Developmental Psychology

Psychosocial deprivation

               Psychosocial deprivation = psychical hardship (mainly)


       More rigorously - psychosocial deprivation is the state of long-term            

      dissatisfaction of vital psychological needs, especially emotional and 

                                                       social needs


                                   To understand deprivation =  To understand needs


Basic developmental needs (according to Z. Matějček)
certain amount, quality and variability of external stimuli - visual, auditory, tactile, movement, human contact
        (GOAL: The child "tunes" to a certain level of activity and is not "undernourished" or overloaded)

• certain constancy, order, and sense in stimuli — a "meaningful world"; Enables transformation of incoming impulses into experience, knowledge and (working) strategies; if we perceive everything in our surroundings as unpredictable and unstable - the result is internal chaos

primary emotional and social relationships, the need for a stable positive attitude towards the caregiver and vice versa - provides the child with a sense of life certainty and is a prerequisite for the desirable internal arrangement of personality, provides a basis for development in all areas

identity - social usefulness and social value; healthy self-awareness; this consciousness is a prerequisite for a person to acquire social roles in life paths and to set value goals for his / her endeavors

Open future - life perspectives, shared with carers - „there will be tommorrow (with someone close to me)



Common conditions leading to deprivation (according to Z. Matějček)
  •  extreme social isolation
  •  Institutional care, hospitalism
    • ad R. Spitz: anaclitic depression; stage of protest, despair, detachment
  • absence of a stable carer deprivation in the family
external factors related to the family situation:

parent loss, addiction, promiscuity, poor social situation (e.g. refugee), "overemployment" of parents, etc.

internal factors - personality of parents:

emotional immaturity, character immaturity, serious psychopathology, deprivation in parent´s childhood

 Children with increased sensitivity to deprivation: mental health problems and disorders, special needs (motor, sensory disorders, etc….)
Matějček´s typology of deprived children according to characteristic behavior and manifestations (high probability this will be in test)
  • Relatively positively adapted children:
 deprivation has led to attempts to adapt by appropriate means, to some autonomy and to finding sources of satisfaction in a socially acceptable way. Good adaptation may fail during changes - new conditions that the child is not used to and its underdeveloped ability to adapt  may not suffice these new situations
 
  • children with a direct increase in unsaturated needs:

Child manifests itself with maldaptive behavior in the area of the unsatisfacted need (attempts to attract attention, intrusiveness) or in general behavior (total restlessness, hyperactvity); commonly deprived needs are emotional and social, so the behavior is mostly targeted to fulfill these needs. On the other hand interst in school work is on decline; these children are noticeable  with both bad behavior and worse school performance (that does not match intelligence).

  •  children with a substitutive increase in the intensity of other tendencies:

manifested particularly by aggressiveness, opposition, destructive tendencies, explosions of anger, cruelty, increased nutritional needs…;

manifestations of primitive affects uncontrolled by anxiety and conscience.“

  • passive, apathetic, "attenuated“ type:

a group of symptoms of regressive nature (sucking finger, enuresis and encopresis, automatisms, anorexia); children are detached, reserved in attempts for contact, introverted, sometimes "strikingly nice and kind"; children seem silent and obedient, sometimes even frightened, infantile, indifferent to success and failure, without initiative, may even appear retarded in more severe cases

  • Socially hyperactive type:

In the context of a poorly stimulating environment, children try to seek the maximum supply of social incentives and to attract attention; but they do not know the stability of contact, emotional attachment, social interest is rather chaotically dispersed, communication and social behavior remain at a lower level.

  • Socially provocative type

The need for attention and contact is manifested in a disturbing or violent manner towards educators, or aggression towards other children (as competitors); children may appear defiant, "uncontrollable", but in individual contact with educator they may act as "exchanged" kind and affectionate. Later, they tend to get to unbearable life situations.

Text 1: How early experience Shapes Human Development: The case of Psychosocial Deprivation

Source:

Nelson III, C. A., Zeanah, C. H., & Fox, N. A. (2019). How early experience Shapes Human Development: The case of Psychosocial Deprivation. hindawi:Neural Plasticity, stránky 1-12.

Compulsory reading: pp. 1,2,5,6,8

Questions before Reading:

How would you describe psychosocial deprivation?

In what areas psychosocial deprivation negatively affects human development and future life? 


Questions after Reading:

What is critical and sensitive period?

What are the consequences of psychosocial deprivation on psychological health?

What are the consequences of psychosocial deprivation on neural development?

What are the consequences of psychosocial deprivation on socio-emotional behvaior?

How early experience Shapes Human Development The case of Psychosocial Deprivation
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Extremely interesting but optional and voluntary reading
Source: Kumsta, R., Kreppner, J., Kennedy, M., Knights, N., Rutter, M., & Sonuga-Barke, E. (2015). Psychological Consequences of Early Global Deprivation: An Overview of Findings From the English & Romanian Adoptees Study. European Psychologist, p.138-151.
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