- Email: [email protected]
The first year of life: Psychological and medical implications of early experience
Early Human Development, 1980, 412, 197-200 Q Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press
197
BOOK REVIEWS
The First Year of Life: Psychological and Medical Implications of Early Experience DAVID SHAFFER and JUDY DUNN (eds.) John Wiley & Sons, Chichester-New York-Brisbane-Toronto, 1979 $11.80 In entitling their book ‘The First Year of Life’, the editors invite comparison with the book published under the same title by Renee Spitz in 1965; and their well-known scepticism about the psychoanalytically derived views put forward by Spitz implies a challenge to the received ideas stemming from his work in the light of more recent ideas and data. It is therefore noteworthy that in their Introduction they at least hint that the analysts may have been right after all and that, contrary to the opinion of Popper and his disciples, some hypotheses in this field generated by psychoanalytic work have proved to be susceptible to validation (or refutation) by reference to observable and recordable phenomena in the behaviour of babies. The book is made up of 11 chapters which, with the Preface and Introduction and an adequate index, make up some 221 pages. In this context it is noteworthy that Professor Rutter’s preface is noncommittal, though presumably the book has his blessing. Chapter I by Packer and Rosenblatt is a careful review of the available literature dealing with the study of social behaviour in the first week of life, which essentially involves interaction between mothers and babies. Chapter II by Martin Richards deals with the effects on development of medical interventions that are shown to offend against the fundamental principle of primum non nocere by interfering with the facilitating environment that Winnicott thought so important in the first weeks of life. Chapter III is essentially a follow-up study of the children previously described by Dr. Prechtl, and represents something of a disclaimer in that it has largely failed to show correlations between states at birth and later behaviour. Chapter IV, on the first year of life, by Judy Dunn, deals with the question of ‘continuities in individual differences’ and again largely comprises a careful review of the available literature, which seems to suggest that temperamental differences noteworthy soon after birth are reflected in later intelligence and to some extent behaviour. Chapter V, on intentional behaviour in young infants, by Newson, is a short essay on mothering as a skill, emphasising the training of babies into behaviour patterns initiated by
198
their mothers. Dr. Bentovim in Chapter VI reviews the psychoanalytic literature in extenso, and makes suggestions about how it fits in with work derived from other standpoints. Drs. Blur-ton-Jones, Woodson and Chisholm deal in Chapter VII with cross-cultural perspectives derived in part from work in the field of social anthropology, mentioning interesting work on the relationship between high maternal blood pressure in pregnancy and arousability in new-born babies. This chapter is mainly a critique of method, and includes a very useful set of references as well as a misprint (boast for boost) on page 130. Chapter VIII is the almost inevitable contribution from the Clarkes, setting out their reasons for believing that early experience has only very limited effects on later development - a view that appears to be based on a number of anecdotes concerning children who have survived very bad early experiences relatively unscathed. It should at least encourage optimism in those responsible for the management of such cases. Chapter IX by Hall, Pawly and Wolkind provides something of a corrective to this view, and makes it clear that even if babies have nine psychological lives a bad environment may result in the loss of 8 of them. In Chapter X, Oliver Jones deals with the special case of mother-child communication when the baby is a mongol, and provides some evidence that such babies do differ from normal infants in the first year of life in their behaviour. Barbara Tizard in the last chapter rehearses her experience of babies separated from their natural parents and subsequently adopted, restored or looked after in nurseries. This makes it clear that these different environments do have the expected effects on the observable behaviour of the children concerned later on in their childhood, albeit, as the Clarkes imply, that most children can survive a good deal of deprivation with intact personalities. The overall impression given by this very disparate set of authors, themes and treatments is what common sense would lead one to expect, i.e. that neither nurture nor nature is all important, that most children have an impetus towards normal healthy development which is difficult to thwart, and that the ordinary good parent is very important in ensuring that the casualties of child-rearing are reduced to a minimum. There are lessons in the book for those who make decisions about the care of children, whether in the community, in children’s units, in hospital, in school and nursery school, in children’s homes and, not least, in Courts of Law. It should be read by all who have responsibilities for children in these different spheres of administration as well as by those who are interested in childhood for its own sake. This reviewer was left with the feeling that the time is now ripe for the reconciliation of what may once have appeared to be mutually exclusive views of childhood, with the use of statistical data for the validation or refutation of hypotheses derived from more personal kinds of study rather than as a source of knowledge in their own right. Perhaps in the very long run we may even get back to a developmental rather than a pragmatic and empirical psychiatry. JOHN A. DAVIS
197
BOOK REVIEWS
The First Year of Life: Psychological and Medical Implications of Early Experience DAVID SHAFFER and JUDY DUNN (eds.) John Wiley & Sons, Chichester-New York-Brisbane-Toronto, 1979 $11.80 In entitling their book ‘The First Year of Life’, the editors invite comparison with the book published under the same title by Renee Spitz in 1965; and their well-known scepticism about the psychoanalytically derived views put forward by Spitz implies a challenge to the received ideas stemming from his work in the light of more recent ideas and data. It is therefore noteworthy that in their Introduction they at least hint that the analysts may have been right after all and that, contrary to the opinion of Popper and his disciples, some hypotheses in this field generated by psychoanalytic work have proved to be susceptible to validation (or refutation) by reference to observable and recordable phenomena in the behaviour of babies. The book is made up of 11 chapters which, with the Preface and Introduction and an adequate index, make up some 221 pages. In this context it is noteworthy that Professor Rutter’s preface is noncommittal, though presumably the book has his blessing. Chapter I by Packer and Rosenblatt is a careful review of the available literature dealing with the study of social behaviour in the first week of life, which essentially involves interaction between mothers and babies. Chapter II by Martin Richards deals with the effects on development of medical interventions that are shown to offend against the fundamental principle of primum non nocere by interfering with the facilitating environment that Winnicott thought so important in the first weeks of life. Chapter III is essentially a follow-up study of the children previously described by Dr. Prechtl, and represents something of a disclaimer in that it has largely failed to show correlations between states at birth and later behaviour. Chapter IV, on the first year of life, by Judy Dunn, deals with the question of ‘continuities in individual differences’ and again largely comprises a careful review of the available literature, which seems to suggest that temperamental differences noteworthy soon after birth are reflected in later intelligence and to some extent behaviour. Chapter V, on intentional behaviour in young infants, by Newson, is a short essay on mothering as a skill, emphasising the training of babies into behaviour patterns initiated by
198
their mothers. Dr. Bentovim in Chapter VI reviews the psychoanalytic literature in extenso, and makes suggestions about how it fits in with work derived from other standpoints. Drs. Blur-ton-Jones, Woodson and Chisholm deal in Chapter VII with cross-cultural perspectives derived in part from work in the field of social anthropology, mentioning interesting work on the relationship between high maternal blood pressure in pregnancy and arousability in new-born babies. This chapter is mainly a critique of method, and includes a very useful set of references as well as a misprint (boast for boost) on page 130. Chapter VIII is the almost inevitable contribution from the Clarkes, setting out their reasons for believing that early experience has only very limited effects on later development - a view that appears to be based on a number of anecdotes concerning children who have survived very bad early experiences relatively unscathed. It should at least encourage optimism in those responsible for the management of such cases. Chapter IX by Hall, Pawly and Wolkind provides something of a corrective to this view, and makes it clear that even if babies have nine psychological lives a bad environment may result in the loss of 8 of them. In Chapter X, Oliver Jones deals with the special case of mother-child communication when the baby is a mongol, and provides some evidence that such babies do differ from normal infants in the first year of life in their behaviour. Barbara Tizard in the last chapter rehearses her experience of babies separated from their natural parents and subsequently adopted, restored or looked after in nurseries. This makes it clear that these different environments do have the expected effects on the observable behaviour of the children concerned later on in their childhood, albeit, as the Clarkes imply, that most children can survive a good deal of deprivation with intact personalities. The overall impression given by this very disparate set of authors, themes and treatments is what common sense would lead one to expect, i.e. that neither nurture nor nature is all important, that most children have an impetus towards normal healthy development which is difficult to thwart, and that the ordinary good parent is very important in ensuring that the casualties of child-rearing are reduced to a minimum. There are lessons in the book for those who make decisions about the care of children, whether in the community, in children’s units, in hospital, in school and nursery school, in children’s homes and, not least, in Courts of Law. It should be read by all who have responsibilities for children in these different spheres of administration as well as by those who are interested in childhood for its own sake. This reviewer was left with the feeling that the time is now ripe for the reconciliation of what may once have appeared to be mutually exclusive views of childhood, with the use of statistical data for the validation or refutation of hypotheses derived from more personal kinds of study rather than as a source of knowledge in their own right. Perhaps in the very long run we may even get back to a developmental rather than a pragmatic and empirical psychiatry. JOHN A. DAVIS