued that maternal separations were a clear risk factor for mental illness, and that
institutional care was very damaging to children unless it provided them with a true “mother
substitute” (Feeney, Hohaus, Noller, & Alexander, 2001). In the institutional setting,
moreover, there is less opportunity for the child who has learnt the process of abstraction and
mental organisation to exercise them. In the family, the young child is, within limits,
encouraged to express himself both socially and in play (Bowlby, 1952).
18
2.6
Adolescence
The age at which adolescence begins varies from 11 to 13 years because of individual
and cultural differences and the age at which it ends varies from 17 to 21 years (Louw, 1991).
Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood. The term
‘adolesce nce’ means ‘to grow up’ or ‘to grow to adolescence’ (Louw, 1991, p. 377).
Adolescence is characterised by profound biological, psychological, and social
developmental stages. The biological onset of adolescence is signalled by the rapid
acceleration of skeletal growth and the beginnings of physical sexual development. The
psychological onset is characterised by an acceleration of cognitive development and
consolidation of personality formation. Socially, adolescence is a period of intensified
preparation for the coming role of young adulthood (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998).
2.6.1
Cognitive development in adolescence
Piaget attempted to demonstrate that over the course of childhood and early
adolescence individuals show qualitative changes in the nature of their cognition, and such
changes are internally directed, and such changes are progressive in the sense that later
cognitive structures represent a higher level of rationality than earlier ones (Moshman, 1999).
The adolescent’s cognitive ability develops both quantitatively, in the sense that the
adolescent is able to master intellectual tasks more easily and more effectively, and
qualitatively in the sense that changes take place in the nature of the thought processes and
the cognitive structure (Cockcroft, 2002). The adolescent thus reaches, according to Piaget’s
theory, the level of formal operations. At the beginning of adolescence, thinking usually
becomes abstract, conceptual, and future oriented. Many adolescents show remarkable
creativity (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998). Formal operations allow the adolescent, for example, to
understand and evaluate reality as the realisation of a particular possibility. At the level of
19
formal operations, there is a radical reversal of perspective present during the concrete
operations level: rather than considering possibilities with respect to reality, reality is
considered with respect to possibilities. The formal thinker spontaneously and systematically
generates possibilities, and reconstrues realities in the light of those possibilities (Moshman,
1999).
2.6.2
Emotional and social development in adolescence
Adolescents, while proceeding through this period, are faced with the numerous tasks
that they must master before they become adults (Gitter, 1999). The developmental task of
attaining autonomy, becoming independent in one’s thoughts and opinions as well as actions,
has long been thought of as one of the central processes of adolescence (Hill & Holmbeck,
1986). This process is mostly easily steered in the context of a close relationship with parents
rather than at the expense of this relationship (Gitter, 1999). In addition to this, the major task
of adolescence is to achieve a secure sense of self, to form an identity. For adolescents,
identity is both a matter of determining who one is and a matter of deciding who one will be.
According to Moshman (1999), identity is, at least in part, an explicit theory of oneself as a
person. Identity is generally seen as related to the self, with the understanding that neither
term is easy to define and that the relationship of the two concepts is far from clear (Ashmore
& Jussim, 1997). Although identity formation is a challenging process even under the best
circumstances, problems in earlier development (early attachments) may render it even more
difficult and decrease the likelihood of positive outcomes (Moshman, 1999). Identity
diffusion is a failure to develop a cohesive self or self-awareness. Adolescent identity crisis is
partly resolved by the move from dependency to independence. The initial struggles often
revolve around the established concepts of sex roles and gender identification (Kaplan &
Sadock, 1998). Erikson’s psychoanalytic psychology of adolescence was based on the
20
twofold importance of identity formation and the ego’s adjustment to the drives and to
society. His writings on adolescence addressed both the anxiety inherent in the process of
identity formation, and the analytic task of helping the adolescent to assess values and
choices from the point of view of identity synthesis (McCarthy, 2000).
Besides developing physically, cognitively and morally, the adolescent has to achieve
social maturity. The adolescent’s ability to handle the developmental tasks associated with
social development (e.g. the development of indepe ndence), will, to a large extent, be
determined by his physical and cognitive maturity, but also by the complexity or level of
modernisation of the society in which the adolescent grows up; the characteristics of his
subculture (ethnic and socio-economic) and the attitudes and reactions of society to his
subculture; and the family structure and parental influence (Louw, 1991).
2.7
Conclusion
In this chapter a broad overview of the theoretical contributions made to the field of
child development was given. The investigation focussed on ‘normal’ child development as a
benchmark against which we can gauge any straying from the developmental path. The
developmental stage of adolescence was discussed under the headings of cognitive
development and emotional and social development. Chapter 3 will look at Attachment
Theory and the contributions that were made to this field of study.
21
CHAPTER 3
AN OVERVIEW OF ATTACHMENT THEORY
3.1
Introduction
The growth of psychological knowledge has shown that children need a stable
home and the love and care of two parents if they are to achieve optimal emotional
development (Chesser, 1912-). They need to experience real affection, appreciation
and recognition from other people. Bowley (1947) asserts that without this, children
receive no assurance that they are good, worthy, loveable, and wanted. Bowley (1947)
further emphasised the importance for the child’s emotional development that
children should have this assurance to offset their inner fears of badness,
unworthiness, unlovableness, and their sense of rejection. Attachment theory has
focused on the processes whereby infants and young children develop confidence in
their parents’ protection (Goldberg, 2000). This chapter presents a review of
attachment theory and related issue s. The focus is mainly on the ideas of John Bowlby
and Mary Ainsworth, as well as those who have influenced their ideas. Before doing
this, an operational definition of attachment will be provided.
3.2
Definitions of attachment
Attachment refers to the enduring ties that children form with their primary
caregivers; it includes a desire for proximity to an attachment figure, a sense of
security derived from the person’s presence, and feelings of distress when the person
is absent (Cassidy, 1999; Gomez, 1997; Morgan, 1999). Although parent -child
relationships are not the only determinant of children’s behaviour, researchers believe
that a developmental perspective based on people’s past and present socio-emotional
22
experiences, particularly within close relationships, offers a powerful insight into
human personality, styles of caregiving and the character of interpersonal life (Howe,
Brandon, Hinings, & Schofield, 1999). Relationships provide the key experience that
connects children’s personal and social worlds (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998). The
recognition by the individual that social life involves a constant interplay between
self-reflexive minds possessed of their own feelings, motives, thoughts, beliefs and
intentions is a central feature of attachment theory (H owe et al., 1999).
3.3
Bowlby’s attachment theory
Attachment theory was originally introduced by John Bowlby in the nineteen
fifties and early sixties and can be regarded as the joint work of Bowlby and Mary
Ainsworth (Bretherton, 1991). The theory was further elaborated through the work of
others such as Mary Main and Peter Fonagy (Gullestad, 2001). However, although
attachment theory is currently the most acceptable theoretical explanation of
attachment, psychoanalytic theory was the first theory that a ttempted to explain how
attachment takes place. Therefore, in order to fully understand attachment theory, it is
necessary to examine the psychoanalytical explanations of Sigmund Freud and
especially Melanie Klein, as well as other theorists, as attachment theory essentially
emerged in response to perceived shortcomings in those theoretical explanations.
3.3.1
Bowlby and Psychoanalysis
In the psychoanalytic perspective, attachment patterns can be seen as
mechanisms of defence, mastered by the child to cope with the idiosyncratic styles of
interaction of his caregivers. Patterns of attachment are habitual ways of relating,
developed by the ego to minimise anxiety and maximise adaptation (Fonagy, Steele,
23
Moran, Steele, & Higgitt, 1992). Psychoanalytic explanations are based on the
premise of ‘I love you because you feed me’, and Bowlby’s attachment theory is based
on the premise of ‘I was born to love you’ (Fonagy, 2001). According to Colin (1996),
attachment theory continues to share many important views with psychoanalytic
theories. Firstly, early adaptations have profound and long-lasting effects on the
individual’s personality, social relationships, thoughts, feelings, and behaviour.
Secondly, much of human motivation is unconscious. Thirdly, development reflects a
coherent underlying organisation, even when surface manifestations in behaviour
change with age, state, and situation. The focus is on whole people interacting in
intimate and committed relationships, not on single variables (Colin, 1996).
3.3.1.1 Sigmund Freud
There are a number of similarities between Bowlby’s attachment theory and
the Freudian psychoanalytical view of attachment. Both theories concern themselves
with unconscious processes and the psychological consequences of significant early
deprivation (Fonagy, 1999). Freud’s conflict themes concerning wish and reality and
internal and external reality remained essential building blocks for Bowlby and other
attachment theorists. Bowlby pointed out that Freud was aware of the importance of
attachment to the mother; this was however developed late in his research (Fonagy,
1999). He also noted that Freud’s observation indicated that abandonment and
isolation distressed infants at 18 months of age. Freud understood that anxiety is
rooted in the fear of losing the mother, he however understood it to be a fear of
ungratified instincts. Freud also acknowledged that the child’s relation to the mother
is unique and laid down unalterably at an early stage to become the prototype for all
later love relations, and that there is more to this love relationship than food, and that
24
the experience of being cared for relates directly to self -esteem (Fonagy, 1999). Other
than the points mention above, there seem to be no other points of contact in both
theories (Fonagy, 1999).
Freud and Bowlby differ radically in their image on man. Whereas Freud
emphasises a monadic individual driven by untamed passion in a battle with the
norms and requirements of society, Bowlby’s ethological model focuses on an
interacting system, consisting of the child and his caregiver in which each partner
adapts to the other through a mutual signalling system (Gullestad, 2001). In other
words, whereas psychoanalysis emphasises a more intrapersonal focus on the
individual, attachment theory giv es priority to the interpersonal and contextual
dynamics of the individual.
3.3.1.2 Melanie Klein
In Klein’s theory she regards the human psyche as having two basic positions:
the paranoid-schizoid and the depressive (Gomez, 1997; Fonagy 1999). In the
paranoid-schizoid position the relationship to the object (the caregiver) is to a part
object split into a persecutory and idealised relationship, and the ego (the self) is
similarly split (Fonagy, 1999, 2001). In the depressive position the relation is to an
integrated parental image. The individual recognises his destructive wishes towards
the object. This brings with it a certain characteristic sadness, but correspondingly, the
ego is more integrated. In the paranoid-schizoid position the person moves between
states of exaggerated perceptions of goodness (idealisation of both self and other) and
similarly extreme persecutory perceptions of both self and other as bad (Fonagy,
1999, 2001). In the early depressive position primitive envy represents a particularly
malignant form of innate aggression. This is because unlike other forms of
25
destructiveness, which are turned against bad objects already seen as persecutory,
envy is hatred directed to the good object and arouses a premature expression of
depressive anxiety about damage to the object (Fonagy, 1999, 2001).
According to Bowlby, a major shortcoming in psychoanalysis was its
emphasis it placed on internal conflict at the expense of the environment (Gomez,
1997). Bowlby was even more critical of the Kleinian approach to attachment.
Bowlby was trained as a psychoanalyst at the British Psychoanalytical Institute where
he had been exposed to Kleinian ideas through his training analyst, Joan Riviere and
through supervision with Melanie Klein herself. As previously stated, although
Bowlby acknowledged Kleinian thinking for its emphasis on object relations, he was
dissatisfied with Klein’s contention that children’s emotional problems are mainly due
to infantile fantasies generated from internal conflicts related to aggressive drives,
rather than environmental failure (Gullestad, 2001). He further took issue with Klein’s
understanding of development, which was based on extrapolations from clinical
experience rather than on observations of normal children (Bretherton, 1995). Thus
Bowlby was profoundly sceptical about the Kleinian detachment from external reality
(Holmes, 1995). As a result he found an alternative theoretical model of attachment,
which was rooted in ethology and based on the concept of imprinting, implying that
bond formation need not be tied to feeding (Gullestad, 2001).
3.3.1.3 Erik Erikson
Like Bowlby, Erikson saw early development as a continuous process, starting
within the first minutes of postnatal experience and extending throughout life, taking
different forms at different times. According to Erikson, the quality of the maternal
relationship determines the sense of trust that mothers create in their children, which
26
then persists throughout life. The most important link he made was between trust and
identity, which draws on the notion of coherence so central to Mary Main’s
framework for adult attachment (Fonagy, 2001).
Although Erikson stressed the importance of social agents for the facilitation
of psychological development and for the ongoing articulation of the individual ego,
his emphasis was not on the social relationship but rather on the previous
circumstances and consequences of the attainment of self-identity. Like other
psychoanalytic developmental theorists, he placed separation-individuation ahead of
social involvement (Fonagy, 1999). His emphasis remains psychoanalytic, focussing
on the individual rather than on the relationship. Identity consolidation is the central
goal and attachment plays a secondary role. Erikson is less concerned with the
movement from a secure, trusting dependency to a mature interdependence with a
capacity to tolerate intimacy (Fonagy, 2001).
3.3.1.4 Margaret Mahler
Carlsson and Sroufe (1995) referred to Mahler’s practicing subphase (9-17
months) of the separation-individuation process and the infant’s tendency to return for
“emotional refuelling” as clearly similar to Bowlby’s “secure base” phenomenon.
Similarly Mahler’s proposed link, between histories of well-regulated relationships
with the caregiver and the smooth transition towards more autonomous functioning by
the age of two years, is common ground between her theory and attachment theory
(Fonagy, 2001). Mahler sees the infant as a concrete experience of the physical world,
however according to Bowlby, the infant is biologically prepared for the
establishment of early social relationships. In her framework, it is the disengagement
from attachment that would be considered the hallmark of progress and the
27
enrichment of the self. Thus, although Mahler considers emotional availability of the
caregiver to be essential, this is viewed as a precursor and precondition of the
separation-individuation process. She thus also sees the development of the
representation of the body as a function of the infant-caregiver relationship (Fonagy,
2001).
3.3.1.5 Donald Winnicott
Winnicott worked within the Independent School of British Psychoanalysis
where they had abandoned the libidinal driven structural model and developed a “selfobject” theory in which parts of the self are seen in dynamic interaction with each
other and complementary internal and external objects (Gomez, 1997). British object
relations theory focus primarily on attachment and attempt to understand the
development of the individual as a unit in interaction. The self is seen as being
comprised of, and its integrity and continuity being maintained by the gestalt of past
and present interpersonal relationships (Fonagy, 2001).
Winnicott postulated an inherent desire to develop a sense of self – a desire
that can be hidden or falsified. He saw the child as evolving from a unity of mother
and infant. Three functions of this unity facilitate healthy development: holding leading to integration of sensorimotor elements; handling – facilitating personalisation
(autonomy); and object relating – resulting in the establishment of a human
relationship (Fonagy, 1999; Gomez, 1997). What is described as “attachment” in
Bowlby’s terms is “ego relatedness” in Winnicott’s terms. Relatedness is born of the
experience of being allowed to be alone in the presence of somebody else (Winnicott,
1971). For the infant to be able to be alone, a sense of safety must be associated with
experiencing the inner world. For the infant to learn about and represent the
28
experience of distress, it must be met by a combination of external feedback (e.g., the
mother’s face and tone) that “explains” to the infant what he is feeling and a
simultaneous communication of having coped with the distress (Gergeley & Watson,
1996; Winnicott, 1971).
According to Winnicott, the mother has to be “good-enough”, but her failure is
expectable and is in fact the major motivation of growth. This is consistent with the
observation of attachment researchers that moderate degrees of maternal involvement
are preferable to highly dependent responses (Fonagy, 1999). The lack of “goodenough” mothering causes distortions or deviations in mental functioning and
prevents the establishment of an internal environment that could become the essence
of the self (Fonagy, 2001). A second major aspect of Winnicott’s theory relevant to
attachment theory concerns environmental failure and the infant’s reaction to it. On
the one hand, internal and external impingements and the lack of a holding
environment can lead to aggression and antisocial behaviour. T his is characterised by
the use of physical action as self-expression, a lack of concern for the other, and a
definition of self in opposition to the environment. On the other hand, external
impingement and the substitution of the gestures of the other for the gestures of the
self engenders a “false self”, which appears real, performs and complies, and may be
true in highly selected aspects or based on wholesome identification with the object
(Fonagy, 1999). From the point of view of attachment theory, the two categories of
environmental failure may be seen as alternative coping strategies to deal with
insensitive caretaking (impingement) (Fonagy, 1999).
In summary, Winnicott believed that the true self could only evolve in the
presence of an unobtrusive other who will not interrupt the continuity of its
experience of itself. Thus, he does not consider relationships to be independent from
29
instincts and has an integrated formulation where instincts and object relationships are
intricately interwoven (Fonagy, 2001).
3.3.2
Attachment behaviour
Bowlby defined attachment behaviour in observable terms as any form of
behaviour that results in a person attaining or retaining proximity to some other
individual from the self (Bowlby, 1988). This is usually an older larger figure. So
long as the attachment figure remains accessible and responsive the behaviour may
consists of little more than checking by eye or ear on the whereabouts of the figure
and exchanging occasional glances or greetings. In certain circumstances, however,
following or clinging to the attachment figure may occur and also calling or crying
which are likely to elicit caregiving (Morgan, 1999).
When the attachment behavioural system is in its goal state (i.e. there is
adequate proximity and contact for the environmental conditions), attachment
behaviours are not evident, but if threats to safety are perceived, attachment
behaviours are activated (Goldberg, 2000). Attachment behaviour brings infants into
close proximity to their primary caregivers. It is within these close relationships that
children learn about themselves, other people and social life in general (Howe et al.,
1999). According to Bowlby, the goal of the child is not an object (e.g., the mother)
but rather a state – maintenance of the desired distance from the mother, depending on
the circumstances (Cassidy, 1999; Goldberg, 2000). Bowlby theorised that attachment
serves an evolutionary purpose, enhancing the survival of the species. Humans, like
other primates, possess an evolutionary adapted behavioural system, the goal of which
is maintaining proximity to a caregiver, particularly when danger threatens, and
thereby ensuring the vulnerable infant’s protection from predators and ultimate
30
psychological and physical survival (Senior, 2002) . Bowlby envisioned the
attachment system operating in the context of other behavioural systems (e.g.,
exploration, sociability) with its ‘set goal’ adjusted to fit the context. The goals of the
attachment system are also modified as the child develops, so that longer separations
and greater distances are deemed to be ‘safe’ (Goldberg, 2000).
3.3.3
Phases of the development of attachment
Bowlby (1969) postulated four phases in the development of an infant’s
attachment:
3.3.3.1 Preattachment (ages 0 – 2 months)
Indiscriminate social responsiveness - Infants however orient to their mothers,
follow them with their eyes over a 180-degree range, and turn toward and move
rhythmically with their mother’s voice.
3.3.3.2 Attachment-in-the-making (ages 3 – 6 months)
Discriminate social responsiveness - Infants become attached to one or more
people in the environment.
3.3.3.3 Clear-cut attachment (ages 7 months – 3 years)
Active initiative in proximity and contact - Infants cry and show other signs of
distress when separated from the caregiver or mother. This phase may occur as early
as 3 months in some infants. When the infant is returned to the mother, the infant
stops crying and clings, as if to gain further assurance of the mother’s return.
Sometimes, seeing the mother after a separation is sufficient for crying to stop.
3.3.3.4 Goal-corrected attachment (ages 3+ years)
Infant begins to understand mother’s point of view, feelings, plans and
motives and makes inferences about her behaviour. The mother figure is seen as
31
independent, and a more complex relationship between the mother and child
develops.
3.4
Ainsworth’s assessment of attachment security and insecurity by means
of the “Strange Situation”
Mary Ainsworth’s great contribution to attachment theory was to develop a
procedure that attempted to measure attachment security in infants. This experiment
called the “Strange Situation” is a research protocol for assessing the quality and
security of an infant’s attachment (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998). The purpose was to
study the effects of separation from the mother in an unfamiliar environment
(Goldberg, 2000). Bowlby’s theoretical genius was therefore nicely complimented by
Ainsworth’s empirical creativity (Howe et al., 1999). Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters and
Wall (1978) endeavoured to empirically investigate whether the quality of maternal
responsiveness is directly tied to patterns of infantile behaviour, particularly comfortseeking and contact maintenance. The “Strange Situation”, involved eight brief (3
minute) episodes that provided the opportunity to observe a variety of the 12- to 24month-old infant’s responses to the stress of a new environment and of separation
from an attachment figure. As attachment behaviour is activated when the individual
experiences anxiety, all assessment procedures involved introducing mild levels of
attachment-related emotional distress to those under study. The way in which the
individual responds to and handles this distress is taken to reveal the strategy that he
typically uses to regulate arousal and raised affect (Goldberg, 2000; Howe et al.,
1999; Solomon & George, 1999).
In the “Strange Situation”, the mother, infant and experimenter (stranger)
settle into a playroom, and the mother then leaves the room for a few minutes. The
32
infant’s reaction to this separation, and the mother’s and infant’s responses when the
mother returns, are noted. The experiment is used to assess and examine the motherinfant relationship and the infant’s ways of coping with separation. The response also
shows whether the individua l sees the self as worthy and effective, and whether other
people are seen as caring and available. Thus, the measures allow investigators to
determine the individual’s internal working model and attachment style. Ainsworth
also confirmed that attachment serves the purpose of reducing anxiety (Senior, 2002;
Solomon & George, 1999).
3.5
Types of attachment patterns
From this experiment Ainsworth was able to distinguish three primary
attachment classifications: “secure”, “resistant” and “avoidant” (Howe et al., 1999).
These patterns were linked to caregivers’ success or failure in responding to, and
meeting, the infant’s needs (Goldberg, 2000). In later research, Main and Solomon
described a third insecure category, the “disorganised/ disoriented” category
(Goldberg, 2000; Morgan, 1999; Senior, 2002; Solomon & George, 1999).
3.5.1
Secure attachment
The “secure” infant readily separated from the caregiver in the laboratory
procedure and became easily absorbed in exploration. The infant was upset by the
separation and demanded and received care from the caregiver when she returned, but
continued explorative play thereafter. The securely attached infant develops the
confidence that the caregiver will be available, responsive and helpful, should he be in
a frightening situation (Gomez, 1997; Morgan, 1999; Senior, 2002).
33
3.5.2
Insecure-avoidant attachment
The “insecure-avoidant” infant appeared uninvolved with the caregiver when
she was present and was not overtly upset when she left and ignored her on her return,
but watched her acutely and was unable to play freely. Main (in Morgan, 1999)
highlighted that attachment behaviour is virtually absent throughout the “Strange
Situation” in the avoidant infant and is replaced with active avoidance (looking away,
moving away, turning away and leaning out of arms) as well as persistent attention to
the inanimate environment. Avoidant behaviour was seen in infants who appeared less
anxious during the separation and snubbed the caregiver on her return, avoiding eye
contact and/ or using toys to distract their attention away from the caregiver. Avoidant
coping interferes with the development of feelings of emotional connectedness (e.g.,
affection, empathy, dependency) and fosters a self-promoting and inflated selfconcept (“compulsive self-reliance”), leading to a focus on satisfying one’s own needs
with little regard for those of others. The result is externalising behaviours, such as
exploitation and aggression (Finnegan, Hodges, & Perry, 1996).
3.5.3
Insecure-ambivalent (resistant) attachment
The “insecure-ambivalent” (resistant) infant was panicked by the separation
and simultaneously clung to the caregiver and fought her off when she returned
(Bowlby, 1988). The infant was also unable to return to his own activities. The
resistant infant is uncertain whether the caregiver will be available or responsive or
helpful when called upon. As a result of this uncertainty, the infant is always prone to
separation anxiety and is anxious about exploring the world (Bowlby, 1988; Senior ,
2002). This pattern tends to be promoted by inconsistent caregiving, i.e. a caregiver
being available and helpful on some occasions, but not others. Because ambivalent
coping inhibits exploration and mastery of the environment and interferes with the
34
development of age-appropriate strategies for regulating affect during even minor
stressors, it renders the child vulnerable to fear responses and to self-perceptions of
weakness and helplessness (Finnegan et al., 1996).
3.5.4
Disorganised/ disoriented attach ment
The disorganised/ disoriented infant had no coherent strategy whatsoever to
deal with the experience of separation and showed disorganisation and dissociation
upon reunion (Bowlby, 1988). The disorganised/ disoriented infant was confused and
chaotic, with bizarre patterns of repetitive movements or frozen paralysis expressing
his bewilderment (Gomez, 1997). Some instances of disorganised attachment are seen
in infants known to have been physically abused and/ or grossly neglected by the
parent (Crittenden, 1985), in infants of mothers who are still preoccupied with
mourning a parental figure lost during the mother’s childhood and in infants of
mothers who themselves suffered physical or sexual abuse as children (Main &
Hesse, 1990).
3.6
Quality of maternal responsiveness to infants
The kind of attachment shown by infants was closely linked with the mothers’
responsiveness to them during their first year (Bowlby, 1988; Gomez, 1997). The
mother’s expressed attitude towards her infant is the overwhelmingly deciding factor
in how secure the infant will be at one year, a pattern that holds true even for infants
who are easily upset in their first few months. Maternal sensitivity and responsiveness
are the main determinants of secure attachment (Senior, 2002). If the mother receives
help in changing her feelings and behaviour towards her infant, the infant can develop
a secure attachment from an insecure starting point (Kobak, 1999; Weinfield, Sroufe,
Egeland, & Carlson, 1999). Another factor that may play a s ignificant role in
35
facilitating the mother’s responsiveness to her infant is the existence of support
systems – family, friends, physicians, and nurses (Berk, 1989).
The mothers of secure infants are the most attuned and sensitively responsive
to their infants, interacting with them freely and with enjoyment, picking up their
signals accurately and responding to their distress promptly (Goldberg, 2000). They
are described as emotionally expressive and flexible in dealing with their infants
(Weinfield et al., 1999). The insecure-avoidant infants are likely to have mothers who
interact with them less, are slow to respond to distress, are uncomfortable with close
body contact, and hold a practical rather than personal attitude towards them. Their
positive feelings about the infant are often overcome by anger and irritation
(Goldberg, 2000). They are minimally expressive, relatively rigid in dealing with their
infants, and often interfere unnecessarily with their infants’ activities (Weinfield et al.,
1999). The mothers of insecure-ambivalent infants tend to respond unpredictably and
inconsistently, and are rather insensitive to their infants’ signals but are less rejecting
than mothers of insecure-avoidant infants (Goldberg, 2000). They are more likely to
be inept in physical contact with their infants, and they show little spontaneous
affection (Kobak, 1999). The insecure -disorganised infants generally come from
profoundly disturbed backgrounds involving abuse, severe neglect or psychosis
(Goldberg, 2000). It is thus clear that how mothers respond to their infants, has a huge
influence on the type of attachment patterns that the child will develop.
3.7
Internal working models/ mental representations
A basic assumption of attachment theory is that critical variations in the
quality of one’s early experiences with caregiving figures shape the formation of
mental representations or internal working models of close relationships (Senior,
36
2002). Internal working models are cognitive structures in which the individual
mentally represents the self, others and relationships. They are thus schematic internal
representations of external experience (Howe et al., 1999; Morgan, 1999). These
representations are influenced by experience and are subject to change as new
experiences accumulate (Goldberg, 2000). The “Strange Situation” observes the
relationship as manifested in both the child and mother’s behaviour rather than
something that belongs only to the mother or only to the child. The child’s internal
working model reflects the nature and structure of this relationship and the kind of
care he has received (Morgan, 1999). Internal working models have two dimensions:
(a) self model – containing perceptions of one’s own worth and lovability, and (b)
other model – containing expectations regarding the essential goodness,
trustworthiness, and dependability of important others in one’s social world. Those
who experience sensitive and emotionally available caregiving develop a sense of
others as dependably available and supportive , a sense of themselves as competent
and worthy of attention and affection, and generally positive expectations of intimate
relationships (Senior, 2002).
The secure child has an inner representation of a lovable self and responsive
other, with enjoyable interactions alternating with exciting explorations in an
interesting world (Gomez, 1997). According to Zeanah, Mammen and Lieberman
(1993), when the caregiving is inadequate, the individual develops deficiencies in
feelings about self and others, and a negative set of expectations regarding
relationships. The insecure-ambivalent child, on the other hand, has a picture of a self,
which is not lovable, and an unpredictable other that has to be manipulated or coerced
into caring. The insecure-avoidant child ha s an internal model of a self which is not
worthy of care and an other who does not care, forcing the child to repress his longing
37
and his anger in order not to drive the other even further away. In this pattern of
detachment the child disowns his anger, needs and anxiety and the awareness of his
caregiver’s rejection in what Bowlby termed “defensive exclusion” (Gomez, 1997).
According to Bowlby (1973, 1988) a person’s internal working model, once formed in
early childhood, tend to persist and serve as a template for his subsequent close
relationships.
Bowlby further asserted that internal working models allow individuals to
anticipate the future and make plans, thereby operating most sufficiently. By 3 or 4
years of age, physical separations no longer present as serious a threat to a child, and
consequently do not produce the same kinds of emotional reactions. In large part, the
child’s developing capacities to represent an absent parent, talk about impending
separations, and plan for reunions with the parent reduce the problem posed by
separations from an attachment figure (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999).
3.8
Attachment in the family system
Thus far the focus has been on the development of a relationship between an
infant and a primary caregiver, usually the mother. However, such dyads do not exist
in a vacuum, but are nested within a family environment that influences the
development and functioning of infants and their primary caregivers. Family members
other than parents also serve as attachment figures, and a network of surrounding
relationships influences each specific attachment.
3.8.1
Fathers
Although fathers are capable of serving as attachment figures, most fathers
have limited opportunities to respond to attachment-relevant situations, and may be
38
more oriented to the role of ‘playmate’ than that of ‘protector’. Based on their
observations, Clarke-Stewart; Cohen and Campos; and Lamb found that older infants
and toddlers displayed more affiliative behaviour towards fathers and more
attachment behaviour towards mothers (Goldberg, 2000). This gave rise to the
suggestion that fathers and mothers adopt different roles and influence different
aspects of their children’s development. Although there are numerous studies
documenting the ability of fathers to carry out the activities and responsibilities
traditionally performed by mothers, few fathers are primary caregivers of infants,
fathers are less available than mothers during infants’ waking hours, and fathers are
more likely than mothers to read and watch television and to play than to engage in
caregiving activities when they are with their infants (Goldberg, 2000). When
engaged in similar activities, father -infant and mother-infant interactions are often
qualitatively different. Fathers choose to engage in arousing playful interactions,
while the activities of mothers are more likely to be directed towards reducing arousal
and soothing the infant (Goldberg, 2000). During the rapproachment phase in the
separation-individuation framework of Margaret Mahler (in Kaplan & Sadock, 1998)
in which she describe how young children acquire a sense of identity separate from
their mothers, the father’s availability is crucial for individuation, as mothers are
rediscovered as separate individuals. Coming from outside the symbiotic fusion,
fathers represent a stabilising force that offers toddlers a relationship uncontaminated
by ambivalence (Goldberg, 2000). They provide support and ‘a breath of fresh air’
whenever toddlers are terrified by the idea of being reengulfed into symbiosis
(Geiger, 1996). Interactions with fathers also shape children’s attachment security,
though possibly to a lesser degree than those with mothers. In addition, fathers
contribute to their children’s development in other vital ways, such as engaging in
39
physical play (Feeney et al., 2001; van Ijzendoorn & De Wolff, 1997). Fathers can
also influence children’s adjustment indirectly by impacting on the mother’s
sensitivity to her offspring.
3.8.2
Siblings
Parents’ time and energy are increasingly divided as subsequent births add to
the family. Depending on the age of the older children when these additions occur,
some caregiving responsibilities are carried out by siblings (Goldberg, 2000).
Attachment theorists have suggested a number of ways in which the older child’s
attachment experiences influence their ability to care for a younger sibling. For
example, internal working models of attachments are thought to include
representations of relationships with caregivers, as well as the role played by each
participant (child and caregiver). Thus, as children mature, they are predisposed to reenact elements of the kind of care that they themselves experienced. Children learn
how to behave towards others, including younger family members, by following the
behavioural models that their caregivers provide (Goldberg, 2000). Those who
experienced care that generated a secure attachment should thus be more capable of
providing similar care for siblings. In addition, the confidence that a child has
developed regarding pa rental availability in times of distress may affect the extent to
which new siblings are viewed as a threat to their own well being. Children who are
unsure of the parent’s availability and have developed insecure attachment strategies
may be more likely to react negatively to a new sibling (Goldberg, 2000).
40
3.8.3
Marital relationships and child attachment
Parents may develop similar styles of response to their infants by influencing
each other’s pattern of childcare. There are many opportunities for this to occur as
couples discuss childcare, share the experience of rearing children, and learn through
observation of each other. Parents may develop behaviour patterns that are
complementary rather than similar. For example, one parent may relieve the other
from infant care when exhaustion or preoccupation might lead to episodes of
insensitive care. Similarly, one parent may take over non-parental tasks in order to
free the other from distractions or stresses that interfere with sensitive care (Goldberg,
2000).
Marital discord affects children’s experiences within the family and can have
an influence on children’s behaviour. Marital discord can be described as marriages
full of disagreements, quarrelling, and harsh sounds and includes conflict,
disharmony, and lack of agreement between currently married parents, including
separated (but not divorced) parents (Goldberg, 2000). Another aspect that might have
an influence on children’s behaviour is the six family patterns as illustrated by Little
(1982).
•
The first family pattern described by Little (1982) is the fragile bond marriage,
where couples follow traditional roles – women spend most of their time and
energy in the home caring for the children, while men develop careers. Within
this marriage, there is an avoidance of confrontation on troublesome issues
and the couple drifts apart emotionally but cling to the shell of their marriage.
•
The second is the fractured family. Couples also follow traditional roles in this
type of marriage, where men avoid their wives and are verbally and sometimes
physically abusive to them. Both women and children in these families
41
eventually have problems requiring professional attention and within these
homes relationships are fractured not by divorce itself, but by the destructive
behaviours exhibited in daily living.
•
The third family pattern is the doll’s house marriage where men and women
are emotionally committed to their marriage and value family life. When there
is a shift, where women are more successful then men in the workforce,
women begin to perceive their marriage as a stifling prison and then they
(women) eventually decide to leave the marriage.
•
The fourth is the stalemate marriage, where men characteristically avoid
strong emotional confrontations and withdraw from their families and women
on the other hand move aggressively against this withdrawal by pleading,
demanding, criticising and finally threatening their husbands. A stalemate
position, as in chess, is reached where neither partner can move and the game
ends in a draw. Women, who are more dissatisfied with the unproductive
communication patterns, leave the home.
•
The fifth family pattern described by Little (1982) is the perfect model
marriage. These marriages appear more egalitarian than others. Illusions of a
perfect model of marriage enable these men and women to maintain an
emotional distance in their relationship. Men move away from the home as
they become restless and dissatisfied with their wives.
•
The last family pattern described is the unformed family where women appear
unready for marriage and have some difficulty forming bonds with their
husbands and children. These brief marriages are characterised by women’s
withdrawal and flight from the home and men’s confusion and complaints
about their wives’ coldne ss and avoidance of intimacy. When these women
42
leave their families, the men feel confused and angry with the women for
abandoning their roles as mothers and wives (Little, 1982).
Types of parenting styles can also influence children’s attachments to their parents
and the presence of behaviour problems. Michael Rutter (in Kaplan & Sadock, 1998)
described four types of parenting styles:
•
Authoritarian – characterised by rigidity and strict rules, which can lead to
depression in children;
•
Permissive – characterised by indulgence and no limit setting, which can lead
to poor impulse control;
•
Indifferent – characterised by neglect and lack of involvement, leading to
aggressive behaviour; and
•
Reciprocal – characterised by shared decision-making with behaviour directed
in a relational manner, which results in a sense of self-reliance.
3.9
Attachment in adolescence
While the importance of attachments may be fairly stable from infancy to old
age, the organisation of attachment behaviour and the nature of attachment
relationships change with age (Colin, 1996). Protection and security are the hallmarks
of attachment throughout the life span, but the conditions that activate higher intensity
levels of the attachment system, the type of attachment behaviour used, and the
degree of proximity (or “contact”) that terminates attachment behaviours change with
age (Colin, 1996). As discussed in the previous chapter, the key task of adolescence is
to become autonomous and be less dependent on parents in making decisions. There
is a pressure then to use peers as attachment figures in order for attachment needs to
be met. From this perspective, adolescence is not a period in which attachment needs
43
and behaviours are relinquished, rather, it is one in which they are gradually
transferred to peers (Steinberg, 1990). The central function of the adolescent’s
attachment relationship with parents may be to provide an emotional secure base from
which the adolescent can explore the wide range of emotional states that arises when
he is learning to live as a relatively autonomous adult (Allen & Land, 1999). Close
relations with parents foster the growth of adolescent self -reliance and individuation
(Steinberg, 1990). According to Allen, Kupermine and Bell, (in Allen & Land, 1999)
in adolescence, security of the parent-adolescent attachment should be reflected in a
capacity of both the parent and the adolescent to assert autonomy and yet to maintain
a sense of closeness or relatedness. Adolescent behaviour problems and symptoms
thereof, may serve not only as expressions of distress or of psychopathology, but also
as attempts to change the nature of interactions within a parent-adolescent dyad (Allen
& Land, 1999). The implications of all this is especially severe for children, who have
been neglected, maltreated and/ or abused.
3.10
Abused and traumatised children
Most children ending up in care have been neglected, maltreated and/ or
abused. Abuse and neglect is defined as the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or
exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child at the age specified by the
child protection law of the state in question, by a person who is responsible for the
child’s welfare to the extent that the child’s health or welfare is harmed or threatened
(Erickson & Egeland, 1996). Children experience different forms of maltreatment.
The term ‘maltreatment’ covers a variety of conditions under which children receive
inadequate care (Goldberg, 2000). The American Humane Association (in Erickson &
Egeland, 1996) describes emotional neglect as ‘passive or passive-aggressive
44
inattention to the child’s emotional needs, nurturing, or emotional well-being’. These
definitions may vary somewhat depending on cultural contexts. Neglected children, if
they survive physically, often fail to develop the confidence, concentration, and social
skills that would enable them to succeed in school and in relationships (Erickson &
Egeland, 1996). The Proceedings of the 1983 International Conference on
Psychological Abuse of Children and Youth, highlighted psychological maltreatment
and defined it as consisting of acts of omission and commission which are judged on
the basis of a combination of community standards and professional expertise to be
psychologically damaging (Hart, Brassard, & Karlson, 1996). Such acts are
committed by individuals, singly or collectively, who by their characteristics (e.g.,
age, status, knowledge, organisational form) are in a position of differential power
that renders a child vulnerable (Hart et al., 1996). Such acts damage immediately or
eventually the behavioural, cognitive, affective, or physical functioning of the child.
Examples of psychological maltreatment include acts of rejection, terror, isolation,
exploitation, and missocialisation (Hart et al., 1996). At a generic level, many experts
have considered psychological maltreatment to embody the repeated pattern of
behaviour that conveys to children that they are worthless, unloved, unwanted, only of
value in meeting another’s needs, or seriously threatened with physical or
psychological violence (Brassard, Hart, & Hardy, 1991).
Sexual abuse is the most prevalent form of abuse that children experience.
Sexually abused adolescents report higher rates of emotional and behavioural
problems than their nonabused peers (Berliner & Elliott, 1996). Sexually abused
children tend to be less socially competent, more aggressive, and more socially
withdrawn than nonabused children. Maternal distress and lack of support for the
child appear to be associated with reporting higher levels of child behaviour problems
45
(Berliner & Elliott, 1996). Maternal belief in the child’s disclosure of the abuse and
support following disclosure has a significant impact on later functioning. The highest
risk of failure to support is found when the offender is a stepfather or the mother’s
live-in boyfriend (Berliner & Elliott, 1996). Childhood sexual abuse by parents or
stepparents may tap into ambivalent attachments in which the child clings to a
caregiver who alternates between being sexually intrusive and threatening or rejecting
(McCluskey & Hooper, 2000). The most important variable predicting out-of-home
placement (placement in a children’s home) is whether the mother believes and
supports the child (Hunter, Coulter, Runyan, & Everson, 1990). The increased
symptomatology noted in children who are taken into protective custody may be
secondary to the lack of caregiver support that provoked the placement.
3.11
Attachment abuse
Studies of maltreated children identified patterns of attachment that are not
generally seen in children with low -risk, and when the disorganised classification was
available, a substantial number of maltreated children fell into this category and
tended to remain disorganised on subsequent assessment (Goldberg, 2000). Mainly
abuse, whether physical, psychological or sexual, is the main causal factor for
children being placed in children’s homes. Children who are exposed to abuse or
extreme forms of punishment are not only faced with threats to their attachment
figure’s availability, they must also manage a more profound dilemma when their
attachment figures are potential sources of danger (Kobak, 1999).
In most instances in the children’s home and in this study, the children were
abused by attachment figures (i.e. attachment abuse) and as a result were removed
from the family and placed in care. Attachment abuse is defined as hurting the
46
feelings or the body of an attachment figure to construct a more tolerable, if
momentary, experience of the self (Stosny, 1995). It begins with the abuser’s need for
someone else to relieve the fear of being overwhelmed by his feelings and the need
for someone else to set limits on his feelings. Attachment abuse results from the
abuser’s inability to maintain tolerable self -constructions (set of beliefs, feelings, and
behaviours about the self that form the perspective from which individuals construct
meaning) and his desperate illusion that manipulating the mirror-reflection provided
by attachment figures will fill-in the cracks and holes in his sense of self (Stosny,
1995).
From Kleinian psychoanalysis came the idea that parents are not just the
object of the child’s first love, but also of their hatred, as was expanded on earlier.
Intrinsic aggression and inevitable frustration of desire lead to murderous hatred in the
infant, which, as with libido, is ideally contained and detoxified by the caregiver, so
that gradually the child learns to cope with feelings of disappointment and deferments
of gratification (McCluskey & Hooper, 2000). In the case of physical abuse this
process is perverted: rather than absorbing and buffering the hatred, the adult
(caregiver) retaliates, using the child as a container of their own deprivation and pain
(McCluskey & Hooper, 2000). The unique self-building (and potentially selfdestroying) capacity of the attachment bond forms the heart of all intimate
relationship functions and dysfunctions. That which impairs, subverts, distorts, or
damages the self-building nature of attachment interaction is rightly regarded as
attachment abuse (Stosny, 1995). Abusive parents show strong emotional
involvement with their children, while neglecting parents are more likely to be
withdrawn and detached (Goldberg, 2000).
47
Parents with attachment deficits tend to lack social support systems, are more
vulnerable to stress and more susceptible to disorganised family living, all factors
known to contribute to child abuse (Berk, 1989). Maltreating parents are often
characterised by a lack of understanding of the emotional complexity of human
relationships, especially the parent-child relationship. They have difficulty seeing
things from the child’s perspective or understanding behaviour in terms of the child’s
developmental level and the context or situation (Berliner & Elliott, 1996). The
perverse paradox of abuse from an attachment perspective arises from the vicious
circle in which an adult who is a caregiver can be both the attachment figure to whom
the child turns for protection, and the source of threat which gives rise to the nee d for
that protection. The more frightened or in pain the child becomes, the more the child
clings to the perpetrator (McCluskey & Hooper, 2000). The abused child seeks
contact with the abusing caregiver because, paradoxically, the predictable, familiar,
but adverse experience (which includes a clear representation of the child’s role)
generates a greater sense of safety than an unfamiliar, nonabusive one (for which the
child has no role relationship representations) (Weinfield et al., 1999). The home
envir onments of maltreated children include emotional and physical rejection, hostile
attempts at behaviour management, verbal and emotional assault, or an absence of a
synchronist interactional style between caregiver and child (Crittenden & Ainsworth,
1989). Maltreated children in lower socio-economic groups are significantly more
likely to form insecure attachment relationships with their mothers or other primary
caregivers (Cicchetti, 1989).
48
3.12
Conclusion
Attachment theory concerns itself with early caregiving relationships and the
way that these relationships support the child’s subsequent development. The nature
of the parent-child relationship during early childhood is believed to be one of the
central causal factors in personality development and in terpersonal functioning, as
well as having implications for psychopathology (Senior, 2002). Bowlby (1952)
outlined instances in which the natural home group fail to care for the child. Firstly,
the natural home group never established because the child is illegitimate. Secondly,
the natural home group is intact, but is not functioning effectively because the
breadwinner is unemployed with consequent poverty, chronic illness or incapacity of
parents and instability or psychopathy of parents. Thirdly, the natural home group is
broken up and therefore not functioning because of social calamity, death of the
parent, illness requiring the parent to be hospitalised, imprisonment of the parent,
desertion by one or both parents, separation or divorce, employment of the father
elsewhere or the full time employment of the mother.
Attachment theory has not been immune to criticism. Kagan (1984) highlights
a number of these. The first criticism related to the reliability/ stability of research on
which attachment theor y is based. It is argued that some research shows shifting of
attachment upon retest. The role of temperament has further been questioned. Critics
contend that temperament may explain behaviour in the “Strange Situation”. In other
words, a securely attache d child with an easy-going temperament may not get upset
when encountering a stranger or separation from his mother. Furthermore, the
meaning of crying or the absence of crying is overrated. Finally it is argued that the
“Strange Situation” is artificial a nd does not relate to the real world of the child.
49
Notwithstanding these criticisms, there seems to be overwhelming support for
attachment theory. Mostly because attachment theory provides a sophisticated set of
ideas for making sense of our feelings and behaviours in times of need and in the
context of close relationships (Howe et al., 1999). It is one of the most thoroughly
researched constructs in social and personality development and it has influenced
childcare and public policy more than any other theory. In the following chapter,
attention will focus on the various aspects of child institutionalisation (i.e. placement
in children’s homes).
50
CHAPTER 4
INSTITUTIONALISATION
4.1
Introduction
This chapter provides the context in which the study is grounded. In terms thereof the
focus is on attachment of the unwanted child in a children’s home. The unwanted child is
often mistreated, abused and/ or rejected and as a result institutionalised, i.e. placed in
children’s homes. The relevance of this in the present study derives from the inextricable link
between social action or experience and the context in which it is generated (Neuman, 1997).
The Child Care Act of 1986 provides the legal and constitutional framework for the
separation of children from their parents. Authority for the Act lies with the Departments of
Welfare and Justice. In terms of the Act, a child can be removed from the custody of his
parents if it is determined that the parents are unfit to have custody of the child. These criteria
were later adapted with the promulgation of the Child Care Amendment Act (1996), which
reverted to the ‘child in need of care’ concept as the criterion for determining whether a child
should be removed from his parents’ care. This change was made in order to bring the laws in
accordance with the child-centred focus of the June 1995 United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 1999). If a parent is deemed unfit,
a children’s court may then decide to place a child either in foster care under the supervision
of a social worker or in a children’s home. In this study the placement of children in
children’s homes constitute institutionalisation.
There are close to 200 registered children’s homes in South Africa and while the
Child Care Act (1983) provides for inspections at the behest of the Minister of Welfare, these
are neither regular nor mandatory (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 1999). Although
efforts are made to ensure that the needs of children in children’ s homes are met,
51
circumstances such as overcrowding and staff shortages makes this difficult and in many
cases impossible. As a result, increasing numbers of professional social workers prefer foster
homes to institutional settings for children in need of placement (Hilzinger, 2002). In the
middle of the 20th century, psychoanalysts observed that children reared in large institutional
homes with minimal stimulation and no consistent contact with a loving caregiver, often
became emotionally unstable, lacked in conscience, or were mentally retarded (Westen,
1999). Although a number of factors could account for this, it is generally assumed that what
is possibly lacking in the lives of these children is sufficient attachment. This is based on the
fact that human beings are not designed to live in isolation from one another. Strong and
permanent bonding is essential for the survival of all, especially the young and the vulnerable
(Gomez, 1997). Human development is seen as a process of creating and maintaining
attachments towards the primary attachment figure and other significant people (Howe et al.,
1999; Senior, 2002).
This chapter focuses on institutionalisation as the context in which study participants’
attachment patterns are explored. This focus will however be preceded by a discussion of two
related issues, i.e. the essential requirements for good personality development and
fundamentals for effective childcare. This will serve to further broaden our understanding of
the relevance of institutionalisation within this thesis.
4.2
Essentials of good personality development
To a large extent, the physical and mental health of a child is determined by the
social, emotional, and moral milieu surrounding him prior to his birth (Safonova & Leparsky,
1998). Perhaps the first primary factor in ensuring sturdy growth is firm and stable roots.
Children flourish best in an environment that is affectionate and secure (Bowlby, 1952). They
need above all stability, safety, security, and affection. Children suck their thumbs more often
52
and for longer if they have received neither sufficient nourishment nor affection in childhood.
The unwanted child is usually bottle -fed and hastily weaned (Bowley, 1947). What follows
are fundamentals for effective childcare as set out by Dreyer (in Mudaly, 1985).
4.3
Fundamentals for effective childcare
According to Dreyer (in Mudaly, 1985), the following are fundamentals for effective
childcare:
•
Providing the opportunity for the child to experience basic physical care largely in the
form of clothing, food, shelter, health care – areas in which the child has most likely
suffered some measure of deprivation,
•
Providing the opportunity for the child to experience consistency and stability
particularly in his immediate life-world,
•
Providing the opportunity for the child to experience spontaneous freedom to discover
the world about him so as to foster personal growth within the constraints of his lifeworld,
•
Providing the opportunity for the child to communicate with and relate to any number
of persons and in a variety of situations so as to learn appropriate ones – they need
opportunities to talk about and act out their feelings and anxieties of separation, about
their future, home, parents and family,
•
Providing a better future for the child by ensuring an adequate and challenging
educational programme,
•
Providing for the child the right to self-determination, i.e. the child must learn to see
options and choose from among them and take responsibility for the consequences of
his decisions, and
53
•
Providing the opportunity for the child to realise, appreciate and accept that people
and circumstances change, and that he will have to come to terms with his own
personal growth from a child to a self -sufficient adult.
The familial context is an important element of the child’s social and emotional world
because it is here that the child’s essential needs are catered for and the child learns to
interact with others and form significant relationships. For the child to develop a good,
healthy personality, his biological as well as emotional needs should be met. When these
needs are not met the child may become socially inadequate, have feelings of being unwanted
and struggle establishing peer- and relationships with significant others (Colin, 1996). Thus
the logic behind legislation such as the Child Care Act of 1986 is to make provision for the
placement of the child in a setting where the above-mentioned needs are met and the path
towards healthy development is cleared.
4.4
Residential childcare
Community-based group homes are today widely accepted as a resource for the care
and treatment of homeless, psychologically traumatised and socially maladjusted children.
Residential childcare programs usually have clearly stated goals, which include “…building
on children’s strengths, helping them overcome problems and helping them leave in a better
condition that they were when they came in” (Van Staden & Nieuwoudt, 2001, p.1). Van
Staden and Nieuwoudt (2001) also note that two key professional issues have to be addressed
by the children’s home: (a) the need to maintain order and quality of life in the homes, and
(b) the need to ascertain that the work of the home is incorporated in a plan that involves
preparing the children for the time when they leave the home.
Residential care is usually only made available by the state to the individual, as a last
resort, when his ‘natural’ care and support systems have failed in some way. This has been
54
outlined by Bowlby and is expanded on in the previous chapter. According to Davis (1981),
residential care can function in two ways, which produce diverse outcomes. On the one hand
residential care can be a positive response to situations in which the family is no longer able
or willing to provide care for one of its members. It can offer a refuge from, or substitute for,
family life. Indeed for some, it can offer some opportunities that were never part of the
child’s own family situation. On the other hand, the transfer of responsibility for caring from
the family to the residential unit can be problematic. It is argued that once the family hands
over its caring responsibilities, the individual concerned is ‘cast out’ of society and placed in
a world which can never be more than ‘second best’; a world in which the shame of social
rejection shapes the relationships between staff and residents (Davis, 1981). Thus the transfer
of responsibility for caring from the family to the residential unit can lead to the
stigmatisation of those placed in residential care.
Notwithstanding this Carlebach (in Davis, 1981) states that the right kind of
residential provision for deprived and delinquent children could save them from moral
delinquency and, at the same time, could save society from the consequences of their
activities. Thus residential care can be seen not just as a means of ‘saving’ children from
inadequate families and mothers, but also as a solution to the problem of inadequacy itself.
4.5
Factors that motivate institutionalisation
A number of factors result in children being placed in residential care. These include
inter alia maternal and other forms of deprivation, rejection and neglect, separation, and last
but not least, abuse.
55
4.5.1
Maternal deprivation
Bowlby’s critical contribution was his unwavering focus on the infant’s need for an
unbroken (secure) early attachment to the mother. He thought that the child who does not
have such a provision was likely to suffer from maternal deprivation (Fonagy, 2001).
Maternal deprivation is thus defined as a situation in which an infant or young child is reared
for a more or less prolonged period under conditions in which he receives inadequate
maternal care and thus has insufficient interaction with a mother figure (Bowlby, 1952).
Bowlby (1952) distinguished three forms of maternal deprivation on the basis of the extent of
the deprivation suffered by the child. Firstly, partial deprivation occurs when the child lives
with a mother (or permanent mother -substitute), including a relative, whose attitude towards
him is unfavourable. Partial deprivation brings in its train acute anxiety, an excessive need for
love, powerful feelings of revenge, and, arising out of these, guilt and depression. Secondly,
complete deprivation occurs when the child loses a mother (or permanent mother-substitute)
by death, illness, or desertion, and has no familiar relatives to care for him. Thirdly, complete
deprivation occurs when the child is removed from his mother (or permanent mothersubstitute) to strangers by medical or social agencies, as a result of abuse and/ or neglect.
Complete deprivation has even more far-reaching effects on character development and may
entirely cripple the capacity to form relationships (Bowlby, 1952).
4.5.2
Other forms of deprivation
In institutional settings other types of deprivation, each with potentially different
implications, can be distinguished. For the purpose of this study, the most relevant forms are
emotional and psychological deprivation. The term emotional deprivation can be restricted to
characterise an environment with neutral feeling tone or without variation in feeling tone
(Bowlby, 1952). Emotional deprivation symptoms that may occur in any combination and to
56
any degree are: (a) behaviour disturbances resulting from the immaturity of the ego and
inadequate superego development, (b) impulsive behaviour, i.e. lack of self-control, (c) lack
of anxiety and guilt, (d) antisocial, aggressive behaviour, (e) low achievement motivation, (f)
lack of goal directedness, (g) lack of affect, i.e. lack of ability to make a one-to-one
meaningful, lasting relationship, affectionless character, repression of all need for mother or
friendships, shallow or nonexisting relationship formation, and (h) behaviour called
psychopathic, sociopathic, or antisocial by various sources (Bowlby, 1952).
Psychological deprivation, according to David (1992), refers to a condition produced
by life situations in which a person is not given the opportunity to satisfy some basic (vital)
psychological needs sufficiently and for a long enough period. As a result, appropriate
actualisation and development are obstructed and distorted. Psychological deprivation is thus
a characteristic inner end product of the prolonged impact of an impoverished environment –
a psychological state resulting from a persistently restricted and/ or distorted interaction with
the environment (David, 1992). Infants in institutions characterised by low staff-to-infant
ratios and frequent turnover of personnel tend to display marked developmental retardation,
even with adequate physic al care and freedom from infection (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998).
Children tend to feel rejected and neglected as a result of the deprivation they experience.
4.5.3
Rejection and neglect
According to Main and Goldman (in Morgan, 1999), neglect seems to refer to a
passive disinterest in the child, while rejection refers to an active hostile or cold response to
the child. When a child is unwanted, there is a danger that the child may be rejected and
deprived of sensory and emotional stimuli (Safonova & Leparsky, 1998). Cold, passive
neglect may cause retarded emotional growth and distrust of affection coupled with a need
for affection, which may cause the child to be unable to achieve happy normal relationships
57
in later life (Chesser, 1912-). In some instances mothers reject their children when they fear
that they may loose their husband or boyfriend’s affections because of a very strong
allegiance to the child (Safonova & Leparsky, 1998). Another cause of rejection is when the
child is unsatisfactory in some way. He may have some disfiguring birthmark, some physical
defect, or some degree of mental defect (Safonova & Leparsky, 1998). In the cases discussed
in this research, this is not so. These children are normal in all respects, physically,
psychologically and mentally. A father’s negative attitude toward the child and psychological
stress in the home is more common among unwanted children. An unwanted pregnancy (in
combination with a number of psychosocial factors, i.e. single parenting, frequent family
conflicts, negative attitude of the father, low utilisation of medical services, and tobacco and
alcohol abuse) should be considered a risk factor that affects the emotional development of a
child (Safonova & Leparsky, 1998). Unwantedness in early pregnancy has a detrimental
effect on children’s psychosocial development (David, 1992).
4.5.4
Separation
Separation refers to the physical separation of the infant or young child from his
mother, whether permanently, or temporarily for longer or shorter periods (Bowlby, 1952) as
illustrated in the “Strange Situation”. Separation from the person to whom the infant is
attached precipitates separation anxiety (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998). An infant cannot survive
and develop without intimate, committed, and consistent care of a caregiver. Appropriate care
involves satisfaction not just of physical needs but also of emotional needs (Gomez, 1997).
Attachment from the infant’s view refers to the specific affiliative tie of the infant to the
mother, or father, which generally begins soon after six months of age (Cassidy, 1999). Once
cumulative everyday experience has resulted in the infant’s developing an internal working
58
model of an attachment figure, separation from that figure is painful and the loss can be
devastating (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999).
Lengthy separation is particularly damaging for a child between six months and three
years, when strong and specific attachments have developed but before the child is able to
understand that the parent’s absence is temporary (Gome z, 1997). Typical reactions to
separation in this age group can be divided into three phases. The first phase is protest. When
the child has come to the end of his capacity to tolerate separation, he will do everything in
his power to bring his attachment figure back. The protest stage can last up to a week. If the
separation then ends, the child is likely to greet parents with anger, relief and anxious
clinging. After protest comes despair. The child gradually loses hope that his lost person will
return. This phase is followed by an apparent recovery, which Bowlby describes as
detachment. The child represses or disinvests in his relationship with the lost person and
begins to attach himself to an alternative figure. This can lead to considerable difficulties if
the child is then reunited with his parents (Gomez, 1997).
4.5.5
Abuse
Many children are placed in protective care in children’s homes as a result of abuse
that is perpetrated in their family homes by an attachment figure. This topic has been
discussed in detail in the previous chapter under the headings of 3.10 and 3.11, so no further
elaborations will be made here.
4.6
Consequences of institutional rearing
Children reared in institutions are said to suffer from serious personality defects.
Although institutions have improved as a result of criticism about the adverse conditions that
characterise them, those aspects of the institutional environment that Bowlby (1951)
59
considered most detrimental to mental health, remain unchanged (Tizard & Rees, 1975).
Children brought up in institutions tend to suffer from two disabilities: stunted individuality
caused by habitual conformity with institutional rules; and retarded emotional growth caused
by ‘love starvation’ (Tizard & Rees, 1975).
Children in institutions, according to Roberts (in Mudaly, 1985) come from deprived
home circumstances because the primary family is no longer able to provide adequate
protection and nurturing for the child. Childcare is a form of substitute care for children that
generally necessitate total separation of the child from his biological family and his adjusting
to a wholly new and unfamiliar environment. From his first encounter with care, the child
lives in a new world of untested experiences and relationships (Mudaly, 1985; Van Staden &
Nieuwoudt, 2001). The placement of children in substitute care is done in circumstances
where the particular child’s needs cannot be adequately met in his own family or in fosterfamily care. The child in need of care is no longer the orphan or simply the child of the poor,
but now mostly the victim of family breakdown, the victim of family neglect and abuse.
Whittaker (in Mudaly, 1985), asserts that there is the substantial view that successful
residential child care programmes will be those that actively focus on the growth and
development in the child’s total life sphere (i.e. the expanded therapeutic milieu, embracing
the family, peer group, school and community), rather than on the amelioration of
psychiatrically defined syndromes or the ext inction of certain problematic behaviour.
4.7
Factors that negatively affect the impact of institutionalisation
A number of factors affect the impact that institutionalisation will have on children.
These include the age and time of placement, duration of institutionalisation, and traumatic
conditions preceding or concomitant with institutionalisation.
60
4.7.1
Age and time of placement
Research indicates that infants placed in institutions from birth to six months old were
consistently less vocal than children reared by their own families, the difference being clearly
discernable before the age of two months old (Batchelor, 1998; Safonova & Leparsky, 1998;
Tizard & Rees, 1975). This backwardness of “talking” is especially characteristic of the
institution child of all ages (Safonova & Leparsky, 1998). Infants under the age of six months
who have been in an institution for some time tend to present with outstanding features of
listlessness, emaciation, relative immobility, quietness, unresponsiveness to stimuli like a
smile or a coo, indifferent appetite, failure to gain weight despite adequate diets, frequent
stools, poor sleep, unhappy appearance, and the absence of sucking habits (Bowlby, 1952).
This presents clear evidence that age and time of placement can negatively affect the impact
that institutionalisation has on children placed in residential care.
4.7.2
Duration of institutional care
The longer a child is institutionalised the more negative consequences are expected
(Batchelor, 1998). Infants reared in institutions undergo an isolation type of experience,
resulting in an isolation type of personality. The more complete the deprivation in the early
years the more isolated and asocial the child, whereas the more the deprivation is interspersed
with satisfaction, the more ambivalent and antisocial he becomes. Children placed in
institutions for short periods after the age of two years do not develop this isolation type of
personality or show the same behaviour patterns (Batchelor, 1998).
4.7.3
Traum atic conditions preceding or concomitant with institutional placement
Some children are placed in care because of severe neglect, physical and/ or sexual
abuse. These experiences are extremely traumatic in and of themselves and this is
61
compounded by the fact that the traumatised child now has to adjust to a different
environment, namely residential care. For many children, this presents such a daunting task
that they prefer to endure the abuse as opposed to having to move away from the only
caregivers they know (Stosny, 1995).
4.8
Parental involvement in institutional placements
Current research suggests that an effective program for the placement of a child
outside his parents’ home must rely on the parents’ involvement and cooperation (Eisikovits
& Beker, 1986). Littner (in Eisikovits & Beker, 1986) listed four primary reasons that explain
why a child’s ties with his biological parents remain important even when the child is placed
with foster parents or in institutions. Firstly, the child may feel the absence of the parents and
miss them even if their relations are disturbed and difficult, because he is still dependent upon
them for providing him with a source of security. Secondly, a child removed from his home
could have no understanding of the reasons why he has been made to leave his parents. This
may lead to a series of irrational explanations such as, for example, that he has been taken out
of his home because he was a bad boy. Thirdly, the child is likely to identify with his parents
in such a way that any criticism directed toward them, justified or not, is viewed by the child
as an attack on himself. A fourth reason is that while separated from parents, the child may
develop an incorrect image of them, whether positive or negative, and of himself as a
consequence.
Parental ties are also known to be necessary for the child’s development and
achievements in the new environment, for working on the possibility and timing of the
child’s return to the home, and the methods by which the institutions can contribute to the
improvement of parental functioning (Van Staden & Nieuwoudt, 2001). Children whose
parents visited the institution regularly and participated in institutional life and activities
62
reached higher academic achievements, a more strongly developed self-concept, and stronger
ties to their biological families, and a better capacity to establish friendships (Van Staden &
Nieuwoudt, 2001). Matsusima argues that preventing parent-child ties and encounters can
only harm the child’s capacity to benefit from the institutional care (in Eisikovits & Beker,
1986). A lack of attention to parent-child ties harms both the child’s capacity for adaptation
to the institution and his ability to benefit from the opportunities available because of the
trauma of separation upon entrance and the repeated need for separation at each visit coupled
with ignorance of the need to shape a new parent -child relationship.
4.9
Conclusion
This chapter serves as an overview of the most pertinent aspects related to children’s
placements in residential care, children’s homes, and institutions. The importance of this
chapter derives from the fact that human experience does not take place in a vacuum but in a
specific context. Thus a clear understanding of experience can only be arr ived at if
consideration is given to the context in which these experiences are generated. This chapter
therefore contextualizes the attachment experiences of the study participants. The chapter that
follows will look at the methodology that is utilised in the study.
63
CHAPTER 5
METHODOLOGY
5.1
Paradigmatic approach
The focus of the current inquiry is on children’s (16 year olds) subjective experience
of attachment within the context of a children’s home. For this reason the research was
approached from a qualitative paradigm. Qualitative research is concerned with exploring
everyday perceptions of the world and uncovering the experiential, subjective dimensions of
people’s worlds (Mouton & Marais, 1996). Inherent in qualitative research are assumptions
about the nature of social life, knowledge, research objectives and ways to deal with data. It
is on the basis of these assumptions that qualitative research can be distinguished from
positivist orientated quantitative research (Mouton & Marais, 1996). Qualitative research is
contrary to most of the core assumptions and goals of quantitative research. The goals in
qualitative research are defined as describing and understanding (verstehen), rather than
explaining and predicting human behaviour as is the case in quantitative research (Babbie &
Mouton, 2001).
According to Neuman (1997) qualitative research emphasise the importance of the
social context for understanding the social world. Implicit in this is the assumption that
meaning always occurs within a certain context and can as such not be separated from the
context in which it is generated. The meaning of social action or experience is therefore
inextricably linked to the context in which it is generated. “When a researcher removes an
event, social action, answer to a question, or conversation from the social context in which it
appears, or ignores the context, social meaning and significance are distorted” (Neuman,
1997, p.331). Within the context of the present study, the implication will thus be that the
attachment experiences of children raised in a children’s home due to abuse perpetrated by
64
their parents would be significantly different from those of children reared by their
nonabusive parents because of the specific features that characterises the two contexts.
Tools utilised by qualitative researchers therefore differ from traditional quantitative
tools such as variables, statistics, hypotheses, etc. Typical qualitative tools include categories,
themes and interpretations that are responsible for the rich descriptions that qualitative data
yields. It is these descriptions that allow us to generate new insights into our social worlds
and allows us to get closer to the understanding of our social realities. They yield rich and
colourful detail, which allows us to better understand how people make meaning of their
social lives. Hammersly (1996) points out that there is considerable differentiation of
theoretical premises and methods within the qualitative tradition. However, despite the fact
that there are different forms of qualitative methodologies, what all these share is an
emphasis on subjectivity and contextualization of human experience.
5.2
Aims of the study
This study aims to explore and develop a better understanding of the nature of
attachment patterns of institutionalised adolescents by looking at how attachment abuse,
maternal deprivation and institutionalisation can be detrimental to forming close
relationships. As mentioned previously, this study is exploratory in nature. Its value can be
that of identifying early problematic patterns related to the attachment of unwanted children
who have been institutionalised. The study can also direct us towards priorities for future
research. It can further be used to inform policy development and formulation in terms of the
care and needs of unwanted children.
65
5.3
Sampling
The sampling method used in the present study is consistent with the assumptions of
qualitative research. According to Kuzel (1992), citing Patton, qualitative sampling is
essentially concerned with information-richness. That is because the aim of qualitative
research is to understand social life. This is in stark contrast to quantitative research, which is
characterised by a preoccupation with generalizability and representativeness (Mouton &
Marais, 1996). Qualitative research is driven by the desire to illuminate the questions under
investigation and to increase the scope or range of data exposed – to uncover multiple
realities, not to explain relationships between variables by reducing them to measurable
entities (Mouton & Marais, 1996). This focus on information-richness therefore justifies the
use of in-depth relatively small, even single case samples rather than large samples chosen
randomly. F or this reason a purposive sampling strategy was employed in the present study.
According to Neuman (1997) purposive sampling occurs when an investigator wants to
identify particular cases for in-depth study in order to gain a deeper understanding. Sample
selection in the present study was therefore based on the extent to which participants could
help us understand the phenomenon under investigation and not the extent that we will be
able to generalize findings.
5.3.1
Accessing participants
Accessing participants for the study involved a number of steps. Initially a list of
children’s homes in Johannesburg was drawn up. Contact details of these were acquired
through a social worker linked to Childline. The Johannesburg Children’s Home was
incidentally the first institution on the list. Contact was made with the director of the
Children’s Home. The goals and nature of the research was outlined to her. She was satisfied
with the explanations and gave permission for the research to be conducted. At a meeting
66
with one of the social workers at the Children’s Home, the proposed selection criteria were
discussed. This enabled the social worker to provide the researcher with the details of
children who meet the selection criteria. Meetings were then set up with the care workers of
the selected children in order to make arrangements for the data collection phase of the study.
5.3.2
Selection criteria
A number of criteria guided the participant selection. A limitation to the selection
criteria was the specified age of the participants – the pool chosen from was small. Participant
selection was guided by the following criteria:
•
Participants had to be sixteen years old.
•
They should have been admitted to institutional care as a measure of protection fr om
abusive or neglectful caregivers for a period exceeding two years.
•
They should have remained in institutional care without interruption of moving back
and forth to their parents (caregivers) or temporary foster care for more than one year.
5.3.3
Profile of participants
Three 16-year-old participants were purposefully sampled from the Johannesburg
Children’s Home. The participants had been in the children’s home the longest. Two
participants were female and one male and two were black and one was white. Adolescents
were selected essentially at this developmental stage, as they are confronted with the task of
identity formation and because they trying to answer the question, “W ho am I, and what is
my place in society?” Answers to these questions can only be achieved through an
exploration of the social world. Thus during adolescence, the child starts forming their own
relationships while they are individuating from childhood spaces. It is the researcher’s belief
67
that this relates to issues of attachment and thus ties in with the aims of the study. The
characteristics of the participants are presented in Table 5.1.
Table 5.1
Characteristics of participants
Participant
Age
Race
Gender
Length of stay
Language
1
16 Year
White
Female
4 Years
English
2
16 Years
Black
Male
4 Years
Zulu
3
16 Years
Black
Female
5 Years
Tswana
5.3.3.1 Participant One
This participant is the eldest child with two younger siblings, a brother and a sister.
She had believed that her stepfather was her biological father and was only told at the age of
12 years that he was her stepfather. She never met her biological father and was not told
anything about him other than his name. Her two younger siblings are the children of her
mother and stepfather and are thus her half-siblings. She has been at the children’s home for
four years after she was removed from her family home and was placed at a place of safety
due to sexual abuse/ indecent assault allegedly perpetrated by her stepfather from when she
was 6 years old until she was 11 years old. She disclosed the abuse to her mother on several
occasions and was promised that something would be done about the situation. She was
asked by her mother to keep the abuse secret. When nothing was done to remedy the
situation, she disclosed the abuse to a trusted teacher at the school she attended at the time.
68
The principal was informed and he in turn called in a social worker that removed the child
from her family home that same day. Charges were laid at the Child Protection Unit (CPU) in
Johannesburg of indecent assault against the stepfather. The participant was then placed in a
place of safety and a few months later was admitted to the children’s home, as she was too
old to be adopted and she has a biological family.
5.3.3.2 Participant Two
This participant is one of four siblings, and he is the second eldest. His parents got
married in December of 1983. The problems started when his father physically abused his
mother and also had extra-marital affairs. His mother was requested to leave the family home
in June 1996, when the participant was 10 years old. The two younger siblings accompanied
her to a woman’s shelter for six months while the two older siblings, the participants and his
eldest sister, were left in their father’s care. His parents separated when his mother left for the
shelter, after 12 years of marriage. His mother was hospitalised for 3 weeks in 1998 for
depression and a month later the participant was admitted to the children’s home because his
parents were not in a position to provide for his material and emotional needs. He appeared to
be in need of a stable home and family environment. He alleges that his father physically
abused his sister and himself while they were in his care. All four children were placed in the
children’s home. However, the eldest sibling is now living on her own as she no longer falls
in the age category of the children’s home resident. The children still get to see their parents
during school holidays and on some weekends.
5.3.3.3 Participant Three
This participant was placed along with her older brother in the care of her maternal
uncle when she was six years old after it was reported that their mother died in May 1992 in
69
Inkhata battles at a hostel she was living at the time. In 1996 their guardian’s (maternal uncle)
neighbour reported that the children were still neglected and without care even though they
had been placed in his care, which allegedly resulted in her (participant) being sexually
abused by a neighbour’s son on four different occasions. The children were thereafter
removed and placed in a place of safety. The place of safety was a temporary arrangement
that ended, as she (participant) allegedly was no longer trusted after stealing money and
posing additional problems. She was admitted to the children’s home in 1997, as she was too
old to be adopted and still has biological family.
5.4
Data collection
A number of data collection methods were used. These include a clinical interview
conducted with each participant as well as psychometric tests, which were administered on all
the participants. The choice of data collection is motivated by its consistency with the
philosophical assumptions of the qualitative paradigm. The content that was focused on in the
data collection was the children’s subjective experience of attachment. The data collection
methods were further motivated by the fact that adolescence is a complex stage in which the
individual could, for example, have problems with authority figures. The research topic is
also extremely sensitive and some individuals might be able to talk matter -of-factly about
issues, while others might hold back. Others might even fantasise about ideal family
circumstances and allow these fantasies to take over the narrative that they relate in the
interview (Batchelor, 1998). To compensate for this, the researcher decided to include
psychometric tests in the data collection because these allow unconscious thoughts and
feelings to be projected. The interviewing and testing took place at the Johannesburg
Children’s Home, in the children’s respective cottages where they reside, with the permission
of the management staff of the home and the children’s respective care workers. All the data
70
collection methods were conducted in English despite the fact that two participants were not
English first language speakers. These participants did however display an exceptional level
of English competence and had no problem understanding the researcher’s interview
questions and the tests’ questions and were able to provide responses to these.
5.4.1
Clinical interview
A clinical interview is a method in which the researcher uses a flexible,
conversational style to probe for the participant’s point of view (Berk, 1996). The clinical
interview has two strengths. First, it permits people to display their thoughts in terms that are
as close as possible to the way they think in everyday life. Second, the clinical interview can
provide a large amount of information in a fairly brief period of time. A major limitation of
the clinical interview however has to do with the accuracy with which people report their
thoughts, feelings, and experiences (Berk, 1996). In Appendix 1 at the end of the study, the
questions posed in the clinical interview are set out. This process was followed with all three
of the participants. The clinical interview took 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the length of
the participants’ responses. These interviews were tape -recorded and transcribed.
The questions posed in the clinical interview had as its aim, to firstly access how
children feel about being placed in the children’s home; and secondly, to gain insight into the
nature of their attachment related experiences both in the children’s home and prior to their
placement in the home. Most of these children were placed in the children’s home as a result
of some form of abuse and/ or neglect. It is argued that the quality and character of
relationships from infancy onwards provide powerful clues to the possible origins of current
internal working models, behaviours and interpersonal conduct (Howe et al., 1999). Hence
the type of caregiving provided will affect children’s personality and attachment styles.
71
5.4.2
Psychometric tests
Psychometric tests are one of the most popular data collection methods in
psychological research. According to Hammond (1997), there are two main reasons for the
popularity of these types of tests. Firstly, psychometric tests have been designed to measure a
broad range of mental characteristics therefore providing researchers with a wide variety of
measurement tools, which makes a large number of psychological variables accessible for
research. A second reason for the popularity of psychometric methods is the relative ease
with which it is possible to collect large amounts of data. The researcher chose the above mentioned testing technique because of the reasons expounded by Hammond (1997) and
because adolescents tend to be guarded when asked directly about issues. Hammond (1997)
however also reminds of the plethora of sub- optimal studies in psychological research
literature whose main flaw is the ill-advised use of psychometric methodologies. He argues
that the unconvincing nature of these studies has to do with the fact that the interest in the use
of psychometric tests is not matched by an equal interest in the technicalities and
sophistication of the psychometric principles that underlie their proper use. In addition to this
there are also issues pertaining to the psychometric properties of psychometric tests. The fact
that psychometric measurement relies on estimation rather than direct measurement, it is
difficult to establish reliability and validity of these tests (Hammond, 1997). Encouraging
though is the fact that studies carried out by Parker, Hanson and Hunsley (1988) suggest that
a number of these psychometric tests show high levels of validity and reliability. There are
different types of psychometric tests that can be distinguished on the basis of their data
elicitation strategy. The only type of psychometric tests employed in the present study is
projective tests.
72
5.4.3
Projective tests
Projective tests are specific types of psychometric tests that have in common the
utilisation of ambiguous stimuli or tasks designed to provide a wide range of responses from
examinees (Hammond, 1997). They are intended to be depth orientated and focused on the
unconscious, covert characteristics of personality. In other words, they are designed to
produce indirect measures of an individual’s mental state (Hammond, 1997). Projective tests
are based on the assumption that the more unstructured the stimuli, the more the examinees
reveal about their personality. Thus the use of ambiguous stimuli eliminates or greatly
reduces defensiveness and other conscious attempts to distort test results (Murphy &
Davidshofer, 2001). Two types of projective tests were used in the study, that is, those that
focus on drawings and those that focus on story telling.
5.4.3.1 Projective drawing tests
Projective drawings are expressive techniques in that they suggest aspects of the
person while he is performing some activity (Groth-Marnat, 1997). According to Beek (in
Lezak, 1995), each person perceives external stimuli through a reflection of his attitudes,
understandings, and perceptual and response tendencies, and interprets the compounded
percept as external reality. In the past, interpretation of drawings (and projective testing in
general) drew heavily on psychoanalytic theory (Groth-Marnat, 1997). One of the central
assumptions of this procedure is that, because many important aspects of personality are not
available to conscious self -report, questionnaires and inventories are of limited value (GrothMarnat, 1997). To obtain an accurate view of a person’s inner world, one must somehow
circumvent unconscious defences and conscious resistances. From a psychoanalytical
perspective, then, an indirect approach, such as through projective drawing, is essential
(Groth-Marnat, 1997). Through symbolical creation, an individual depicts important themes,
73
dynamics, and attitude s. These idiosyncratic expressions of inner dynamics are most likely to
occur when the person draws something on a blank sheet of paper (Groth-Marnat, 1997).
With regard to attachment, it is argued that children’s family drawings purportedly
examine self-concepts and perceptions of interpersonal relations within families (Pianta &
Longmaid, 1999). According to Bowlby (1969), individuals develop ‘representational
models’ or ‘internal working models’ of the properties, characteristics, and behaviours of
attac hment figures, the self, and their relationship. The individual uses these models to
evaluate and guide behaviour in new situations and relationships. The quality of these
representational models of attachment relationships within the family is related to the
caregiver’s sensitivity and responsivity, consistent availability, emotional acceptance, and
ability to serve as a secure base for exploration (Pianta & Longmaid, 1999). Representations
consistent with observed attachment security are marked by a view of the self as competent
and deserving of care and that family relationships will be rewarding and fulfilling. In
contrast, representations consistent with observed insecurity contain views of others as
rejecting, hostile, or unavailable and of the self as lacking competence and being unworthy of
others’ affection (Pianta & Longmaid, 1999). In order to gain insight into the attachment
patterns of the participants, the Draw -a-Person Test (DAP) and the Kinetic Family Drawing
Test (KFD) were used. The motivation for using these two tests is largely due to the
researcher’s belief that they supplement each other.
a) The Draw -a-Person Test (DAP)
The Draw -a-Person Test (DAP) grew out of the work of Karen Machover (1949).
Although originally developed to assess children’s intelligence, its use was extended to assess
personality and diagnose psychopathology. The basic hypothesis underlying the development
of the DAP was that examinees project into human figures that they are asked to draw. These
74
reproductions are believed to reveal their impulses, anxieties, and other internal emotional
states (Groth-Marnat, 1997; Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001).
The DAP consists of having examinees draw two human figures (Machover, 1949).
Firstly they are instructed to simply draw a person and, following completion of the task, they
are told to draw a person of the opposite sex from that of the first drawing. While the
examinee goes about these tasks, the clinician observes such things as the sequence of body
parts drawn, verbalisations made by the examinee, and other factors associated with the
actual drawing process. Occasionally, a period of questioning occurs after both drawings
have been completed. During the inquiry, information is elicited about the figures, such as
age, occupation, and family relationships (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001).
b) The Kinetic Family Drawing Test (KFD)
The DAP focus on individual dynamics. However, many persons involved in
assessment and therapy have been interested in understanding the structure of and
relationships within families. Family drawings provide a less threatening means of revealing
this information than direct questioning. Family drawings were originally suggested by Appel
(1931) and Wolff (1942), but were later more fully developed as the Draw-A-Family Test
(DAF) by Hulse (1951) and Harris (1963). A more recent and quite popular variation of the
DAF is Burns and Kaufman’s Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD). The authors have criticised
the DAF as producing fairly rigid, low-energy, noninteractive drawings, and have attempted
to correct this result by requesting that the examinee draw his family “doing something”.
These instructions are usually supplemented by asking the examinee to include himself in the
drawing. After completing the drawing, the examinee is requested to describe it and/ or tell a
story about it. This aids the interpreter by clarifying the interactions, characters, and
underlying message of the drawing (Groth-Marnat, 1997).
75
5.4.3.2 Projective story-telling tests
In infancy, the only way to try to understand how children are representing the
availability of the mother and the worthiness of the self (internal working model of
attachment) is to observe their behaviour in various low -stress situations (Senior, 2002). With
older children it becomes pos sible to examine internal working models using measures that
seek to elicit more directly ways in which the individual is mentally representing the self and
the other (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999). A common technique used in early and middle
childhood is to get children to ‘project’ themselves into a story in which there are attachmentrelated events. The stories may be facilitated by the use of dolls, pictures or opportunities to
draw (Howe et al., 1999). Differences in the content and process of the stories indicate the
way in which the child typically handles anxiety and distress. In turn, these defensive
methods of dealing with anxiety provide information about the child’s internal working
model of attachment.
Secure children develop stories in which fears and separation anxieties are
deliberately raised before finally being resolved, usually by the return of responsive, loving
parents (Howe et al., 1999). Avoidant and ambivalent children tend not to let their attachment
behavioural systems become fully activated. The stories they develop do not allow anxieties
and fears to threaten safety and security (Howe et al., 1999). Avoidant-defended children tell
matter-of-fact stories that appear casual and nonchalant. Nothing out of the ordinary seems to
happen. The attachment system is immobilised. Distressing possibilities are defensively
excluded (Howe et al., 1999). Ambivalent-dependent children tell busy, happy stories about
what children do in their parents’ absence. Brief ‘sentimental laments’ are often introduced
about how much parents are loved (Howe et al., 1999). Attachment anxieties are dealt with
by a form of defensive ‘splitting’ – the bad, distressing bits are temporarily ignored or denied,
76
while the good bits are exaggerated. Cognitive disconnection separates positive and negative
information, attention being diverted to positive events. It seems difficult for ambivalent
children to integrate and concurrently acknowledge both anxious and positive feelings. They
can only deal with one emotional perspective at a time. Things are either all wonderful and
good, or all terrible and bad (Howe et al., 1999). Disorganised-controlling children introduce
fear and danger into their stories but seem to have no way of resolving the growing crises.
Parents remain physically and emotionally unavailable or even abusive. Chaos and
helplessness mount, the self and the family disintegrate, and stories are ended, often abruptly,
with no resolution (Howe et al., 1999). In the present study, the Sentence Completion Test
and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) were used.
a) The Sentence Completion Test
The incomplete-sentence method of assessing personality has its roots in the work of
Ebbinghaus around the beginning of the 20th century (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001). As is
the case with other projective methods of personality assessment, the underlying assumption
is that examinees project their wishes, desires, fears, and attitudes into sentences that they
create. While examinees responding to tests like the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) are
rarely aware of what they are revealing about themselves, due in part to the ambiguous nature
of the test items, examinees responding to the Sentence Completion Test are generally more
aware of the feelings, attitudes and fears that they are disclosing because the task is more
structured (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001).
b) The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Henry Murray (1938) developed another major projective instrument using pictures
rather than inkblots. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) consists of 31 picture cards that
77
provide stimuli for examinees to create stories concerning relationships or social situations
suggested by the pictures (Groth-Marnat, 1997; Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001). Murray
postulated that the examinees would project into their stories information concerning their
needs, emotions, conflicts, attitudes, and emotional difficulties. Particular attention is paid to
the protagonist of each story and the environmental stresses that impinge on him. The hero is
presumed to represent the examinee (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001).
5.4.4
Reliability and validity of the projective tests used
The consistency of test scores is of considerable importance in evaluating a test as a
measurement instrument. A reliable test is one that yield consistent scores when a person
takes two alternative forms of the test or when he takes the same test on two or more different
occasions (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001). Validity is the degree to which inferences made on
the basis of test scores are correct (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001).
The responses examinees give to the TAT and the Sentence Completion Test involve
complex, meaningful verbal material. Exact quantitative analysis is difficult because of the
complexity of this material, and interpretations are typically based more on a qualitative than
a quantitative analysis of story content. Most methods of determining reliability therefore
become problematic (Groth-Marnat, 1997). A further complication is the fact that, in actual
practice, clinicians rely primarily on intuitive clinical judgment, use different sets of
instructions, and vary the number, type, and sequence of cards from one examinee to the
next. Thus, reliability in clinical contexts is likely to be considerably lower than under
experimental conditions. Another difficulty in determining reliability lies in the wide
variability among different stories (Groth-Marnat, 1997). Review of the TAT’s validity has
shown wide variability. This variability can be partially accounted for by differing
78
interpretations of the data and partially influenced by slight variations in instructions (GrothMarnat, 1997).
Notwithstanding these complications, there seems to be sufficient evidence that the
reliability of the TAT and the Sentence Completion Test is fairly satisfactory with both
having an acceptable degree of inter-rater reliability (Chandler & Johnson, 1991). There are
conflicting opinions regarding the validity of the TAT, while the Sentence Completion Test
has a high degree of face-validity although it is regarded as the projective test most
vulnerable to faking (Mortensen, 1991).
Establishing the reliability and validity of projective drawings present special
challenges, given the fluctuating conditions between one administration and the next; the
underlying, often difficult-to-prove (or disprove) assumptions behind the procedure; and the
frequent richness and complexity of the productions (Vass, 1999). Several rigorous analyses
of the psychometric properties of projective drawings have ge nerally failed to demonstrate
that the drawings are valid indicators of personality (Groth-Marnat, 1997). However,
projective tests yield invaluable information that is sometimes absent when using other tests.
Kaplan and Main (1985) were the first to suggest that children’s drawings might be a fruitful
way of capturing attachment representations. The nonverbal nature of drawings may free the
child to express emotions and attitudes that are otherwise difficult to assess. There has been
considerable support for the use of drawings as a valuable method for assessing children’s
attitudes, needs, and conflicts (Fury, Carlson, & Sroufe, 1997). According to Bowlby (1973),
drawing is a natural mode of expression. Long before youngsters can put their feelings and
thoughts into words, they can express both conscious and unconscious attitudes, wishes, and
concerns in drawings. Drawing is a non-verbal language, a means of communication. It thus
seems plausible that representations of attachment experiences would be revealed in
79
drawings, and specifically, that the child’s inner working models of self, caregivers, and self
with caregivers would be manifest (Fury et al., 1997).
5.5
Data analysis
5.5.1
Analysis of the interview data and projective story telling tests
Interview data was tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Both the data from the
clinical interviews, the Sentence Completion Test and the Thematic Apperception Test were
subjected to a thematic content analytical process. In order to increase the reliability of the
data, the researcher as well as another researcher conducted separate content analyses of each
of the three data sources. Themes generated were compared and only those on which
agreement was reached were included in the results of the study. The underlying aim of the
content analytical approach was to elicit information that will contribute to the understanding
of the development of attachment patterns of children in children’s homes. This would be
facilitated by the richness of the data gathered by means of these methods. These methods
yielded words and sentences which constituted the units of analyses and thus lend themselves
to a content analytical method.
Content analysis can be qualitative or quantitative. This study utilised a qualitative or
thematic content analytical approach. According to Holsti (in Babbie & Mouton, 2001), the
advantage of this approach is that it focuses on the manifested as well as latent content.
Thematic content analysis, also referred to as conceptual content analysis by Palmquist (in
Babbie & Mouton, 2001), is the term used to describe a more clearly interpretative
application of the method in which the focus of analysis is upon thematic content which is
identified, categorised and elaborated upon on the basis of systematic scrutiny (Eagle, 1998).
Thematic content analysis tends to be more subjective and emphasise meaning rather than
quantification.
80
A ‘thematic analysis’ is a coherent way of organising or reading some interview
material in relation to specific research questions. According to Strauss, (in Eagle, 1998) the
categories researchers use in a content analysis can be determined inductively, deductively or
by some combination of both. Abrahamson (in Eagle, 1998) indicates that an inductive
approach begins with the researcher’s ‘immersing’ themselves in the documents (i.e. the
various messages) in order to identify the dimensions or themes that seem meaningful to the
producers of each message. In a deductive approach, researchers use some categorical theme
suggested by a theoretical perspective, and the documents provide a means for assessing the
hypothesis. In many circumstances, the relationship between a theoretical perspective and
certain messages involves both inductive and deductive approaches. Thematic content
analysis assumes a relation between the text and the author of the text or its audience; based
in a realist or structuralist understanding of the world (Eagle, 1998). Thus, it is assumed that
inferences about inner states, intentions and cognitions, for exam ple, can be made from the
words or actions that people produce (Eagle, 1998). The researcher used both the inductive
and deductive approaches in order to generate as many themes as possible that would add to
the richness of the data collected and that would also illuminate the aims of the study.
5.5.2
Analysis of the KFD
The KFD was analysed using Kaplan and Main’s (1986) classification system for
children’s family drawings. Kaplan and Main (1986) suggested that attachment organisation
is reflected in representations of family relationships in children’s family drawings through
eight dimensions or constructs: degree of movement present in family figures, individuation
of figures, completeness of human form, quality of smiles, size of figures, centeredness on
the page, overall impression of invulnerability, and overall impression of vulnerability (Fury
et al., 1997; Pianta & Longmaid, 1999).
81
As described by Kaplan and Main (1986), the overall impression of family drawings
made by children classified as having secure representations is that the family (or the child)
portrayed in the drawing is essentially happy. These drawings contain realistic elements and
depict humans, often interacting with one another. The image projected by the child in the
drawing is one of comfort with others and realism. The overall impression characteristic of
drawings classified as reflecting insecure avoidant representations is a strong emphasis on
invulnerability. These drawings depict an image of unrealistic happiness, such as when all
figures have the same very large and brightly coloured smile and often a lack of
individuation, such as when all are drawn the same size, shape, or with the same clothing.
Family members are not depicted interacting with one another. Drawings characteristic of
insecure-ambivalent or resistant representations display an emphasis on vulnerability. In
these drawings of families, children may appear alone, isolated from the group, or looking
worried and fearful (Fury at al., 1997; Pianta & Longmaid, 1999). Kaplan and Main state that
drawings reflecting disorganised representations tend to have ominous or foreboding
elements such as dark clouds or blood, the child (or the human figures) may be missing from
the drawing, or the drawing may be uninterpretable (Fury at al., 1997; Pianta & Longmaid,
1999).
According to Kaplan and Main (1986), disorganised drawings include the following
features of disorganisation: unfinished objects or figures; scratched out figures or restarts;
overall impression of vulnerability, and to a lesser extent overbright excessive sweetness.
Drawings classified as secure and avoidant include the following features: essentially happy,
solid, centred, and realistic. Drawings classified as ambivalent include features of
vulnerability, extreme proximity of figures, unpleasant exaggeration of facial features, and
extremely tiny or huge figures (Fury at al., 1997; Pianta & Longmaid, 1999).
82
5.5.3
Analysis of the DAP
Scoring and interpreting the DAP are complex, subjective tasks. Machover (1949)
outlined a number of structural and formal aspects of the drawings that are important in the
interpretation process. These include such aspects as the size and placement of the figures on
the paper, the amount of action depicted in the drawings, the systematisation followed in
doing the task, erasures, shading, and differential treatment of male and female figures.
Attention is also given to specific body parts (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001). The DAP tests
were analysed qualitatively, using various literature on interpreting human figure drawings.
No quantitative analyses were used.
5.6
Ethics
Ethical concerns were addressed throughout the course of the study. Because
participants were minors in the care of a children’s home, permission for the research was
obtained from the relevant authorities, i.e. the governing body of the home, which also
included the director of the home as well as the care workers, and from the children
themselves. Participants were informed about the nature and purpose of the study in order to
get their informed consent. According to Kvale (1996), informed consent entails informing
the research participants about the overall purpose of the investigation and the main features
of the research design, as well as any possible risks and benefits that might result from
participation in the research project. Informed consent further requires obtaining voluntary
participation of the subject, with the full understanding that he may withdraw from the study
at any given time. This is aimed at counteracting undue influences and potential coercion
(Kvale, 1996). The participants were assured that their participation was voluntary and that
they could terminate their participation at any time if they so wish. The well being of the
participants was of central importance, especially given the sensitive nature of the research.
83
Therefore every effort was made to ensure that the well being of the participants was
respected at all times. For instance, the children were tested in the environment they were
familiar with, the children’s home. In cases where participants were unable to be interviewed
and tested on a specific date, arrangements were made for them to be interviewed and tested
at a later date. Participants, who were too emotional during the interviewing, were given the
option of terminating the interview and to resume on a later date if they still wished to
participate in the study. Participants who appeared to be adversely affected by their
participation were referred to a mental health professional(psychologist or social worker) at
the children’s home for support and containment and follow -up sessions at the children’s
home if necessary. The relevant information was then obtained from the children’s
background histories (case files). Assurances wer e given that information obtained will
remain strictly confidential and the anonymity of all participants will be observed.
Confidentiality means that any private data that may compromise the participants’ identity
will be removed from the research report (Kvale, 1996). A brief feedback session will be held
with the governing body as well as the children’s care workers at the children’s home within
a few months after the thesis is approved. The children will then be informed by the social
worker at the home of the results of the study after it has been discussed with her at the
feedback session held.
5.7
Conclusion
In this chapter a detailed summary is given on the methodology the researcher
followed and the epistemology used. The following chapter discusses the results of the study
yielded with the use of clinical interviews and the psychometric tests performed with the
three participants.
84
CHAPTER 6
RESULTS
6.1
Introduction
This chapter presents the results of the study. The results for each participant will be
presented separately and will be organised as follows: the results for each data source will
first be presented. Emphasis will be placed not only on the attachment related themes
generated from each of the data sources, but also themes that could possibly provide insight
into the current attachment patterns. In the results of the interview data and the story tellingbased projective test (the Sentence Completion Test), the researcher will use the verbatim
words of the participant in order to highlight how a specific attachment-related theme is
represented. The individual presentation of each data source results will be followed by an
integration of the results from the different data sources in order to enhance the depth and
complexity of insight that can be deduced from the results. This will be followed by the
presentation of a table, which details the different themes generated from each data source for
the particular participant. At the end of this, a brief summary of the results for the participant
is provided.
6.2
Participant One
6.2.1
The clinical interview
The clinical interview for Participant One was dominated by discussions of her family
and their treatment of her. The data revealed that the participant experienced a sense of
abandonment and rejection by her family. She felt she was of lesser importance to her mother
than were her siblings and that her mother treated them favourably. She appears to believe
that their preferential treatment stems from the fact that she and her siblings did not share the
85
same biological father. She also felt that her mother aligned herself with her husband and
their children and that she was excluded from the family as a result. She was always made to
feel different from everyone else in the family and she believed that she was victimised
because of her father.
“If it wasn’t for these people, my brother and sister and I wouldn’t have family
cause they’ve all, like, just thrown me in the gutter because of my dad”.
“It’s always been just like difficult cause she always ch ose her other two kids over me.
Whenever there was a fight she would turn around and say, ‘You just like your father’. She
always said that. She would never say that about her other kids”.
The participant verbalised intense anger and hatred towards her mother, with whom she
cannot get along. All of these feelings stem from feeling betrayed by her mother’s silence and
lack of support after her disclosure of abuse perpetrated by her stepfather. She was forced to
leave her home due to her mother not protectin g her.
“My mother and I don’t actually get along, we worst of enemies. I hate my mother
because she went and took her husband’s side. The reason why I’m in the home, I
was actually sexually abused by him”.
She had a strained and distant relationship with her family because she isolated herself from
them as a result of the abuse and subsequent abandonment and rejection she experienced. She
did not feel part of the family due to the fact that her siblings share the same mother and
father while she has a dif ferent father.
“I also isolate myself from her and her kids. I know they half brother and sister, but
I don’t…Because I hate her and her husband so much, I don’t take them as my
own even though they did nothing to me, but it’s their blood, you know. I isolated
myself from those four people”.
In terms of her current attachment patterns, the participant has formed close bonds with the
male care worker in charge of her cottage at the children’s home due to his availability and
proximity to her.
“This lady’s husband, you know, I take him as a father figure, and Sean
(housefather) also, cause I’m here most of the time than what I am there”.
86
The participant also has a host family that she visits on weekends. She is close to her host
parents and their children, although she did not get along with their 18-year old son in the
beginning. Her views seem unrealistic, as she appears to idolise her host parents’ relationship
and their family context. This family represents her ideal view of what a family is suppose to
be like and contrasts directly with her own family.
“They like foster parents, but they not. We actually have hosts and volunteers and
things, you know, and they my hosts. Other people would say ‘I’m going to my hosts
this weekend’. I would not say that. I feel closer to them, so I’ll say ‘I’m going to
my mom for the weekend’. They have a son who is 18 and a daughter of 12”.
“Well, with their son I used to fight a lot. That was last year, but this year we
getting along very well as if we like becoming brother and sister for real. We are
getting that bond. And my sister, it’s fine. We close together. We do everything
together. I can tell her anything. She won’t blurt it out to my mother”.
The participant also seemed to have unrealistic feelings towards her biological father whom
she has never met. This might explain her attachment towards her housefather and her host
father due in part to their positive relationship with her, which is in stark contrast to her
relationship with her stepfather.
“… I’m a daddy’s little girl, although I don’t know my father I love him more”.
Although the participant appeared to be securely attached to her host family, this is not the
case of her attachment experiences in the children’s home. She has not attached to anyone in
the home apart from her housefather. She feels that they are not listened to in the home and
thus isolates herself. This is similar to the experience she had with her mother.
“I actually find it very difficult. I actually hate this place. I can’t stand it.
Sometimes I feel like it’s not a children’s home, it’s like an adults home. They listen
more to house parents than they do to children. I actually feel like I’m being
marginalized”.
6.2.2
The Kinetic Family Drawing Test (KFD)
According to Kaplan and Main’s classification system, Participant One’s Kinetic
Family Drawing (KFD) indicated an emphasis on invulnerability, as opposed to an emphasis
on vulnerability, where the child appears alone, isolated from the group and looking worried
87
and fearful. Her drawing depicted an image of unrealistic happiness, as all the figures in the
drawing had the same large and brightly coloured smile. There was a lack of individuation in
the drawing, as all the figures in the drawing were drawn the same size, shape and w ith the
same clothing, with no indication of gender. According to Kaplan and Main’s classification
system, Participant One displays insecure -avoidant attachment.
6.2.3
The Draw-a-Person Test (DAP)
Participant One’s drawing indicated that she feels insecure and rigid and this rigidity
is present in her interpersonal relationships. She has a poor self-concept and feels inferior.
She feels inadequate and tends to be aggressive and acts out to compensate for these feelings.
6.2.4
The Sentence Completion Test
It was evident from this test that she has strong resentment feelings towards her
mother and feels her mother is unreliable. Her experiences with her mother have also led her
to believe that her mother’s actions are typical of those of all mothers.
“Most mothers dump their kids in gutters”. “My mother always disapproves of my
actions”. “I wish that my mother weren’t my mother”.
Perhaps, as a result of feeling rejected by her mother, she tends to idealise her biological
father and wishes she had a relationship with him, possibly in the hope of undoing the
damage she experienced in her family. Her general view about fathers is more positive and
contrast strongly with her view about mothers. She thus believes that fathers love their
children much more than mothers do.
“Most fathers love their kids”. “My greatest wish is to be with my dad before I die”.
“I wish that my father could be here with me”.
Most of the responses on the test indicated that Participant One is angry and irritable and can
easily loose control if her demands are not met. Because her needs were never catered for and
88
her demands were never met in her family, she regards acting out as the only means of
getting attention and getting those needs met.
“Taking orders makes me very angry”. “Mos t girls irritate me”. “If I can’t get what
I want, I go mad”. “I lose my temper very easily”. “I could hate a person who gets
on my nerves”.
The overall themes present in Participant One’s responses to the Sentence Completion Test
are those of rejection and feeling despondent about her situation.
“I often wish I could leave the world”. “I feel like giving up when I lose my selfesteem”. “I feel like running away when people push me aside and make my life
difficult for me”.
6.2.5
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
The responses Participant One gave in the test indicated that she feels unsupported
and feels that she has to manage on her own. However, when she feels unable to cope
independently she gives up on the task at hand. She abandons the task because it is not
realising her expectations. She feels ignored and isolated by her parents and perceives other
people as easily losing interest in her. She feels unsupported and exploited by her mother.
She perceives her siblings as more important than she is in the family, and that they are
chosen over her. She feels pushed by her mother into a life that she has no control over. She
feels abandoned and burdened.
6.2.6
Integration of data
When the results from the different data sources are integrated, one gets a se nse of not
only clear patterns and relationships among attachment oriented themes across different data
sources, but also nuanced insights into the attachment experiences of the participant. The fact
that the participant had negative attachment experiences is pervasive throughout the different
data sources, but is particularly accentuated in the clinical interview, the Sentence
Completion Test, and the TAT. She has experienced a profound sense of rejection,
89
abandonment, isolation, exploitation and betrayal within her family. This has caused her to
feel intense anger, hatred, aggression and resentment primarily towards her mother whom she
feels did not provide her with the security and love that she needed and who chose to look the
other way while the participant suffered abuse at the hands of her stepfather. She perceives
her mother as unreliable and feels burdened by the fact that she cannot rely on her. This was
proved repeatedly when their mother would treat her siblings favourably. She feels that she
has been victimised because of her father and that this is another reason for the favouritism
her mother has shown towards her siblings. Her mother was never able to take care of her as
she was supposed to. The participant was therefore left vulnerable and bur dened with
responsibilities that someone her age should not have been concerned with.
All these negative experiences with her mother have profoundly shaped her views
regarding mothers and fathers in general as is evident from the Sentence Completion Test.
This further explains why her anger and resentment seems to be more directed towards her
mother than towards her stepfather who had abused her. It also explains her propensity
towards forming bonds with males as demonstrated by her bonds with her host father and
male care worker in the children’s home as well as her need to be close to her biological
father.
Her negative family experiences provides some possible insight into the results of the
KFD, which indicates a yearning for a better family in which her need for love, acceptance,
nurturance and protection are met. After getting clear instructions on the KFD test, the
participant drew her host family instead of her biological family. Her host family is
everything that her biological family is not and represents for her the ideal family that she
strives to be a member of. It is a family where she has unconditional love, acceptance and
care. It is a family where she is allowed to be the child that she is, unburdened by adult
90
responsibilities and safe from the fear and vulnerability of being exploited and abused. She
thus drew her host parents and their two children.
She however failed to include herself in the drawing. Thus despite her strong desire to
be part of her host family, it also appears that she does not want to contaminate the ideal
family portrait by including herself. Her history of neglect and experiences of sexual abuse in
her own family makes it difficult, if not impossible, for her to think of herself as worthy to be
part of this ideal family – the host family. The KFD drawing also depicts an image of
unrealistic happiness, as proposed by Kaplan and Main’s classification system. It is
unrealistic because of the extreme manifestation of happiness in the drawing. This could be
linked to the abuse she suffered in her own family as well as to her perceptions of what the
ideal family looks like. The clinical interview also support this, wherein she indicates that her
needs were secondary to others needs within her family. This is supported by t he results of
the DAP test that indicates that she has a poor self-concept and feels inferior to others. She
appears to feel angry with her own family for corrupting her and making her so unlovable,
unworthy and unwanted and making it nearly impossible for her to be thought of as lovable
and wanted by others. It is though her family has deprived her of experiencing a normal,
loving family life and is still now trying to deprive her of experiencing this normality in her
host family. A major issue within her family other than the abuse is the fact that her being
different from her siblings were always pointed out by instances in which they would get
preferential treatment and she would be compared to them. There appeared to be issues of
sibling rivalry present in the family. This sibling rivalry was initially carried over to her host
family whereby it was difficult then to get along with their 18-year-old son in particular.
However, after the adjustment phase within the host family and the host parents treating all
the children, participant included, equally, the sibling rivalry dissipated. All this is indicated
in the clinical interview.
91
In the DAP test the participant drew a picture of a man. This indicates that she is
struggling with her sensuality, given her past experience of sexual abuse. As a defence, she is
denying her femininity, which could attract unwanted sexual attention. It appears that she
wishes that she were physically stronger in order to protect herself. She is also trying to
protect herself by repressing her femininity. This also seems to emerge in the KFD test where
there is a lack of individuation of the figures in terms of gender. The family is portrayed in
non-sexual terms, as if to safeguard them from contamination and to preserve their idealised
status. Further evidence of defensiveness is provided by results from the clinical interview in
which the participant states her unwillingness to form bonds with anyone in the children’s
home and prefers to isolate herself. There is thus a contradiction between her need for
belonging and closeness on the one hand, and her determination to protect herself from future
abuse on the other.
Evidence consistent with the above is clear from other data sources as well. For
example, the participant failed to answer two questions on the Sentence Completion Test,
which also indicates that she wants to protect herself from past experiences of abuse. Most of
the answers on the test indicate that she blames herself for the abuse and that she has a very
negative view of the dynamics of relationships to the exclusion of positive relationship
components. The only positive relational dynamic present in her answers is the idealised
nonexistent relationship between herself and her absent, nonabusive biological father, whom
she knows nothing about, but who could be someone who is lovable and in turn makes her
feel loved.
The answers the participant gave on the TAT indicate that she longs for a long lost
love and she fears that her feelings will never be reciprocated. This is supported by her
answers on the Sentence Completion Test where she longs to be with her biological father
she has never known, who could have been a positive attachment figure in her life, unlike
92
what she has experienced in her family thus far. There are strong feelings of isolation present
in the TAT. She is afraid that there is no sustained interest in her as a person, not by her
parents or any body else. She views her interactions with others in a very negative way and
she is normally the one that loose out. She does not trust herself with any decision-making, as
she fears she might make the wrong decision. She desires to be rescued by someone and feel
loved and accepted as she is.
Table 6.1
Attachment-related themes generated for Participant One
DATA SOURCE
Clinical Interview
Kinetic Family Drawing Test
THEMES
Idealisation, Abandonment, Anger, Hatred,
Isolation, Rejection, Betrayal
Invulnerability, Unrealistic happiness, Lack
of individuation, Insecure-avoidant
attachment
Draw–a-Person Test
Insecurity, Rigidity, Inadequacy, Poor selfconcept, Aggression
Sentence Completion Test
Unreliability, Resentment, Rejection, Anger,
Irritability
Thematic Apperception Test
Lack of support, Isolation, Exploitation,
Abandonment, Burdened
6.2.7
Summary of the results for Participant One
There seems to be consistency between the participant’s past attachment patterns as
revealed by her background information and her current attachment patterns as revealed by
the research data. It also appears as if her past has impacted on her current attachment
93
patterns, which can be described as insecure in terms of the research results. The situation in
the children’s home seems to reinforce these patterns. She tends to be wary and not to
commit herself fully in relationships with other people, even though it is her greatest need to
be loved and accepted by others. This seems to be supported by her attachment towards her
housefather and her host family. She tends to keep her distance in relationships in the fear
that she might be hurt and betrayed again.
6.3
Participant Two
6.3.1
The clinical interview
When describing his current relationship with his parents, Participant Two implied
that his relationship with his mother is positive. It also appeared as if his rela tionship with his
father is improving although it was not good in the past. His past family life used to be
characterised by domestic violence and abuse primarily as a result of his father’s alcoholism.
“Well, mostly we used to go to our mother, visit our mother, so they used to fight a
lot. We didn’t really clutch with my father, but now since last year we started seeing
him... When I was young it was quite hectic with my father. He used to pay for
school fees. He took us through school, but then he hit us, and stuff like that,
accused us of stealing. Those days he used to be an alcoholic, he used to drink a
lot”.
Participant Two appeared shy and introverted and because of this he seemed inclined to limit
his relationships with peers and adults. He has few close friends outside the children’s home,
but has not formed any attachments with the adults or his peers in the children’s home. His
attitude towards relationships seems avoidant and disinterested because of his shy demeanour
and his past experiences within his family.
“I have one best friend at school. We do everything together at school…I don’t
have a mother or father figure at the home. I also don’t have host parents”.
94
He is close to his younger siblings who are also in the children’s home. He regards them as
his responsibility. He feels he has to look out for them and provide for them and he believes
that being in the children’s home would facilitate this ideal.
“I think the children’s home is helpful. It’s helpful cause, I mean, I get to do my
schoolwork and do sports at school and be able to go to university…I want to be
able to provide for my family”.
6.3.2
The Kinetic Family Drawing Test (KFD)
Participant Two’s drawing had all the elements indicative of a secure attachment. The
family is portrayed as essential happy, comfortable and realistic and the figures are
interacting with each other. This is in stark contrast to the way the family is portrayed in the
clinical interview. This might however have a lot to do with the fact that he is artistically
inclined and may have drawn a picture of an idealised family, as many family portraits are
normally portrayed.
6.3.3
The Draw-a-Person Test (DAP)
Participant Two’s drawing indicated that he has aggressive tendencies as a result of
feeling inadequa te and anxious. However, he has a need to control these aggressive
tendencies. He has a poor self-concept and feels inferior, especially physically. He has high
achievement aspirations. He is emotionally and socially poorly adjusted.
6.3.4
The Sentence Completion Test
From his responses to the test Participant Two appeared to feel like he is not ‘good
enough’, that he is a failure. These feelings stem from the failure of his family life and the
fear that this failure might spill into other spheres of his life, particularly his academic life
and have some disastrous outcome, which might influence his future. He uses the academic
success of his classmates as a goal to strive towards.
95
“My greatest fear is failing”. “My classmates are good academics”.
His fear of failure causes him to pressurise himself to do his utmost. He regards academic
success as the key to ultimately living a good life. He sees pushing himself as the only way to
overcome his odds and move on in life.
“I am afraid of ending up, being a nobody”. “I’d like most to be a student with a
degree and a sportsman”. “My greatest wish is to make it in life”. “I often wish I
could finish school”.
There was an indication that Participant Two feels disappointed and unsupported by his
father and wishe s things were different.
“My father always used to drink”. “I wish that my father would change his ways”.
He appeared to experience his mother as nurturing, loving and caring and feels that mothers
are generally good to their children. However, he worries about her security needs and also
expresses indirect security concerns about his siblings and himself.
“Most mothers care for their babies or children”. “My mother always takes care of
me”. “I wish that my mother would find a permanent job”.
6.3.5
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Participant Two’s responses to the test were very guarded. His responses were
descriptive in nature and were very short, even after clear instructions were given and
supplementary questions were asked to get an elaboration on the answers given. These
responses indicated that he feels abandoned by his family and wishes to be re-united with
them. He feels he has to manage on his own, but wishes there was someone available that
could be supportive of him.
6.3.6
Integration of data
Although Participant Two came across as extremely guarded the integration of the
results of his tests reveals some interesting attachment related dynamics. There appears to be
96
a strong focus on the attachment relationship between the participant and his father and to a
lesser degree his mother, and all the data sources point towards this. His father was not his
initial primary caregiver but later on when he was left in his father’s care did he become his
primary caregiver. It appears that the negative relational dynamic between himself and his
father has had the greatest impact on him.
The participant’s KFD appears to be of a close and happy family, comfortably
interacting with one another. However, his father is not included in the drawing. Present in
the drawing is his mother, his siblings and himself. It appears that the participant thinks of his
ideal family as consisting only of the members included in the drawing, as there is no history
of any serious conflict between them and they appear to be supportive of each other. He
regards his father as the only source of conflict in the family. His father is excluded and
distanced from the family possibly because of the trouble he has caused the family in the past
and his negative interactions with each family member, that is, causing the family’s break-up
by physically abusing his wife and children and not showing interest in the family by
engaging in affairs outside the home. He appears to perceive his father as disruptive to the
family as a result of his excessive drinking bouts. His father’s exclusion from the drawing can
therefore be said to stem from his inability to fulfil his responsibilities towards the family. He
is thus regarded as unworthy of being part of the family.
Insights similar to that deduced from the KFD is also reflected in the DAP test of the
participant. The DAP test drawing is of a professional, well dressed, older man. It appears
that he wishes he were older and thus more responsible than what he currently is. This figure
is also in stark contrast to his perceptions of his father as useless and unworthy and could
represent the person that he believes his father is suppose to be or that he wants him to be. He
wants to be able to provide for his own and his family’s security needs, unlike his parents and
his father in particular, who were not able to provide for his material and emotional needs
97
when he was growing up. He however feels inadequate because his parents never provided an
example on which to model his behaviour on. He also feels inferior and anxious for not being
in a position and not knowing how to provide for his family, as his father cannot be counted
on to fulfil this function. Because he is the eldest male child of the family, he expects of
himself to fulfil the role of the provider in the family since his father is absent in this
capacity. He lacks confidence in himself and his abilities. He wishes he were a stronger
person, physically as well as emotionally in order to overcome his past adversities and
provide for a brighter future for himself as well as his mother and siblings. Other tests also
seem to point to the fact that expectations placed upon him by his situation and by himself
outweigh his potential to live up to those expectations.
In the analysis of the Sentence Completion Test it appears that he is expected to give
more than he is able to give at the moment. This pressure comes more from him than from
others with the exception of his mother, whom he perceives as overwhelmed and weak and
who he has to support, financially as well as emotionally. He appears to be preoccupied with
success, as he regards this as the only way to overcome his previous disadvantages and secure
an optimistic future. This is evident in the DAP test wherein it appears that he feels
inadequate and feels the need to compensate for this and hopefully prevail over this perceived
inadequacy. He also expresses his negative feelings towards his father’s past conduct. This is
also deduced from both the KFD and DAP tests. He however hopes that his father has
changed his ways and is able to fulfil his role as caregiver and provider, so that he can return
to being a child and not concern himself with the financial and emotional well being of the
family.
His responses in the TAT, though extremely short, indicate his fear of coping
independently. From his responses to the Sentence Completion Test it is evident that he is a
follower rather than a leader and is easily influenced by others. He has strong feelings of
98
helplessness since he is forced to mature bef ore his time. He wishes he had support from
significant others in his life and that everything was not left up to him. Though the KFD
appears to be of a secure family, it is inconsistent with the results of the other data sources.
The drawing is the ideal family that he wishes he had. He wishes that his family could be re united in order to be that family portrayed in his drawing. The fact that he is artistically
inclined creates the illusion in his drawings of happiness and contentment and masks what is
really lacking. His responses to the storytelling-based tests however give a clearer picture,
though not a lot, of what he is currently experiencing emotionally. His shy demeanour
contributes to this as well and that makes him more inaccessible.
Table 6.2
Attachment-related themes generated for Participant Two
DATA SOURCE
THEMES
Clinical Interview
Guardedness, Shyness, Avoidance,
Disinterest
Kinetic Family Drawing Test
Happiness, Realistic portrayal of family,
Secure Attachment
Draw–a-Person Test
Aggression, Inadequacy, Inferiority, Poor
social and emotional adjustment, Poor selfconcept
Sentence Completion Test
Poor self -concept, Pressure, Disappointment,
Lack of support
Thematic Apperception Test
Guardedness, Abandonment
99
6.3.7
Summary of the results for Participant Two
In general the participant was extremely guarded both in the clinical interview and in
his responses to the projective tests. It appears that he puts up a happy, secure facade in order
for his parents, especially for his mother, to cope better with the situation. However, he fears
so many things that are out of his control. He appears to feel responsible for the happiness
and security of his mother and his younger siblings. He feels burdened by this, as he is not
able to do anything about it. He fears being a failure and essentially ending up like his
(alcoholic) father and not being able to provide for his mother’s security needs. He is placing
a lot of pressure on himself to better his and his family’s circumstances. He struggles to relate
to his father as a result of attachment abuse he experienced at his hands. He blames himself,
and in part, his father for not succeeding in keeping the family together.
6.4
Participant Three
6.4.1
The clinical interview
Talking about her parents seemed to be an emotional issue for Participant Three. She
was close to her parents, but they had passed away when she was very young. She suffered
neglect at the hands of her maternal uncle who was responsible for her after her parents
passed away.
“My mom and my father passed away, so my uncles were looking after me. They
were not looking after me so well so I landed up here”.
“I was very close to them (parents). I can’t remember when they died. I was still
young. I was about five”.
She is reluctant to form relationships with any adult figures in the children’s home, as she is
still holding on to the memory of her departed parents.
“I don’t have such a person here that I see as a mother or father figure”.
100
Although she regards her host mother as a mother figure, she tends to distance herself in the
relationship. She is rigid in intimate relationships due to fear that she might be left alone
again.
“I do make friends easily with people but some people I feel that they right for me
and some people are not right for me”.
She has only one close friend (a younger girl) in the children’s home and appears not to be
interested in forming other relationships. She currently displays an insecure-avoidant
attachment pattern.
“I don’t usually go out. I’m usually in my room, or if I really want to go out, I go to
Mamazi, my friend in the home”.
6.4.2
The Kinetic Family Drawing Test (KFD)
Participant Three’s drawing had all the elements of insecure-avoidant attachment as
previously discussed in the analysis of Participant One’s drawing. The Kinetic Family
Drawing (KFD) indicated an emphasis on invulnerability, as opposed to an emphasis on
vulnerability, where the child appears alone, isolated from the group and looking worried and
fearful. Her drawing depicted an image of unrealistic happiness, as all the figures in the
drawing had the same large and brightly coloured smile. There was an individuation of
figures in the drawing; however, two figures (mother and self) were drawn exactly alike.
6.4.3
The Draw-a-Person Test (DAP)
The drawing of Participant Three indicated that she feels insecure and there is a strong
element of rigidity and self -consciousness in her interpersonal relations. She, however, has a
desire for interpersonal contact and affection. She feels empty and displays withdrawal
tendencies. There is an indication that she feels inferior and immature, and as a result
displays aggressive tendencies.
101
6.4.4
The Sentence Completion Test
The themes evident in Participant Three’s responses to the test indicated that she
mourns the loss of her parents and the loss of her family.
“I wish that my father was alive”. “I wish that my mother was alive”. “My greatest
wish is to have a family”.
It appeared that she wishes to escape her circumstances:
“I often wish I could fly”.
Participant Three appeared to desperately want normality and normality for her includes
having a loving family and being happy within this family.
“If I were a king I would make everything okay”. “I’d like most to be happy”. “My
greatest wish is to have a family”.
There was an indication that she worries about being a failure and the shaming effect that
failure has.
“I am ashamed that I failed Maths”. “I feel like giving up when I fail”.
6.4.5
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
The responses Participant Three gave to the test were very short. These responses
indicated that she feels unhappy but is striving to change the situation. She feels abandoned
by her family and perceives people as unreliable. She feels angry and worries about her
future.
6.4.6
Integration of data
As was the case with Participant Two, Participant Three was extremely guarded. The
integration of the results for Participant Three reveals heightened attachment needs and
dynamics and this is pervasive throughout the different data sources. These are as a result of
early loss of the primary caregivers and the forced adaptations to multiple carers and
102
environments. In the KFD the participant drew a picture of her father, mother and herself.
She has an older brother whom she has not had contact with for some time, that is excluded
from the drawing. It appears that she feels no connection to him due in part to the lack of
contact between them. Because from his history (which is not included in the study) it is
evident that the brother has created problems everywhere he went and has in turn created
problems for her when they were together. The figures in the drawing appear happy but there
is no interaction between the people in the drawing. This could be as a result of the fact that
she has experienced no real affection and contact from a caregiver growing up and thus does
not have an idea of how to act in loving, warm relationships. It could also be related to the
minimal amount of time she spent with her parents before their death. The re is a sense of
rigidity in the drawn figures. There is a lack of flexibility and interaction. Her parents died
when she was five years old and although she was close to them, it appears that she does not
have clear recollections of them (evidence from the clinical interview supports this), as she
has not spent enough time with them. It could further mean that the family in the KFD is the
perfect family that is portrayed in her drawing, a loving mother and father with an only child
(herself). Another interesting aspect is the lack of individuation between the two female
figures in the drawing. This indicates that she desires to be exactly like her mother in all
respects or that she regards herself as a miniature model of her mother.
The DAP drawing is of a happy, yet stiff postured female figure with outstretched
arms. This mirrors the rigidity expressed in the clinical interview as well as the KFD test.
This indicates that the participant is rigid in interpersonal relations due to her inexperience
with loving caregivers and her past history of sexual abuse and neglect. The outstretched
arms, however, could be taken as an indication that she strongly desires interpersonal contact
and affection. The KFD also shows a lack of interaction between the family members even
though the family is portrayed as happy and united. The happiness portrayed in the drawing
103
appears thus to be a mask of the fear and desperation she feels. Because she has never had a
real family life experience, her needs are heightened in this respect and she does not have role
relationship representations of how family members interact with each other in a close loving
way. This could also explain why there is an absence of interaction in her KFD despite the
fact that the drawing portrays a happy family. She desires to be nurtured and loved and to
have the family she never had growing up. She desires simply for the family to be in close
proximity to each other so that they could have contact with each other. There is an element
of guardedness in her drawings as there is a lack of detailing usual for a person her age. It’s
though she is trying not to reveal too much then having to deal with the negative feelings
related to the exposure. There is an absence of any female characteristics in the KFD and
DAP test drawings other than the long hair and simplistic dresses indicative of figures
representing females. It appears that the participant only included the necessary female
characteristics to indicate the difference between the figures and is afraid of showing more.
This is in large part due to her past experience of sexual abuse and neglect. The only way to
protect herself is not to express too much. This frees her from the contaminating experience
of the sexual abuse. Her drawings depict an air of innocence. The drawings appear to be those
of a younger person.
From the responses on the Sentence Completion Test it is evident that she still mourns
and is struggling with the loss of her parents. It appears as if she is preoccupied with this loss.
Her greatest wish is to be a part of a loving family, preferably her biological family, whom
she has not had enough time with. It’s though she is trying to recreate the loving family she
once had. She appears to feel misplaced and desires interpersonal conta ct with a loving
caregiver. She is very guarded and does not tend to allow herself to express too much
emotion, as if to ward off any negative thoughts and feelings of her neglectful past or to
invite unnecessary attention. This is evident in her responses to the TAT. She appears to be
104
unhappy with her life and wishes it were better. She has fantasies that she will be re-united
with her family someday. She appears to feel empty inside and cry a lot. She desires to be
rescued by someone. A theme that is pervasive throughout this participant’s data sources is
her preoccupation with being a part of a loving, caring family and being taken care of.
Evident from her history is the fact that she has never had a stable home environment and
never had dependable people on whom she could count. Her existence is characteristic of a
sole, lonely journey, which is too much for a person her age to handle.
Table 6.3
Attachment-related themes generated for Participant Three
DATA SOURCE
THEMES
Avoidance, Distance, Rigidity, Guardedness
Clinical Interview
Kinetic Family Drawing Test
Invulnerability, Unrealistic happiness, Partial
individuation, Insecure-avoidant attachment
Aggression, Insecurity, Rigidity, Withdrawal
Draw–a-Person Test
Desire for normality, Escape, Fear of failure
Sentence Completion Test
Thematic Apperception Test
6.4.7
Unhappiness, Abandonment, Unreliability,
Guardedness
Summary of the results for Participant Three
She struggles to recover from and deal with the loss of her parents. She still mourns
their passing. She feels abandoned and worried about her future because essentially she has to
105
provide for herself, her own future, as she has no contact with any family members. She
struggles to get close to other people due to past experiences of abuse and neglect. However,
she yearns to be loved, accepted and taken care of. She has led a difficult life based on her
background history. She lost her parents at a very young age, was separated from her sibling,
and was exposed to multiple caregivers since after the death of her parents. Her upbringing
was characterised by instability, neglect and (sexual) abuse and having to adjust continually
to different environments. Her parents’ death is a sensitive issue for her and not much
information could be ascertained with the clinical interview and most of the tests. From the
little information that could be gathered and the analysis of the tests, it appears that she is
insecurely attached due to her past experiences.
106
CHAPTER 7
DISCUSSION
7.1
Introduction
In this section the results of the study is discussed. This will be done by
contextualizing the results within the theoretical literature discussed in chapters 2, 3 and 4.
The results yielded a wide range of themes related to the attachment patterns of children in
children’s homes. For the purpose of this chapter, common themes will be grouped together
and discussed under a broad category.
7.2
Attachment needs
The results of the study clearly highlighted the attachment needs of adolescents. The
needs of the participants are consistent with those expounded in the literature on attachment.
Attachment needs in infancy, as illustrated in chapter 3 of the study, involve the desire for
proximity to the attachment figure and the sense of security derived from the attachment
figure’s presence. In adolescence attachment needs differ slightly. The adolescent needs an
emotional secure base from which to explore a range of emotional states and to become
autonomous and independent from family without losing familial attachment (Fonagy, 2001).
It is possible to assess and describe an infant’s attachments by observing, describing, and
making inferences from the infant’s behaviour, as illustrated by Ainsworth’s “Strange
Situation”, because the infant does not ha ve the use of cognitions or language yet and rely on
behaviour to show emotions. After infancy, however, you cannot describe an attachment
adequately without describing the individual’s representational models of relationships.
Ainsworth (1989) proposed that hormonal, neurophysiological, and cognitive changes
associated with adolescence, not just socioemotional experience, may underlie normative
107
shifts in attachment processes. Representational models include feelings, beliefs,
expectations, behavioural strategies, and rules for directing attention, interpreting
information, and organising memory (Colin, 1996). The attachment theory account of the
repetition of early patterns of behaviour in later life is primarily cognitive, i.e. internal
representational models (Fonagy, 2001). The child whose internal working model of the
caregiver is focused on rejection is expected to evolve a complementary working model of
the self as unlovable, unworthy, and flawed (Fonagy, 2001). The caregiver’s responses
convey how others regard the self, particularly in times of need, distress and raised affect
(Senior, 2002). Accordingly, all children need a stable home and the love and care of both
parents if they are to achieve optimal emotional development (Chesser, 1912-). Every child
needs to experience real affection, appreciation and recognition from other people, especially
his primary caregiver (usually parents). Without this he receives no assurance that he is good,
worthy, loveable, and wanted (Bowley, 1947). Thus the importance that participants attach to
the family when it comes to satisfying these needs cannot be overemphasised.
Despite feeling abandoned, rejected, isolated, burdened and exploited by their
caregivers and families, the participants still wish that they could be re-united with their
families. They wish like any secure child that the primary caregiver could fulfil a nurturing
and supportive role by being an emotional secure base. This relates to the foundation of
adolescent attachment, where the parent-adolescent relationship serves to provide an
emotional secure base from which the adolescent can explore the wide range of emotional
states arising when learning to live as a relatively autonomous adult (Allen & Land, 1999).
As adolescents experiment with life, most continue to derive support and protection from
their childhood attachment figures. Theory suggests that those who are unable to derive
support from early attachment figures will often persist in seeking it, nonetheless (Colin,
1996). This need for familial attachment is also highlighted by Participant One’s strong
108
identification and idealisation of her absent, nonabusive father whom she has never met.
Participant Two hopes that his family will re-unite while Participant Three fantasises that she
will in some way be reunited with her deceased parents. The desperation to have these needs
met is further highlighted in the results of Participant One. The participant seems to be
preoccupied with her host family that is everything that her family was not. According to
Howe et al (1999), caregiving that has been neglectful, unpredictable and unresponsive often
leads individuals to maximise their attachment behaviour and develop a preoccupation with
relationships and their availability. This preoccupation with relationships and their
availability stems from children needing the care and love that was absent from their lives.
The results from Participants Two and Three also highlight this. An interesting aspect in the
case of Participant One is that she has formed close bonds with male figures, that is, her
housefather in the children’s home and her host father. This is contrary to Bowlby’s (1951)
assertion that children are likely to attach to a female caregiver because women are
essentially perceived as more available, caring, nurturing, emotional and soothing than men.
A possible explanation for this could be that the participant has had a tumultuous relationship
with her mother and has as a result came to the conclusion that mothers in general do not love
their children as much as fathers do. It is possible that she regards her mother as more
responsible for her plight because her mother not only did nothing about the abuse, but her
mother also took her husband’s side when the participant informed her about the abuse.
It is also noteworthy that the attachment needs of the participants are not only
emotional in nature, but also materially orientated. Major concerns for the participants are the
extent to which their material needs are met. Thus they had preoccupations with academic
failure and financial security as a means of being able to provide for themselves and their
families. This preoccupation is manifested in the need to succeed academically, the desire
that family life will improve and they would be reunited, and the hope that a parent would
109
find a job. As to be expected, these preoccupations are a major source of stress for the
participants. They have to concern themselves with issues that were supposed to be the
responsibility of parents. They do not have the skills and resources to assume these
responsibilities. They either take on these responsibilities because they want to or because it
is forced upon them by circumstances. For some this represents a lost childhood because
there is no time to engage in activities or have concerns typical of children their age. This
might also be why they are reluctant to form relationships with children their own age. Either
way, it thus appears as if the adolescent who has been abused and institutionalised is caught
between the need to assume adult responsibilities and especially the desire to be a normal
child. It appears as if adolescent boys tend to embrace this responsibility because society
socialises them that way and adolescent girls tend to assume this responsibility reluctantly
because they do not have a choice.
7.3
Past attachment experiences
As indicated in the participants’ profiles in section 5.3.3, all three participants
experienced abuse, whether physical or sexual, perpetrated by their attachment figures and
caregivers. Participant One’s history shows that she had an insensitive mother and a sexually
abusive stepfather. Participant Two’s history indicated that he had an absent and physically
abusive father and an overwhelmed mother who later became unresponsive after she was
diagnosed with depression. The family broke up after 12 years. Participant Three’s history
shows that her parents died when she was 5 years old. She then experienced neglectful
caregiving from her maternal uncle that led to her being sexually abused by a stranger. She
had multiple caregivers and environment changes since after her parents died. She
experienced various permanent separations. Evidence of the abuse is clear from the results.
All three participants were insecurely attached as a result of their negative early experiences
110
with their attachment figures. According to Howe et al. (1999), caregiving that is and has
been neglectful, physically abusive, sexually abusive, rejecting, inconsistent or repeatedly
interrupted (multiple serial carers) will greatly increase the risk of children developing an
insecure attachment pattern, which in turn increases the risk of later developmental
disturbances. The insecure attachment means that the participants are not free to evaluate
attachment-related experiences in a balanced, accurate manner. The participants also find it
difficult to make sense of their emotions. This is consistent with Howe et al’s (1999)
assertion that secure attachment gives the child the cognitive strengths to make sens e of and
understand emotions. All of the participants also experienced separation from their
attachment figures and families, either early or later in their lives. Separation occurred as a
result of forced separation by the state, abandonment and death of the caregivers. According
to Fonagy (2001), separation involves two stressors: unprotected exposure and the sense of
being cut off from the critical source of protection. In addition to experiencing these two
separation related stressors, the participants also experienced separation from familiar
surroundings, i.e. the home environment.
Of the three participants, only Participant Two had positive experiences with his
mother. Participant One’s experiences were negative, while the same was the case for
Participant Three who was placed in the care of a relative when she was 5 years old. Bowley
(1947) emphasises that it is important for the child’s emotional development that he should
have this assurance to offset his inner fears of badness, unworthiness, unlovableness, and his
sense of rejection. Environments can enhance growth or create risks for children. The context
that fosters optimal growth is generally the family (Hook, 2002d). The family introduces
children to the physical world through the opportunities it provides for play and exploration
of objects and ultimately to form a secure identity in adolescence (Bowlby, 1988; Hook,
2002d). It also creates bonds between people that are unique. The attachments children form
111
with parents and siblings usually last a lifetime, and they serve as models for other significant
relationships (Gomez, 1997).
A common theme present in the data indicates that the participants feel unsafe and
unprotected by their families. They also feel excluded from and rejected by their families. As
a result they feel that they have to support themselves and cope independently. Actual
closeness of the attachment figure is frequently the means by which the child is able to feel
secure. Thus, the past influences or biases expectations but does not determine these. Both
older children and adults continue to monitor the accessibility and responsiveness of the
attachment figure (Fonagy, 2001). Another pervasive theme present in the participants’
responses to the tests is that of abandonment and rejection. According to Main and Goldman
(in Morgan, 1999), rejection refers to an active hostile or cold response to the child.
Abandonment in turn refers to the desertion and forsaking of a person. The participants feel
abandoned by their families. To an extent, they appear to blame themselves for the
abandonment as they feel that they are not ‘good enough’ for their families. They have been
in the care of their abusing caregivers for a long period before being removed from them, and
by using their cognitive capacities, they tend to look at their own contribution to where they
are now (the children’s home) and their part in their formed relationships and attachments.
Apart from the rejection and abandonment, the participants also suffered severe
maternal deprivation. As is discussed in chapter 4, maternal deprivation entails the removal
of the child from his caregivers (families) by social services due to abuse and/ or neglect
perpetrated in the home and placement in protective care. This abandonment, reje ction and
deprivation makes the participants feel unwanted. According to Safonova and Leparsky
(1998), this also deprives the child from sensory and emotional stimuli necessary for the child
to develop the skills and resources needed to make realistic sens e of his own life and his
surroundings.
112
7.4
The children’s home
The purpose of the children’s home is essentially to offset the impact that the past
abuses, abandonment, neglect and deprivation has on the child and to provide an alternative
environment where the child’s needs will be met. What is also true though is the fact that the
quality of early and continuing close relationships affects children’s emotional development,
interpersonal style and social behaviour (Senior, 2002). This is evident from the participants’
experience in the children’s home. The participants’ attachment histories seem to be
reinforced in the children’s home. Even though the participants’ institutionalisation came
about (after infancy, and primarily) in early adolescence, and even though they would not be
considered maternally deprived in the sense that Bowlby (1952) originally used the term, they
essentially spent a significant time of their development in an institutional environment. This
however failed to offset the negative experiences the study participants had in their families.
It is possible that this is a result of the extreme nature of the abuse and the effect that it had
on the participants. This effect can probably be linked to the fact that the abuse happened at
an age in which the individual’s beliefs regarding relationships are consolidated. It thus
follows that the participants displayed insecure attachment patterns in the children’s home.
This insecure attachment is manifested in their reluctance or inability to form close
relationships with peers and to attach to significant adults within the children’s home.
Although the home afforded them order and consistency, there was little of the affective
nurturance essential for healthy emotional development. According to Batchelor (1998),
children’s love and growth require long nurturance from people who make enduring
commitments to them, i.e. attachment figures, be it family or care workers at the children’s
home. Absence of this nurturance in the children’s home can be ascribed to the fact that the
staff-child ratio is extremely low and there is not enough interaction between care worker and
child to facilitate a secure attachment relationship. This gives rise to feelings of insecurity,
113
isolation, guardedness, rigidity, shyness and a general disinterest in relationships. The
contradiction here is that the participants have relationship needs, yet in order to protect
themselves, they are forced to behave in ways that do not facilitate the building of healthy
relationships.
7.5
Children’s self-concepts as a function of their attachment relationships
The literature highlights the concomitant relationship between the child’s self-concept
and his attachment relationships. Fonagy (2001) asserts that the experience of being cared for
relates directly to self -esteem. A basic assumption of attachment theory is that critical
variations in the quality of one’s early experiences with caregiving figures shape the
formation of mental representations or internal working models of close relationships (Senior,
2002). Mental representations are useful representations to the extent that they capture
important causal/ relational properties of the environment and the self well enough to allow
an individual to operate successfully in that environment (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999).
Internal working models comprise of: (a) self model – containing perceptions of one’s own
worth and lovability, and (b) other model – containing expectations regarding the essential
goodness, trustworthiness, and dependability of important others in one’s social world
(Senior, 2002).
By adulthood, the assessment of internal representational models is typically
evidenced in how individuals organise, process, and communicate about attachment
information, rather than in the behavioural patterns observed in infancy (Black, Jaeger,
McCartney, & Crittenden, 2000; Colin, 1996). Kobak and Cole (in Black et al., 2000) argue,
however, that with the onset of formal operations, the cognitive competence underlying adult
expressions of security is available during adolescence. Specifically, adolescents possess the
skills to describe abstract aspects of themselves and their relationships, to contrast these with
114
alternative models and to distance themselves enough from immediate experience to
generalize appropriately about these experiences. Moreover, Kobak and Cole argue that
changes in adolescents’ abilities to reason allow them to operate on (or monitor) these
abstract, differentiated models in more sophisticated ways (in Black et al., 2000).
Furthermore, adolescents can consider several aspects of models simultaneously as well as
evaluate the validity of abstract propositions regarding the self and attachment figures. These
skills enable adolescents to detect and correct inconsistencies in their models of themselves
and others (Black et al., 2000).
Results of the study, especially that of the projective drawings tests, indicate that the
participants have a compromised self-model and other model largely due to their negative life
experiences. This compromise self- and other model further serves the purpose of regulating
their present attachment behaviours. Participants indicate anger directed towards the self for
not being able to do anything about their situation. There are also elements of helplessness
and hopelessness in this regard. Themes emerging suggest that most children feel insecure,
inadequate and anxious and as a result need to control their environment. Most children
generally have a strong need for attention, support and acceptance, but the participants
illustrate elevations of these specific needs.
From a developmental perspective, the issue of the self is especially relevant for the
participants given the fact that their prime task according to Erikson is to secure a sense of
self, to form a secure identity (Hook, 2002b). The socioemotional context status of
adolescence may also play a role in how these adolescents choose to describe their
relationships with parents. According to Erikson (in Black et al., 2000), adolescents are
confronted with the task of constructing an identity. It thus follows that certain conditions are
necessary for the formation of a secure identity. According to Bloss (in Black et al., 2000), a
critical condition is the differentiation of the self from parents. This differentiation can only
115
be achieved if the child has in the past experienced positive attachment dynamics in their
relationships with their caregivers. Erikson (in Fonagy, 2001) asserts that the quality of the
maternal relationship determines the sense of trust that mothers create in their children which
then persists throughout life. For the study participants this condition was clearly not met.
Their insecure attachment coupled with the rejection, abuse and neglect they have
experienced at their hands of their caregivers have compromised their ability to form a
positive sense of self.
7.6
Ability to adjust / adapt to circumstances
The study participants appear to be poorly adjusted to their environment, the
children’s home. Adaptation is Piaget’s term for the ability to adjust to the demands of the
environment, a process during which schemes are elaborated, changed, and developed
(Cockcroft, 2002). According to Crittenden (2000), adaptability is best described as a process
in which not fully accurate dispositional representations are consistently reorganised into less
inaccurate dispositional representations that permit flexible and adaptive use of all
behavioural strategies without distorting the mental processing of information. That is,
security refers to a specific strategy suitable to protective relationships in relatively safe
contexts, whereas adaptability refers to a process of selecting strategies that promote survival
under all kinds of conditions. Bowlby argued that because attachment relationships are
internalised or represented, these early experiences and subsequent expectations get taken
forward to serve later behavioural and emotional adaptation, even in totally new contexts and
with different people (Kobak, 1999). This is a new experience for all of the participants.
None of the participants have ever been in any form of residential care or protective care
before their admission to the children’s home. Consistent with Bowlby’s assertion,
116
participants appear to have internalised their early experience to the extent that it has shaped
their beliefs about relationships.
The theory suggests a number of reasons why there could be a lack of adaptation. It is
for example argued that a lack of attention to parent-child ties harms both the child’s capacity
for adaptation to the institution and his ability to benefit from the opportunities available.
This is because of the trauma of separation upon entrance to the institution and the repeated
need for separation at each visit coupled with ignorance of the need to shape a new parentchild relationship (Eisikovits & Beker, 1986).
According to Wicks-Nelson and Israel (1997), children are either at risk or can be
resilient in situations where they are placed away from their parents (caregivers) and family.
Risk factors, or risks, are variables that increase the chance of behaviour deviations or
difficulties. In the presence of risk, some individuals succumb (are vulnerable) whereas
others maintain healthy functioning, that is, are resilient (Wicks -Nelson & Israel, 1997).
According to Smith and Prior (1995), resilience implies protection from risk factors, or the
ability to bounce back in the face of life’s adversities. Some risk factors can be viewed as
stemming from individual disposition to respond maladaptively to life experiences. The
participants have clearly not adapted to their situation. This however does not mean that the
participants have not derised and employed strategies to cope with their situation. In this
context the term coping is used to refer to strategies, although not positive, that participants
use to survive in their current circumstances. Although this appears to be similar to
adaptation/ adjustment, the difference is the negative connotation inherent in coping.
Although participants found it difficult to adapt, they did manage to cope. The studies of
Murphy and Moriarty (in Batchelor, 1998) on the coping capacities of children, asserted that
children’s coping processes included cognitive functions (e.g. being able to mould and
manipulate their environment assertively), as well as the use of a range of defensive
117
strategies. The strategies that study participants used ranged from not forming relationships in
the children’s home and their reluctance to form relationships with peers and adult outside the
children’s home as well as the use of fantasising that family will be reunited in cases where
this is impossible. Resiliency is often conceptualised as arising from the child’s competence
and adaptability (Wicks -Nelson & Israel, 1997). According to Garmezy (1975), competence
is indicated by self -esteem, self -discipline, belief that events can be controlled, regulation of
impulsive behaviour, and the ability to think abstractly and flexibly. Results from the present
study sugge st evidence consistent with the above -mentioned views.
When the context is stable, it benefits children to learn the strategies suited to it as
soon as possible. On the other hand, when the context is variable, children need to learn to
use more than one strategy flexibly. In the circumstances where the context is first stable in
one way and then becomes stable in a completely different way, the early impact of the
context could have deleterious effects on children’s ability to adapt (Crittenden & Claussen,
2000). Research indicates that formally institutionalised children may adapt to an
environment of many nonintimate adults but find it more difficult to trust that permanent
adults will remain accepting and available (Crittenden & Claussen, 2000). There is a risk that
by remaining too vigilant, too open to strangers, and too demanding of attention, formally
institutionalised children in a permanent placement will both fail to explore the full range of
possible self-development and disappoint attachment figures, who, becoming discouraged,
may become less accepting of the children (Crittenden & Claussen, 2000).
118
CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION
8.1
Introduction
The focus of this study is to explore and develop a better understanding of the nature
of attachment patterns of institutionalised adolescents by looking at how attachment abuse,
maternal deprivation and institutionalisation can be detrimental to forming close
relationships. The findings of the study are presented and discussed in chapters 6 and 7
respectively. In this chapter, the study is concluded. This will be done by reflecting on the
themes and examining the extent to which the aim of the study was achieved. The study itself
will also be critically reflected on and possible suggestions for improvement will be made.
8.2
Reflecting on the themes emerging from the study
The themes generated from the study, though overlapping significantly, appear to be
nonetheless consistent with the theoretical literature. They thus indicate that older children
who have been separated from their caregivers and placed in a children’s home because they
were abused, neglected or maternally deprived, tend to be insecurely attached. The
participants’ did not receive adequate caregiving from primary caregivers. They were also
abused physically and/ or sexually and experienced rejection and abandonment. The literature
highlights the importance of adequate caregiving that is necessary for the child to develop a
healthy sense of self and the implications if this is absent. The effects of the neglect, abuse
and maternal deprivation that the children suffered seem to be compounded by the
circumstances in which they were placed. In institutions or children’s homes there is an
increased risk that children will continue with insecure attachment patterns, as the staff-child
ratio is extremely low and there is not enough interaction between care worker and child to
119
facilitate a secure attachment relationship. All these factors therefore seem to conspire in
order to ensure that insecure attachment persists throughout the child’s development.
8.3
Were the aims of the study met?
It was extremely difficult to attribute institutionalisation as having a consequence on
attachment patterns per se, as the participants were adolescents (16 year olds) and were only
placed in institutional care during this developmental stage due to attachment abuse.
Institutionalisation is however the consequence of removal from abusive homes and is thus
secondary to the attachment abuse perpetrated. Background histories of the participants
documenting their care from caregivers and the abuse perpetrated by caregivers (attachment
abuse) contributed largely to a picture of the attachment patterns formed in childhood.
However, institutionalisation can impact on attachment patterns for later development of
close relationships.
The study succeeded in its aim to describe the nature of attachment patterns in
institutionalised children. The data sources, especially the projective tests, yielded rich data
that provided significant insight into the attachment patterns of the participants. This enabled
the researcher to develop a better understanding of the participants’ attachment patterns. The
major limitation of the study is that it does not explain why the attachment patterns are
insecure. However, the central aim was to develop an improved understanding rather than to
explain.
120
8.4
Reflecting on the study
Because doing research is rarely problem free and because it is almost inevitable that
problems are encountered during the research process, it is necessary to reflect on the process
in order to identify ways in which the research might have been conducted more successfully.
8.4.1
Sampling
The sampling of the study served as a limitation, because the pool from which the
participants were chosen was too small. The generalizability power of the study is therefore
extremely limited. It needs to be added however that the purpose of the study was to increase
understanding of the phenomena under investigation and not to generalize the results of the
study to wider populations. Accessing participants also proved challenging. The participants
were only available during the late afternoons (from 16h00 to 18h00) and were tired towards
the completion of the test battery. Due to the sensit ive nature of the study, some participants
were guarded (which is usually the case in adolescence) and others were not able to express
themselves clearly, as they were too emotional at times. Most information had to be taken
from their case files, which were in most instances incomplete. Parents or caregivers failed to
give complete information during the intake interview at the children’s home, as some were
absent due to death, imprisonment, and disappearances.
The developmental stage of the participants chosen (i.e. adolescents) served as an
obstacle, as adolescence in and of itself is a complex stage. Adolescence is characterised by
profound biological, psychological, and social developmental stages. During adolescence the
adolescent is faced with the ta sk of forming a secure identity, which is made up of and
influenced by childhood experiences with caregivers and significant others. For adolescents,
identity is both a matter of determining who one is and a matter of deciding who one will be.
Traumatised and abused children, as is the case with the participants used in the study,
121
struggle in determining who they are because of the amount of trauma they experienced and
not knowing how to process these experiences. They inevitably struggle in deciding who they
will be due to the hatred they have of themselves and others they view as potential abusers
and due to the child not having appropriate role relationship representations that they can
constructively use in forming a secure identity.
8.4.2
Data collection and analysis
Because of the complexity of the developmental stage on which the study focussed, it
was deemed necessary to include data sources that will provide sufficient information in
order to achieve the aims of the study. Notwithstanding this, collecting data was not without
difficulties. There were a number of problems with the transcription of the clinical
interviews, which were tape-recorded. Apart from the disruptions, some background noises
were caught on tape. This made transcription of some of the actual interview material
difficult. The researcher therefore had to rely on her notes and her recollections of the
interview situation. Tape recorders also do not capture non-verbal language. In both these
instances it has to be conceded that valuable data might have been lost.
In terms of data analysis, content analytical theme generation relies on interpretation.
The researcher’s interpretation was guided by her preconceived belief and norm system. Any
interpretation excluded other interpretations. Thus in the analytical process, certain material
which was regarded as irrelevant was discarded. It therefore has to be stressed that no
objectivity claims are made. The results merely represent one way of understanding the
phenomena that was investigated.
122
8.5
To conclude…
Securing a solid base identity made up of various roles, talents, skills, and preferences
is the key challenge that individuals face generally, but is a far greater challenge for
adolescents who have had a difficult upbringing, as is the case with all the participants used
in the study. The caregiver’s responses convey how others regard the self, particularly in
times of need, distress and raised affect. Thus, the quality of the relationship with the
caregiver has a profound bearing on the child’s understanding of self. Children that have been
institutionalised as a result of abuse grapple with the question “Who am I?” The inconsistent,
unpredictable love and interest of caregivers means that the self is experienced as inherently
not very loveable, unworthy and of no great interest. Self-esteem is low as a result. The lack
of synchronicity and attunement with caregivers means that children find it difficult to get
others to recognise, understand and respond to their needs. These children are faced with a
greater task of forming their identity, as they were seldom exposed to close attachment
relationships during early childhood, and this is likely to have implications for future adult
relationships.
123
REFERENCES
Ainsworth, M.D.S. (1989). Attachments beyond infancy. American Psychologist, 44,
709-716.
Ainsworth, M.D.S., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of
attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillside, New Jersey:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Allen, J.P., & Land, D. (1999). Attachment in adolescence. In J. Cassidy & P.R.
Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp.
319-335). New York: Guilford Press.
Appel, K.E. (1931). Drawings by children as aids in personality studies. American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1, 129-144.
Ashmore, R.D., & Jussim, L. (Eds.). (1997). Self and identity. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
Babbie, E.R., & Mouton, J. (2001). The practice of social research. Cape Town:
Oxford University Press.
Batchelor, J. (1998). Adaptation to prolonged separation and loss in
institutionalised children: Influences on the psychological capacities of adults
124
“orphaned” throughout childhood. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Smith College
School for Social Work, Northampton, Massachusetts.
Berk, L.E. (1989). Child development. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Berk, L.E. (1996). Infants and children: Prenatal through middle childhood (2nd
ed.). Boston: Allen and Bacon.
Berliner, L., & Elliott, D.M. (1996). Se xual abuse of children. In J. Briere, L.
Berliner, J.A. Bulkley, C. Jenny, & T. Reid, (Eds.), The APSAC handbook on child
maltreatment (pp. 51-71). London: Sage Publications, Inc.
Black, K.A., Jaeger, E., McCartney, K., & Crittenden, P.M. (2000). Attachment
models, peer interaction behavior, and feelings about the self: Indications of maladjustment in
dismissing/ preoccupied (Ds/E) adolescents. In P.M. Crittenden & A.H. Claussen, (Eds.),
The organization of attachment relationships: Maturation, culture, and context (pp.
300-324 ). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bowlby, J. (1951). Maternal care and mental health. World Health Organization,
Geneva.
Bowlby, J. (1952). Maternal care and mental health. Bulletin of World Health
Organization, 3 , 355-534.
125
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Attachment (Vol.1). London: Hogarth
Press.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Separation, anxiety and anger (Vol. 2).
London: Hogarth Press.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human
development. New York: Basic Books.
Bowley, A.H. (1947). The psychology of the unwanted child. Edinburgh: E. & S.
Livingstone Ltd.
Brassard, M.R., Hart, S.N., & Hardy, D. (1991). Psychological and emotional abuse
of children. In R.T. Ammerman & M. Harsen (Eds.), Case studies in family violence (pp.
255-270). New York: Plenum.
Bretherton, I. (1991). The roots and growing points of attachment theory. In C.M.
Parkes et al. (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 9-32). London: Routledge.
Bretherton, I. (1995). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary
Ainsworth. In S. Goldberg et al. (Eds.), Attachment theory: Social, developmental and
clinical perspectives (pp. 45-84). London: The Analytical Press.
Bretherton, I., & Munholland, K.A. (1999). Internal working models in attachment
relationships: A construct revisited. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of
126
attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 89-114). New York: Guilford
Press.
Carlsson, E., & Sroufe, L.A. (1995). Contribution of attachment theory to
developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti & D.J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental
psychopathology. Vol. 1: Theory and Methods (pp. 581-617). New York: Wiley.
Cassidy, J. (1999). The nature of the child’s ties. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.),
Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 3-20). New
York: Guilford Press.
Chandler, L.A., & Johnson, V.J. (1991). Using projective techniques with children:
A guide to clinical assessment. Springfield, IL: C.C. Thomas.
Chesser, E. (1912- ). Unwanted child. London: Rich and Cowan.
Cicchetti, D. (1989). How research on child maltreatment has informed the study of
child development: Perspectives from developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti & V.
Carlson (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and
consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 377-431). New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Cockcroft, K. (2002). Theories of cognitive development: Piaget, Vygotsky, and
Information-processing theory. In D. Hook, J. Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.), Developmental
psychology (pp. 175-199). Cape Town: UCT Press.
127
Colin, V.L. (1996). Human attachment. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Committee on the Rights of the Child. (1999). Consideration of reports submitted
by states parties under article 44 of the convention on the rights of the child. Initial
reports of States parties due in 1997: South Africa. 22/05/99. CRC/C/51/Add.2. (State Party
Report).
Crittenden, P.M. (1985). Social networks, quality of child rearing, and child
development. Child Development, 56, 1299-1313.
Crittenden, P.M. (2000). A dynamic-maturational exploration of the meaning of
security and adaptation: Empirical, cultural, and theoretical considerations. In P.M.
Crittenden & A.H. Claussen, (Eds.), The organization of attachment relationships:
Maturation, culture, and context (pp. 358-383). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Crittenden, P., & Ainsworth, M. (1989). Child maltreatment and attachment theory. In
D. Cicchetti & V. Carlson (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes
and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 432-463). New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Crittenden, P.M., & Claussen, A.H. (2000). Adaptation to varied environments. In
P.M. Crittenden & A.H. Claussen, (Eds.), The organization of attachment relationships:
Maturation, culture, and context (pp. 234-248). New York: Cambridge University Press.
128
David, H.P. (1992). Born unwanted: Long-term developmental effects of denied
abortion. Journal of Social Issues, 48 (3), 163-181.
Davis, A. (1981). The residential solution: State alternatives to family care.
London: Tavistock Publications.
Eagle, G. (1998). Male crime victims: The social and pe rsonal construction of
meaning in response to traumatogenic events. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Eisikovits, Z., & Beker, J. (Eds.). (1986). Residential group care in community
context: Insights from the Israeli experience. New York: The Haworth Press.
Erickson, M.F., & Egeland, B. (1996). Child neglect. In J. Briere, L. Berliner, J.A.
Bulkley, C. Jenny, & T. Reid, (Eds.), The APSAC handbook on child maltreatment (pp. 420). London: Sage Publications, Inc..
Feeney, J.A., Hohaus, L., Noller, P., & Alexander, R.P. (2001). Becoming parents:
Exploring the bonds between mothers, fathers, and their infants. London: Cambridge
University Press.
Finnegan, R.A., Hodges, E.V.E., & Perry, D.G. (1996). Preoccupied and avoidant
coping during middle childhood. Child Development, 67, 1318-1328.
129
Fonagy, P. (1999). Psychoanalytic theory from the viewpoint of attachment theory
and research. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory,
research and clinical applications (pp. 595-624). New York: Guilford Press.
Fonagy, P. (2001). Attachment theory and psychoanalysis. New York: Other Press.
Fonagy, P., Steele, M., Moran, G.S., Steele, H., & Higgitt, A. (1992). The integration
of psychoanalytic theory and work on attachment: The issue of intergenerational psychic
processes. In D. Stern & M. Ammaniti (Eds.), Attaccamento e psiconalis (pp. 19-30). Bari,
Italy: Laterza.
Freud, S. (1977). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. In A. Richards & A.
Dickson (Eds.), The Penguin Freud Library. Vol. 7 on sexuality: Three essays on the
theory of sexuality and other works. London: Penguin.
Freud, S. (1991). The ego and the id. In A. Richards & A. Dickson (Eds.), The
Penguin Freud Library. Vol. 11 on metapsychology. London: Penguin.
Fury, G., Carlson, E.A., & Sroufe, A. (1997). Children’s representations of
attachment relationships in family drawings. Child Development, 68 (6), 1154-1164.
Garmezy, N. (1975). The experimental study of children vulnerable to
psychopathology. In A. Davids (Ed.), Child personality and psychopathology (Vol. 2).
New York: Wiley-Interscience.
130
Geiger, B. (1996). Fathers as primary caregivers. Westport: Greenwood Press.
Gergeley, G., & Watson, J. (1996). The social biofeedback model of parental affectmirroring. International Journal of Psycho -Analysis, 77, 1181-1212.
Gitter, A.H. (1999). Adolescents’ and mothers’ models of attachment as
predictors of developing autonomy and relatedness in observed family interactions.
Unpublished distinguished majors thesis. University of Virginia, Virginia.
Goldberg, S. (2000). Attachment and development. London: Arnold, a member of
the Hodder Headline Group.
Gomez, L. (1997). An introduction to object relations. London: Free Association.
Groth-Marnat, G. (1997). Handbook of psychological assessment (3rd ed.). New
York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Gullestad, S.E. (2001). Attachment theory and psychoanalysis: Controversial issues.
Scandinavian Psychoanalytical Review, 24, 3-16.
Hammersly, M. (1996). The relationship between qualitative and quantitative
research: Paradigm loyalty versus methodological eclecticism. In J.T.E. Richardson (Ed.),
Handbook of qualitative research methods for psychology and the social sciences (pp.
159-174). Leicester: British Psychological Society.
131
Hammond, S. (1997). Using psychometric tests. In G.M. Breakwell, S. Hammond, &
C. Fife -Schaw, (Eds.), Research methods in psychology (pp. 194-212). London: Sage
Publications.
Harris, D.B. (1963). Children’s drawing s as measures of intellectual maturity.
New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World.
Hart, S.N., Brassard, M.R., & Karlson, H.C. (1996). Psychological maltreatment. In J.
Briere, L. Berliner, J.A. Bulkley, C. Jenny, & T. Reid, (Eds.), The APSAC handbook on
child maltreatment (pp. 72-89). London: Sage Publications, Inc..
Hill, J.P., & Holmbeck, G.N. (1986). Attachment and autonomy during adolescence.
Annals of Child Development, 3, 145-189.
Hilzinger, D.G. (2002). “Not one of these little ones should perish”: Orphanages
in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia 1850-1950. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation. Graduate School of Arts and Science, Columbia University, New York.
Holmes, J. (1995). John Bowlby; attachment theory and psychoanalysis. In S.
Goldberg et al. (Eds.), Attachment theory: Social, developmental and clinical
perspectives (pp. 19-43). London: The Analytical Press.
Hook, D. (2002a). Psychoanalytic, cognitive, and psychosocial developmental
psychology: The ‘hows’ and ‘whys’. In D. Hook, J. Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.),
Developmental psychology (pp. 3-13). Cape Town: UCT Press.
132
Hook, D. (2002b). Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development. In D. Hook, J.
Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.), Developmental psychology (pp. 265-293). Cape Town: UCT
Press.
Hook, D. (2002c). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of development. In D. Hook, J.
Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.), Developmental psychology (pp. 312-324). Cape Town: UCT
Press.
Hook, D. (2002d). Critical issues in developmental psychology. In D. Hook, J. Watts,
& K. Cockcroft, (Eds.), Developmental psychology (pp. 343-366). Cape Town: UCT Press.
Hook, D., & Cockcroft, K. (2002). Basic concepts and principles in developmental
psychology. In D. Hook, J. Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.), Developmental psychology (pp.
14-28). Cape Town: UCT Press.
Hook, D., & Watts, J. (2002). Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of development and
personality. In D. Hook, J. Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.), Developmental psychology (pp.
57-91). Cape Town: UCT Press.
Howe, D., Bra ndon, M., Hinings, D., & Schofield, G. (1999). Attachment theory,
child maltreatment and family support: A practice and assessment model. London:
Macmillan Press Ltd.
133
Hulse, W.C. (1951). The emotionally disturbed child draws his family. Quarterly
Journal of Child Behaviour, 3, 152-174.
Hunter, W.M., Coulter, M.L., Runyan, D.K., & Everson, M.D. (1990). Determinants
of placement for sexually abused children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 14, 407-418.
Kagan, J. (1984). The nature of the child. New York: Basic Books.
Kaplan, H.I., & Sadock, B.J. (1998). Synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences /
clinical psychiatry (8th ed.). New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1985). Children’s internal representations of attachment as
seen in family drawings and in a separation anxiety interview. In M. Main (Chair),
Attachment: A move to the level of representation. Symposium presented at the meeting
of the Society for Research in Child Development, Toronto.
Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1986). Instructions for the classification of children’s
family drawings in terms of representation of attachment. Berkeley: University of
California.
Kobak, R. (1999). The emotional dynamics of disruptions in attachment relationships:
Implications for theory, research, and clinical intervention. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver
(Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 21-43).
New York: Guilford Press.
134
Kuzel, A.J. (1992). Sampling in qualitative inquiry. In B.F. Crabtree & W.L. Miller
(Eds.), Research methods for primary care (pp. 33-44). London: Sage.
Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research
interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lezak, M. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment (3rd ed.). New York: Oxfor d
University Press.
Little, M. (1982). Family breakup (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Louw, D.A. (1991). Human development. Cape Town: Kagiso Tertiary.
Louw, D., Louw, A., & Schoeman, W. (1995). Developmental psychology. In D.A.
Louw & J.A. Edwards (Eds.), Psychology: An introduction for students in Southern
Africa. Johannesburg: Lexicon.
Machover, K. (1949). Personality projection in the drawing of the human figure.
Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Lack of mourning in adulthood and its relationship to
infant disorganisation: Some speculations regarding causal mechanisms. In M.T.
Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E.M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years:
Theory, research and intervention. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
135
McCarthy, J.B. (Ed.). (2000). Adolescent development and psychopathology. New
York: University Press of America, Inc.
McCluskey, U., & Hooper, C. (Eds.). (2000). Psychodynamic perspectives on
abuse: The cost of fear. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Morgan, J.Y. (1999). The application of attachment theory to a psychotherapy
case. Unpublished masters dissertation, Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, South
Africa.
Mortensen, K.V. (1991). Form and content in children’s human figure drawings:
Development, sex differences and body experience. New York: New York University
Press.
Moshman, D. (1999). Adolescent psychological development: Rationality,
morality, and identity. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Mouton, J., & Marais, H.C. (1996). Basic concepts in the methodology of the social
sciences. Pretoria: HSRC Publishers.
Mudaly, B.S. (1985). The life -world of youth in children’s homes. Unpublished
masters dissertation, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Murphy, K.R., & Davidshofer, C.O. (2001). Psychological testing: Principles and
applications (5th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
136
Murray, H.A. (1938). Explorations in personality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Mussen, P.H., Conger, J.J., Kagan, J., & Huston, A.C. (1990). A child’s world:
Infancy through adolescence (6th ed.). New York: MacGraw -Hill.
Neuman, L.W. (1997). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative
approaches (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Nye, R.D. (1992). Three psychologies: Perspectives from Freud, Skinner, and
Rogers (4th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/ Cole Publishing Company.
Parker, K.C.H., Hanson, R.K., & Hunsley, J. (1988). MMPI, Rorschach, and WAIS:
A meta-analytic comparison of reliability, stability, and validity. Psychological Bulletin,
103, 367-373.
Pianta, R.C., & Longmaid, K. (1999). Attachment-based classifications of children’s
family drawings: Psychometric properties and relations with children’s adjustment in
kindergarten. Journal of Clinic al Child Psychology, 28 (2), 244-264.
Rachlin, H. (1991). Introduction to modern behaviorism (3rd ed.). New York:
Freeman.
137
Safonova, T., & Leparsky, E.A. (1998). The unwanted child. Child Abuse &
Neglect, 22 (2), 155-157.
Santrock, J.W. (1999). Life -span development. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Santrock, J.W. (2001). Child development (9th ed.). Boston: MacGraw-Hill.
Senior, L. (2002). Attachment theory. In D. Hook, J. Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.),
Developmental psychology (pp. 247-264). Cape Town: UCT Press.
Smith, J., & Prior, M. (1995). Temperament and stress resilience in school-age
children: A within-families study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 168-179.
Solomon, J., & George, C. (1999). The measurement of attachment security in infancy
and childhood. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory,
research and clinical applications (pp. 287-318). New York: Guilford Press.
Staddon, J. (1993). Behaviorism: Mind, mechanism and society. London:
Duckworth.
Steinberg, L. (1990). Interdependency in the family: Autonomy, conflict, and
harmony in the parent-adolescent relationship. In S.S. Feldman & G.R. Elliott (Eds.), At the
threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 255-276). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
138
Stosny, S. (1995). Treating attachment abuse: A compassionate approach. New
York: Springer Publishing Company.
Tizard, B., & Rees, J. (1975). The effects of early institutional rearing on the
behaviour problems and affectional relationships of four -year-old children. Journal of Child
Psychology & Psychiatry, 16, 61-73.
Todd, J.T., & Morris, E.K. (1995). Modern perspectives on John B. Skinner and
contemporary behaviorism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
van Ijzendoorn, M.H., & De Wolff, M.S. (1997). In search of the absent father –
meta-analysis of infant-father attachment: A rejoinder to our discussants. Child
Development, 68, 604-609.
Van Staden, F., & Nieuwoudt, J. (2001). The contextualisation of self-attitudes: An
investigation of adolescents in a South African children’s home. Pretoria: Department of
Psychology, University of South Africa.
Vass, Z. (1999). The inner formal structure of the H -T-P Drawings: An
exploratory study. Unpublished paper, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary.
Watts, J. (2002). Klein’s object relations theory of development and personality. In D.
Hook, J. Watts, & K. Cockcroft, (Eds.), Developmental psychology (pp. 92-106). Cape
Town: UCT Press.
139
Weinfield, N.S., Sroufe, L.A., Egeland, B., & Carlson, E.A. (1999). The nature of
individual differences in infant-caregiver attachment. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.),
Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 68-88). New
York: Guilford Press.
Westen, D. (1999). Psychology: Mind, brain, & culture (2nd ed.). New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wicks-Nelson, R., & Israel, A.C. (1997). Behavior disorders of childhood (3rd ed.).
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Winnicott, D.W. (1971). Playing and reality. London: Tavistock.
Wolff, W. (1942). Projective methods for personality analysis of expressive behaviour
in preschool children. Character & Personality, 10, 309-330.
Zeanah, C.H., Mammen, O.K., & Lieberman, A.F. (1993). Disorders of attachment. In
C.H. Zeanah (Ed.), Handbook of infant mental health. New York: Guilford Press.
140