BOWLBY (1944): 44 juvenile thieves

AIM
1. To test the maternal deprivation hypothesis
2. Are frequent separations during early childhood associated with the risk of affectionless psychopathy disorder?
  1. Affectionless psychopaths have no sense of shame or guilt and lack a social conscience
PROCEDURES
1. 88 children ages 5 to 16 who had been referred to a child guidance clinic
  1. 44 children referred to clinic due to stealing (thieves)
    1. 16 were identified as affectionless psychopaths
  2. Other 44 children had not committed any crimes
    1. Were emotionally maladjusted but did not display antisocial behaviours
    2. None were diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths
2. Interviewed the children and their families
  1. Created a record of their early childhood experiences
FINDINGS
1. 86% of the 16 affectionless psychopaths had experienced early and prolonged separations from mothers
2. Only 17% of the other 28 (the thieves not identified as affectionless psychopaths) had experienced early and prolonged maternal separations
3. Only 4% of the 44 control group had experienced frequent early separations
CONCLUSIONS
1. Suggests a link between early separations and later social and emotional maladjustment
2. Maternal deprivation can lead to antisocial behaviour and affectionless psychopathy
3. Findings support maternal deprivation hypothesis
EVALUATION
1. Correlational evidence
  1. Only suggests a link between deprivation/separation and affectionless psychopathy
  2. Not a causal relationship - cannot say that frequent early separations causes emotional maladjustment
2. Data collected retrospectively
  1. Not reliable
  2. Memory inaccuracies
    1. Separations, frequencies and other experiences may not have been recalled accurately

Next up

BOWLBY (1944): 44 juvenile thieves

Description

Resource summary

Similar

	Created by moeingthelawn about 11 years ago