The US administration's "zero tolerance" policy that led to more than 2,300 children being separated from their families in the first month of its implementation sparked widespread condemnation and outrage.
The Trump administration was forced to back down on this policy, signing an executive order that would ostensibly halt the practice of separating families at the border.
The executive order, however, did nothing to undo the damage already done nor reunite the thousands of children still forcibly separated from their parents.
One of the cruellest and most damaging things we can do to children is to deprive them of their primary caregivers. We know this intuitively and we know it from the tears and fears expressed by young children at the prospect of being separated from their loved ones.
Even relatively minor separations, like the first day at nursery, can be fairly traumatising for pre-schoolers and parents alike.
Alongside our intuition and common sense, decades of research have demonstrated the ill effects of depriving children of their parents or primary caregivers.
The hugely influential psychologist, child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby devoted his career to exploring the consequences of what he termed "maternal deprivation".
Writing in the 1950s, Bowlby concluded that “mother-love in infancy is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health”.
Bowlby studied children who had been separated from their families, cataloguing a host of problems he attributed to their experience of disrupted attachment.
These included physical consequences such as stunted growth (known as psychosocial short stature, or PSS) through to a whole spectrum of social, emotional and behavioural problems too.
Even relatively brief separations in early infancy were viewed as having physical and psychological consequences that might persist into adulthood.
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Read more from Justin Thomas:
Third culture kids are a by-product of globalisation – and that's no bad thing
Anthony Bourdain's tragic death shows depression has many faces
Hugging it out: why being touchy-feely can be good for you
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One of Bowlby’s collaborators, the celebrated developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth, took this work further.
Beyond case studies, Ainsworth went on to explore infant attachment styles in a laboratory setting. To do this, she established a procedure that became known as the “strange situation”.
The process involved briefly separating an infant from its primary caregiver (usually the mother) while a psychologist would surreptitiously observe the infant’s response to separation and reunion from behind a two-way mirror. The infant’s reactions were coded and catalogued as "attachment styles".
Ainsworth discovered that healthy, "secure" attachment styles in infants were associated with a consistency of care provided by the primary caregiver. Prolonged separation between infants and primary caregivers could lead to inconsistent care and therefore the development of "insecure" attachment styles or even attachment disorders.
Taking on the theories of Bowlby and Ainsworth, other psychologists have looked at how the links between attachment styles and relationships play out in adulthood.
While not set in stone, insecurely attached children tend to grow up to have insecure attachment styles in adulthood.
The opposite is true for securely attached infants, who tend to grow into adults who enjoy secure relationships, feel good about themselves and others and are compassionate and self-confident.
Secure attachment styles are associated with better coping methods and resilience across a range of stressful and adverse life events, from personal failures to relationship breakdowns and chronic pain.
Conversely, insecure attachment styles are associated with increased vulnerability and distress and are viewed as a trans-diagnostic risk factor for numerous psychological problems.
In short, we know that separating children from their families can have devastating and enduring implications for the individual, for their future relationships and for society as a whole.
We are aware that separating, or even threatening to separate, children from their loved ones provokes enormous amounts of anxiety and distress.
We know that when we deprive children of their caregivers, they might cry themselves to sleep, regress into bed-wetting and might even stop growing for a while as a result of PSS. We know all of this and have known it empirically for at least 50 years, so how could such a policy have been proposed and passed in the first place?
The reversal of the so-called zero-tolerance policy is great news. Greater news, however, would be assurances that the thousands of children separated from their families between April and June of this year will not suffer any lasting psychological consequences as a result of their inhumane ordeal.
Unfortunately, such assurances are not possible and all the children separated are not yet reunited with their parents.
One Honduran man, Marco Antonio Munoz, separated from his wife and three-year-old son at the US-Mexico border, reportedly took his own life inside a Texas jail last month. That is at least one family that, tragically, will never be fully reunited and a consequence that must never be repeated.
Dr Justin Thomas is professor of psychology at Zayed University and author of Psychological Well-Being in the Gulf States
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The specs: 2019 BMW i8 Roadster
Price, base: Dh708,750
Engine: 1.5L three-cylinder petrol, plus 11.6 kWh lithium-ion battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 374hp (total)
Torque: 570Nm (total)
Fuel economy, combined: 2.0L / 100km
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Premier Futsal 2017 Finals
Al Wasl Football Club; six teams, five-a-side
Delhi Dragons: Ronaldinho
Bengaluru Royals: Paul Scholes
Mumbai Warriors: Ryan Giggs
Chennai Ginghams: Hernan Crespo
Telugu Tigers: Deco
Kerala Cobras: Michel Salgado
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
more from Janine di Giovanni
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Super 30
Produced: Sajid Nadiadwala and Phantom Productions
Directed: Vikas Bahl
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Srivastav, Mrinal Thakur
Rating: 3.5 /5
Scorecard
Scotland 220
K Coetzer 95, J Siddique 3-49, R Mustafa 3-35
UAE 224-3 in 43,5 overs
C Suri 67, B Hameed 63 not out
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
HOW TO WATCH
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What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
