How do the experiences of the early separated and the early bereaved differ and to what extent do such differences affect outcome?

From a survey of 40- to 49-year-old women from Chichester, West Sussex, 45 were selected whose mothers died before they were aged 11, 38 who were evacuated from their mothers during the 1939–1945 War and 45 who were separated from their mothers for other reasons for at least a year before they were aged 10. A series of 69 non-mother-bereaved or non-mother-separated controls of similar age-range was also collected. Each subject was interviewed at home and asked to complete the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire, a modified Zung Depression Scale and the Navran Dependency Scale of the MMPI. There were significant differences between the groups in terms of place of birth, age of the mother at time of the initial break and size of the original sibship. Significantly more evacuees were cared for by foster mothers and significantly more of the “other” separations had a poor relationship with their natural mother. For all groups increased test scores were associated with lower parental social class and poor replacement care. Poor outcome was also associated with being later born for the early bereaved, having a poor relationship with the natural mother for the evacuees and being separated after age 4 for the “other” separations.