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Background: In captive colonies, owl monkeys' mothers sometimes reject their newborns. To prevent, mortality infants are manually raised by veterinarians. Both parental separation and rejection are stressful experiences, associated with elevated stress, physical, and behavioural disorders. The effect of parental deprivation in IVITA's owl monkeys stress profiles and health is unknown. Methods: We compared stress biomarkers such as hair cortisol (using cortisol ELISA), stereotypic behaviours (with infrared cameras), and infection histories in juveniles separated from parents soon after birth (n = 14, ~17 months) and controls (n = 11, ~17 months). Results: Parentally deprived owl monkeys show higher infection rates than controls (p = .001). However, they display no higher incidence of biomarkers of stress: Neither stereotypic behaviour nor cortisol in hair was different between cohorts. Irrespective of deprivation status, rates of infection, and concentration of cortisol in hair were positively associated (R² = .29, p = .005). Conclusion: Early parental deprivation and natural high levels of cortisol secretion are associated with elevated infection levels in the IVITA owl monkey juveniles detectable up to 17 months post separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the association between perceived material deprivation, children's behavior problems, and parents' disciplinary practices. The sample included 1,418 8- to 12-year-old children and their parents in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Multilevel mixed- and fixed-effects regression models found that, even when income remained stable, perceived material deprivation was associated with children's externalizing behavior problems and parents' psychological aggression. Parents' disciplinary practices mediated a small share of the association between perceived material deprivation and children's behavior problems. There were no differences in these associations between mothers and fathers or between high- and low- and middle-income countries. These results suggest that material deprivation likely influences children's outcomes at any income level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether childless older Thais are more vulnerable to psychological distress relative to older adults with children. Drawing from the 2011 Survey of Older Persons in Thailand (n = 37,936), zero‐inflated negative binomial regression methods examine psychological distress of childless older adults relative to coresident and noncoresident parents. Analyses further explore how gender and marital status moderate this relationship. Results show that 40% of older Thais did not experience any symptoms of psychological distress in the past month. Compared to coresident parents, noncoresident parents showed a higher likelihood of experiencing psychological distress but being childless was associated with increased symptoms of psychological distress. While the relationship between parental status and psychological distress did not significantly differ by gender, marital status presents a significant moderating effect. Specifically, widowed childless older adults and widowed noncoresident parents experienced more symptoms of psychological distress relative to their married counterparts. In collectivistic societies, where the family unit is highly valued, and institutional support is weak, being childless and unmarried may negatively affect one's psychological well‐being in later life. Children and marriage are protective for older Thais’ psychological well‐being. The implications for social welfare policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a concept of inequality comparisons with ordinal bivariate categorical data. In our model, one population is more unequal than another when they have common arithmetic median outcomes and the first can be obtained from the second by correlation-increasing switches and/or median-preserving spreads. For the canonical 2 × 2 case (with two binary indicators), we derive a simple operational procedure for checking ordinal inequality relations in practice. As an illustration, we apply the model to childhood deprivation in Mozambique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Over the past few decades, a large number of rural residents have migrated to cities in China and left their children behind. This study estimated how many 10- to 14-year-old children in rural Anhui drank alcohol and examined the association between parental migration and children's alcohol use.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in six cities in Anhui between July and August 2012. All participants had lived in the study villages for at least six months during the previous year and were interviewed face-to-face using a standardised questionnaire.Results: More than half (57%) of the 1367 subjects were left-behind children, 43% lived with both parents and 9.6% currently drank alcohol. When we controlled for other variables, the rate of alcohol use was statistically higher among left-behind children if both parents had migrated (14.0%) than among children living with both parents (7.8%) (p = 0.002). Boys, children with siblings and those with a poorer academic performance were more likely to drink.Conclusion: Children in rural China were more likely to drink if both their parents had migrated in search of work. School-based interventions could help to reduce alcohol use among rural left-behind children, especially boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth in U.S. incarceration rates during the 1980s and 1990s prompted a body of research focused on understanding the diverse effects of incarceration on individuals, families, and communities. An area of particular interest has been how the incarceration of a parent may affect child well-being. Despite what appears to be converging evidence that parental incarceration poses a significant threat to child development, this area of inquiry has yet to overcome important methodological and conceptual challenges related to selection bias. It is therefore unclear whether the difficulties that have been observed among children whose parents are incarcerated are due to the incarceration itself or to other adversities that children have experienced. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to these issues, to summarize empirical and conceptual progress in overcoming these challenges, and to suggest directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European countries, both the voluntary and the forced return of rejected asylum seekers are problematic. In the case of separated children, the difficulties seem to be even greater. In the Netherlands, many of these children disappear from the reception centres for unknown destinations, instead of returning to their home country. The new, stricter return policies adopted by the Dutch government in recent years have not (yet) changed this situation. In an explorative study of separated children aged between 15 and 18, the implementation and results of these policies were studied. The impact of the activities designed to promote voluntary return appeared to be very limited. Most separated young people did not want to consider return and did not take any action in this regard. Forced return rarely constituted a viable alternative. These findings may be explained by several factors. Among other things, considerations pertaining to personal security, family circumstances, and structural conditions in the countries of origin influence both the attitudes and behaviours of separated children, and host government policies. Moreover, many children were not willing to discuss their return with the youth care workers who were supposed to discuss and promote a voluntary return with them. The fact that most of the young people were allowed to stay in the reception centres until their eighteenth birthday enabled them to postpone making a final decision. A forced return was hindered by such obstacles as the absence of documents and the lack of appropriate care in the country of origin. More insight into the backgrounds of separated children and the (im)possibilities regarding their return seems necessary to be able to design more effective return policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A neurocognitive, developmental framework was used to examine the effectiveness of Early Head Start (EHS) programs. Evidence has shown that caregiver variables impact early brain development. This study aimed to better understand this relation. Results showed that the EHS program made no significant impact, and at 3 years old, children were significantly behind population norms in language development, partially replicating previous findings with children from poverty backgrounds. EHS and parental depression were significant predictors of language and cognitive stimulation; however, depression and stimulation, but not involvement in EHS, were significant predictors of vocabulary. Implications for EHS programs are discussed, such as addressing caregiver variables (e.g., depression) and increasing focus on services to expectant families. Future directions also are discussed, such as understanding how young children's stress, within the context of caregiver variables, is related to neurocognitive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined classifications of attachment in 42-month-old Romanian children (N = 169). Institutionalized since birth, children were assessed comprehensively, randomly assigned to care as usual (CAU) or to foster care, and compared to family-reared children. Attachment classifications for children in foster care were markedly different from those in the CAU. Importantly, children placed in foster care before 24 months were more likely to have secure attachments and if placed earlier were less likely to have disorganized or insecure-other attachments. Cognitive status predicted greater likelihood of organized attachment in the CAU and greater likelihood of secure attachment in the foster care and never-institutionalized groups. Foster care is an important intervention to reduce the adverse effects following early deprivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neurodevelopmental sequelae of early deprivation were examined by testing (N = 132) 8- and 9-year-old children who had endured prolonged versus brief institutionalized rearing or rearing in the natal family. Behavioral tasks included measures that permit inferences about underlying neural circuitry. Children raised in institutionalized settings showed neuropsychological deficits on tests of visual memory and attention, as well as visually mediated learning and inhibitory control. Yet, these children performed at developmentally appropriate levels on similar tests where auditory processing was also involved and on tests assessing executive processes such as rule acquisition and planning. These findings suggest that specific aspects of brain-behavioral circuitry may be particularly vulnerable to postnatal experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The Inattention/Overactivity/Impulsiveness (I/OA) behavioural cluster diagnostic of ADHD is recognized as a characteristic outcome of early institutional care. Methods We compared the symptom and neuropsychological profiles of children with a history of I/OA and early severe deprivation (D-I/OA: n = 13) with standard clinical ADHD cases (S-ADHD; N = 20) and children who had experienced deprivation but were not pervasively I/OA (ERA-controls; n = 22). The mean age of testing was around 13 years. D-I/OA and ERA-controls were selected from the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) study and had spent their early lives in the extremely depriving Romanian institutions of the Ceausescu regime and were later adopted into UK families. Results ADHD symptoms for male D-I/OA and S-ADHD cases showed marked similarities across symptom domains. In contrast, girls with D-I/OA were more similar to ERA controls than to ADHD cases. Longitudinal data suggested that this was due to a remission of symptoms in D-I/OA girls. Neuropsychological profiles of males and females with D-I/OA, however, were similar: both were more impaired than S-ADHD and ERA controls. Discussion Children with D-I/OA were more neuropsychologically impaired than S-ADHD despite the fact that only boys showed a persistent pattern of ADHD symptoms. These results need replication in a larger sample with groups matched for gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the reproductive traits of adults following a parent-child separation trauma during childhood. Members of the 1934 to 1944 Helsinki Birth Cohort in Finland were examined and asked whether a traumatic separation from both parents during childhood is associated with reproductive and marital status later in life, measured by age of onset of menarche, timing of menopause and period of fertile years.

Background: Previous studies have shown that maternal separation can be used in animal studies of early environmental influence on adult ethanol intake. These studies have shown that short daily separations result in low ethanol intake, whereas prolonged separations relate to an enhanced risk for a high ethanol intake. The aim of the present study was to further examine the long-term effects of early-life events on ethanol intake. Methods: Rat pups were exposed to 15 minutes (MS15) or 360 minutes (MS360) of daily maternal separation during postnatal days 1 to 21 or kept under normal animal facility rearing (AFR) conditions. In adulthood, male rats were given free access to 5, 10, and 20% ethanol, in addition to water, in a 4-bottle-choice paradigm. Results: No differences in total ethanol intake or preference between the 3 experimental groups were found. The 54-day drinking period was divided into acquisition, stabilization, and maintenance phases for analysis of time and group differences. The MS15 rats increased ethanol intake over time; they mostly consumed 5% ethanol and had a low intake of 20% ethanol throughout the experiment. MS360 rats increased ethanol intake, changed preference from 5% to 20% ethanol, and had a higher increase in intake of 20% ethanol over time. The ethanol intake and preference in the AFR rats were more similar to that of the MS360 rats. Conclusions: Time-dependent changes were observed in the preferred choice of low versus high ethanol concentrations in MS15 and MS360 rats. The results support previous findings suggesting that MS15 can be used as a model for environmental protective factors and that MS360 represents a risk environment for acquisition of a high adult ethanol intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the trends in parental time devoted to children in 16 industrialized countries using time-use survey data. Despite the time pressures that confront today's families, parents appear to be devoting more time to children than they did 40 years ago. Multivariate analysis of trends in parental time by type of activity revealed a significant increase in parental time devoted to children. A comparison of 1981 and 1997 U.S. data suggests that children are not spending less time with parents. In the case of two-parent families, today's children are in fact spending substantially more time with their parents than in 1981. Between 1961 and 1999, time spent on childcare by mothers in Great Britain has increased from 0.7 hour per day to 1.7, while for fathers it increased from 0.2 to 0.8 hour per day. Results also suggest that mothers continue to devote more time to childcare than fathers, but the gender gap has been reduced. The consistency of these results across countries suggests a global trend toward an increase in parental time investment in children.

Repeated separation from the family during very early stages of life is a stressful emotional experience which induces a variety of neuronal and synaptic changes in limbic cortical areas that may be related to behavioral alterations. First, we investigated whether repeated parental separation and handling, without separation from the family, leads to altered spontaneous exploratory behavior in a novel environment (open field test) in 8-day-old Octodon degus . Second, we tested whether the parentally deprived and handled animals display different stimulus-evoked exploratory behaviors in a modified open field version, in which a positive emotional stimulus, the maternal call, was presented. In the open field test a significant influence of previous emotional experience was found for the parameters of running, rearing, and vocalization. Parentally deprived degus displayed increased horizontal (running) and vertical (rearing) motoric activities, but decreased vocalization, compared to normal and handled controls. The presentation of maternal vocalizations significantly modified running, vocalization, and grooming activities, which in the case of running activity was dependent on previous emotional experience. Both deprivation-induced locomotor hyperactivity together with the reduced behavioral response towards a familiar acoustic emotional signal are similar to behavioral disturbances observed in human attachment disorders. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 42: 237–245, 2003. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The guinea pig is highly developed at birth and requires little active maternal care. Yet the mother and other social figures markedly influence biobehavioral processes of the offspring. Here, responses of guinea pigs and nonhuman primates to maternal and other social separation procedures are compared, and influences of social partners on endocrine responses and behavior in periadolescent guinea pigs are described. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 42: 225–236, 2003. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infant brain research is having an increasing impact on child psychotherapy and our understanding of the neurobiological effects of trauma and neglect. This paper outlines the 'experience-dependent' nature of brain development in infancy and the concept of critical periods in such development. The effects of deprivation on child development are illustrated and case material from a child who was institutionalized during his second year is used as a basis for posing questions about the nature of the mind and the brain. In spite of his deprivation, he was able to communicate imaginatively. Schore's proposal for the use of early interventions is put forward to counter discouragement that can be engendered by work with severely deprived children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the effects of early rearing experiences on the development of maternal behavior in Sprague-Dawley female rats. Pups from individual litters were assigned to four different groups on Day 3 of life. From days 4 to 20 of life, these were reared artificially, without mother and receiving minimal “licking-like” tactile stimulation (AR-MIN), or maximal stimulation (AR-MAX) or were reared with their mothers (MR-CONTROL and MR-SHAM). At 70–100 days all AR and MR animals were mated and then observed with their own offspring, culled to eight pups. After maternal testing open-field tests were conducted. The female offspring in these litters (all raised by their MR and AR mothers) were reared to adulthood and then observed interacting with their offspring. Results show that in adulthood AR mothers engaged in significantly fewer pup-retrievals and less pup-licking (genital and body), and crouching, but significantly more non-maternal tail-chasing, digging, and hanging/climbing. As well, they were more active in the open field. Comparisons between the two AR groups and the MR groups, showed that most of the differences were between the AR-MIN and MR groups, with the AR-MAX animals showing levels of behavior between the two, and differing from neither. Analyses of covariance indicated that early experience and adult emotional behavior both influence adult maternal behavior, but their effects are independent of one another. A cross-generational effect of artificial rearing was also found. Daughters of AR and MR mothers that were observed after the birth of their own litters in adulthood showed a pattern of behavior that mimicked the pattern shown by their mothers. These results are discussed in terms of the variety of possible behavioral, endocrine, and neurochemical mechanisms that mediate the effects of early experiences on adult maternal behavior. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 38: 11–32, 2001 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tests the hypothesis that psychological-mindedness is positively associated with adult perceptions of having grown up with rejecting or otherwise depriving or inadequate parents.

In order to test the hypothesis that elevated ratings of avoidance and classifications of insecure-avoidant attachments of infants with extensive infant day-care histories may be the result of the fact that children with routine experiences of separation are less stressed by, and more independent in, the Strange Situation than more traditionally reared infants, 2 groups of 12-month-old infants with insecure-avoidant attachments were compared on 2 behavioral indices in each reunion-with-mother episode of the Strange Situation. 9 infants experienced less than 20 hours per week of nonparental care in their first year, and 11 infants experienced 20 or more hours of care. Contrary to propositions advanced by Clarke-Stewart, Thompson, and others, insecure-avoidant infants with extensive nonparental care experience whimpered, fussed, and cried more and engaged in object play less in each reunion episode than their insecure-avoidant counterparts with less nonparental care experience. These results are discussed in terms of the recent controversy surrounding infant day-care in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Some rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) infants have a "despair" or depression-like response to mother-infant separation, while others do not. The presumed interrelation between early rearing conditions and the neurobiological status of the infant that might lead to increased risk for despair is not understood. In this study, the characteristics of the "mother" were controlled by rearing infant rhesus monkeys with their biological mothers, or with inanimate mothers. Behavioral data were collected before and after separation at 6-7 months of age. The neurobiological status of the infants was evaluated by measuring the concentration of norepinephrine, its major metabolite, and the metabolites of dopamine and serotonin in cerebrospinal fluid. The results suggest that despair is not simply a behavioral response to separation. Instead, despair may reflect the inability to cope with the separation environment. Coping with the separation environment appears to depend on neurobiological and behavioral characteristics of the infant that are related to, if not determined by, characteristics of the mother. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

80 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were observed before, during, and after separations from their mothers, who were attending conferences (M duration = 4 days). Half the sample was separated only once and the other half experienced 3 separations across a 6-month period. The study was designed: (a) to determine how separations affect children's behavior when there are no changes in the family constellation as there typically are during other separations, such as the birth of a new child, and (b) to determine the effects of repeated separations. Fewer changes in sleep and play behaviors suggested that this type of separation was less stressful than separations for the birth of another child. Nonetheless, the separations were still stressful, but principally for the single-separation group. In that group, changes were noted in both play and sleep behaviors. Following reunion, their sleep behaviors and more sophisticated play behaviors returned to baseline. However, activity level and the more insecure behaviors, such as wandering aimlessly, watching other children play, and interacting with their teachers, remained elevated following the mother's return. The multiple-separation group, in contrast, showed only 1 behavior change during their third separation, i.e., reduced interactions with their peers during the separation period, which returned to baseline following reunion. Repeated-measures analyses of the first and third separations of the multiple-separations group suggested that only the first separation was stressful. Thus, the infants and children in this study seemed to adapt to repeated separations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

LOLLIS, SUSAN P. Effects of Maternal Behavior on Toddler Behavior during Separation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1990, 61, 99-103. The influence of maternal preseparation behavior on children's separation behavior was investigated. 72 (36 female, 36 male) 15-18-month-olds met with same-gender age-mates for an 8-min play and 4-min separation session. During the play period, mothers were instructed to interact extensively or minimally with their children, or were given no instructions except to interact normally. The noninstructed group was later divided into an extensive and a minimal group. During the separation period, the effect of previous amount of maternal interaction varied according to mothers' instructions and the gender of the children. Children with mothers who were instructed to interact minimally displayed distress sooner and played less with their age-mates than children with noninstructed minimally interacting mothers. Males with minimally interacting mothers spent more time unoccupied and less time playing alone than did females. The findings demonstrate the varying influence that different instructions to mothers may have on children's separation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article tests the hypothesized detrimental effects of parental separation on academic achievement and academic self-concept using multivariate analysis of covariance in data from public school students in the seventh and ninth grades in Columbia, South Carolina. Every year, more than one million American children experience the divorce or separation of their parents, and the vast majority of these children subsequently live without the full-time presence of their biological fathers. Many studies have indicated that the vast majority of children and adolescents whose parents separate or divorce suffer extensive emotional pain and distress for a considerable period of time. Problems that may be associated with the emotional distress have been identified. Some investigators have found that adolescents whose parents have separated or divorced are more susceptible than others to peer pressures to engage in deviant behaviors, and that they actually engage in more deviant behavior than others. There is considerable evidence also that lower academic achievement of children and adolescents is related to parental divorce, a relationship that might also be mediated by emotional distress or by other mechanisms.

The children of Santa Ursula, a marginalised area of Mexico City, suffer extreme forms of deprivation both in terms of their material conditions and their social context. The author of this paper describes her study of the children and their mothers, using standard psychological tests. Acknowledging that these tests are culturally specific to the so called ‘developed’ world, the results are nonetheless interesting in that the administration of the tests produces as significant results as the tests themselves. The article emphasises that there are important lessons for those working with children in deprived and oppressed circumstances, in all parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prolonged (i.e., 24-hr) maternal deprivation leads to a marked disinhibition of the infant rat's adrenocortical response to stress and/or ACTH. In the following study we examined the time course over which these effects develop. Pups were maternally deprived for varying lengths of time (i.e., 0, 2, 4, 8, & 24 hr); at the end of this period, corticosterone (CORT) secretion in response to stress (novelty or novelty plus saline injection) and ACTH injection was measured. Basal levels of CORT increased progressively over time in 7- and 11- (but not 3-)-day-old pups. CORT release in response to stress followed a similar pattern. In contrast, ACTH injection resulted in marked increases in CORT levels regardless of the length of maternal deprivation in 3-day-old animals: at older ages, however, 24 hr of deprivation led to a much larger increase. These findings support the hypothesis that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis of the neonatal rat is subject to maternal regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A statistical profile using data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau is presented of those children and adolescents who were living apart from their parents, referred to in this report as "parent-absent children." Data obtained from the 1981 Current Population Report indicated that in 1980 2,295,000 or 3.7% of all unmarried noninstitutionalized children under 18 years of age were not living with either of their parents. A large majority of these children were living in families with some relative, usually their grandparents, and a minority were living outside of families in group quarters, such as boarding schools. The percentage of parent-absent children increased between 1975 and 1979, especially among black preteenagers. Possible reasons for parent absence are discussed, along with directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forty women and partners were interviewed separately about changes in parent-child interactions and other family relationships after the mother had returned to college study. Mothers reported spending less time with each child. However, both parents generally reported that, overall, their children were now receiving more and better parental contact and that there had been qualitative improvement in father-child relationships, in particular. Rather than be guided by some earlier more pessimistic research, counsellors and educators are encouraged to recognize that the benefits to older women of returning to study and to their families seem widespread and important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks into the reactions of mothers and children relative to the birth of a new baby. In conducting their study, a panel of child psychologists created a prescription for the story. It underlines the experience of an older child during the time when the second child is conceived, and ending with the birth and home-coming of the new baby. It was taken that during pregnancy, the older child has already experienced maternal deprivation, and that the older child has exhibited mixed emotions towards the arrival of the new baby.

Literature on maternal deprivation deals in part with institutional children. For this study hypotheses were formulated on the basis of social-psychological theory describing an institutional personality: specifically that inability to form reciprocal relationships, aggression, and apathy are inversely related to age at admission and directly related to length of stay in an institution. Data collected from residents of an institution for dependent children revealed a tendency toward the hypothesized personality variables in certain resident groups; however, there was no over-all conclusive support for the hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the question what is cultural deprivation and how does it act to shape and depress the resources of the human-mind? The arguments presented are first, that the behavior which leads to social, educational, and economic poverty is socialized in early childhood, second, that the central quality revolved in the effects of cultural deprivation is a lack of cognitive meaning m the mother-child communication system, and, third, that the growth of cognitive processes is fostered in famly control systems which offer and permit a wide range of alternatives of action and thought and that such growth is constricted by systems of control which offer predetermined solutions and few alternatives for consideration and choice The research group was composed of 160 Negro mothers and their 4-year-old chddren selected from four different social status levels The data are presented to show social status differences among the four groups with respect to cognitive functioning and linguistic codes and to offer examples of relations between maternal and child behavior that are congruent with the general lines of argument laid out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at immigrant children in the U.S., focusing on how they are affected by long-term separation from their families. The author comments on research conducted among Honduran, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran immigrant families on unaccompanied migrant children. The desire of immigrant children to reunite with their parents in the U.S. is discussed, noting instances where they do not receive adequate funds for care in their home countries or are neglected by their caretakers. The emotional aspects of being separated from parents, particularly mothers, are considered.

In this article, the author explains his interpretations of philosopher Orestes Brownson. In his study of Brownson, the author took, on the one hand, his childhood experiences and the emotional climate of his social environment and, on the other, his later affiliative career, and suggested that these two sets of data were fundamentally related. The author says that he has shown that Brownson's experience of parental deprivation, exacerbated by an unstable religious climate, exerted a decisive influence on his affiliations with religious groups. The author readily acknowledges that autobiographers impose on their narrative a logical coherence not evident to them at the time of the actual experiences. He is quite prepared to acknowledge, therefore, that Brownson's own interpretive schema is retrospective and partial. As sociologist Gordon W. Allport points out, the diary would be a more reliable document than the autobiography in this respect, because the former does not show the anachronistic fallacy of attributing to earlier years thought, feelings and interpretations appropriate only to the moment of writing.

The article presents the case of a 7-year old male patient who showed aggressive behavior due to separation anxiety from his parents. It states that the child shows temper tantrums every time his parents leave him in school and will not settle down until his parents will come. The school decided to ask the child's parents to stay at school for several periods to control the child's behavior.

The article offers information on maternal deprivation. Several studies of the effects of parent-child separation, most notably mother-child separation, are of great importance in psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, comparative psychology, and other disciplines that are concerned with the study of human behavior. Three major avenues in which the issues involved in maternal deprivation can be undertaken. These are the institutional approach, the cultural approach, and the animal approach.