This is a book about growing up - the process of development from the cradle to the coffin and all the life changes in between. It covers growth from infancy to adolescence and beyond including changes at puberty and responses to it, social relationships including attachment to parents and later to partners, family interaction, the development of language and intelligence, emotional development, psychosexual development, stress, aggression and work.

Twenty years have passed since "Maternal Deprivation" was first greeted with a storm of controversy. Some early views have been modified, but the basic proposition - that lack, loss or distortion of child care have a very important effect on psychological development - has received substantial support. In this book the author reviews the qualities of motherhood needed for the normal development and considers both short-term and long-term effects of maternal deprivation.