Young children in brief separation. A fresh look

Children with serious illness: behavioral correlates of separation and isolation

The deleterious effects of separation have been demonstrated in experimental animal studies and in naturalistic case studies of children. In this study extensive observational and physiological records were obtained on four preschool children who were receiving chemotherapy for childhood cancer. The findings generally parallel those reported in the subhuman primate literature. The children's behavior followed a sequence of agitation followed by behavioral depression. The findings underscore the seriousness of parent-child separation and the need to develop intervention strategies to ameliorate these deleterious effects.

Separation experiences: a new look at an old topic

Research findings on the effects of separation are reviewed. Children of working mothers develop as well as those whose mothers remain at home. The effects of day care for very young children depend very much on the quality of care provided. Admission to hospital is stressful for preschool children through separation from the family, lack of opportunity to form new attachments, a strange environment, and disturbed parent-child relationships on return home; recurrent hospital admissions may have long-term sequelae, especially in children under chronic stress. An institutional upbringing need not impair cognitive development, but multiple rotating caretakers are likely to interfere with social development. Broken homes are associated with psychiatric disorder only in so far as they reflect family discord and disharmony. Bereavement is most likely to lead to prolonged grief reactions in older children and adolescents. Forced separations of mother and infant in the neonatal period may damage parent-child relationships. Many mechanisms are involved in these different experiences, and in only a few is the separation itself the main stress.

Interactions of pharmacological agents which alter biogenic amine metabolism and depression--an analysis of contributing factors within a primate model of depression

The observation that the biogenic amine depleting agent, reserpine, could induce severe depression in a small proportion of the patients treated with it has proved to be seminal finding in what is now a much larger field of research relating the function brain biogenic amine systems to emotions and behavior. A review of the human reserpine literature suggests, however, that factors other than pharmacologically produced alterations in brain biogenic amine metabolism must have been critical determinants of the eventual mood alterations observed in conjunction with reserpine treatment. While some of these factors, such as previous history of depression, ongoing psychosocial and environmental stress, can be intuitively identified, there are practical as well as ethical problems involved in actually testing the relative contribution of these factors in precipitating human depression and thereby determining their importance in a quantitative fashion. In the present paper we have attempted to examine, in a nonhuman primate model of depression, the degree to which factors such as prior rearing condition, repeated peer separation, and housing environment can intact with the behavioral effects produced by biogenic amine depleting agents. Major emphasis will be placed on studies utilizing alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine, an inhibitor of tyrosine hydroxylase, to ostensively reduce levels of the catecholamine neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine. The results of these studies provide quantitative estimates, in terms of dose-effect relationships, of the degree to which a number of factors can combine to produce despair-like behavior in rhesus monkeys. These data may be of practical importance in evaluating the contribution of similar factors to the precipitation of human depression. Analysis of some of the existing literature relating alterations in behavior to changes in biogenic amine metabolism in animals suggests that there are important differences between rodent and primate species. These differences, when fully established, may indicate that additional research examining the mechanisms whereby modest alterations in biogenic amine metabolism can interact with environmental and social stress is needed.

Some factors influencing the effects of temporary mother-infant separation: some experiments with rhesus monkeys

Some experiments, reported in detail elsewhere, on the effects of mother-infant separation in rhesus monkeys are here reviewed and compared. They involved 4 groups--one in which mothers were removed for 13 days leaving the infant in the social group; one in which infants were removed; one in which mothers and infants were removed and separated; and one in which mothers and infants were removed but not separated. The nature of separation experience had a profound effect on the infant's response: infants left in a familiar environment while their mothers were removed showed marked but brief 'protest' and then profound 'despair', whilst infants removed to a strange cage showed more prolonged 'protest'. A major factor determining the effects of the separation experience in the weeks following reunion is the degree to which the mother-infant relationship has been disturbed by it. The multiplicity of factors affecting the outcome of a separation experience are discussed.

Mother-infant separation and the nature of inter-individual relationships: experiments with rhesus monkeys

During the late fifties the extent to which a period of separation from the mother figure could have adverse effects on the development of a human child was a matter of some dispute. While some psychiatrists and paediatricians held that the consequences could be severe (see for example, Bowlby 1951, 1958; Ainsworth 1962), their views were based largely on clinical and retrospective evidence, and conflicted with established medical and social practice. Since controlled experiments with human subjects were out of the question on ethical grounds, we decided to see what progress could be made with rhesus monkeys. It was apparent from the start that the consequences of a separation experience could not be studied in isolation - it was, for instance, necessary for us to do some initial work on processes of intraspecific communication in rhesus monkeys, and on how the mother-infant relationship develops. Some of this work was reviewed previously (Hinde & Spencer-Booth 1968). As the work progressed it became apparent that ( a ) the consequences of a separation experience vary with the nature of the mother-infant relationship, and ( b ) that the nature of the mother-infant relationship varies with the social situation. Furthermore, a number of conceptual issues arose in the course of the work, such as precisely what one means by a ‘relationship’, and how the important but somewhat intangible ‘natures’ or ‘qualities’ of relationships could be assessed and compared in a hard-headed manner. The aim of this paper is not to review the current state of the evidence bearing on any one of these problems, but rather to demonstrate, from the work of one laboratory, how the various problems are inter-related.

Infant day care as a treatment intervention: a follow-up comparison study

Three-year-old children who had been in an infant day care treatment program were compared with matched normal children who were entering regular day care for the first time at age 3, to evaluate the effects of early day care intervention. All children were assessed on general pathology, play, socialization, and separation variables in arrival, play, and mealtime situations and were naturalistically observed in the day centers. No significant differences between groups were found on any of the variables within situations or across situations, supporting the hypothesis that the treatment intervention supported major positive emotional developments and that the early separations were not detrimental in effect. Significant differences between the two groups on clusters of variables suggest patterns in coping and disturbance style specific to the control group and significantly different from the day care group.