Bowlby (1944) Forty-four juvenile thieves: their characters and home-life.

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Bowlby (1944) Forty-four juvenile thieves: their characters and home-life.

Example exam questions:

Describe the methodology and procedures [of the study] (10 marks)

Describe the findings + conclusions [of the study] (10 marks)

Evaluate the methodology [of the study] (10 marks)

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Methodology

Case Study with control group

Looking at child thieves and separation

Clinic in London - everyone there had been referred for emotional problems

44 Children thieves, 31 Boys, 13 Girls

5 - 17 years old

Graded in terms of seriousness; Grade IV (22) Long time stealing, Grade I (4) only one theft

Mostly average intelligence

44 Controls, similar in age, sex and IQ

Emotionally disturbed but didn't steal

Mothers of all children interviewed also to assess the case histories

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Procedures

Opportunity sample

IQ & Emotional attitude noted

Mothers interviewed by social worker

Psychologist & Social worker reported to Bowlby

Bowlby interviews child and mother

Weekly meetings over 6 months, problems diagnosed

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Findings

Came up with six main personality types:

Normal

Depressed

Circular (alternating depression & overactivity)

Hyperthymic (over-activity)

Affectionless

Schizoid (children who showed schizophrenic symptoms)

Of the 44 thieves, 14 were classified as affectionless

Of the 14 classified, 12 had experienced frequent separations from their mothers

Example = Derek B. At age 18 months was hospitalised. He stayed there for nine months and, during that time, was not visited by his parents.

Separations were very rare among the other classifications (There were 30 non-affectionless thieves, only three of whom had experienced separations.)

Of 44 controls only 2 had prolonged separations

Also worth noting of the remaining 27 thieves

17 had mothers who were anxious, irritable, rigid (etc.)

5 had fathers who hated them openly

- May explain the emotional problems but NOT delinquency as controls reported the above too.

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Conclusions

Early childhood experiences are of vital importance in later development

Children would not have become offenders f they had not had these bad experiences

Damage to the mother-child relationship affects the development of the superego - leading to a reduced sense of right and wrong

Treatment should be offered to delinquents, however the process is slow

Prevention rather than treatment

"However if all of those people who advise on the upbringing of small children, not least among them doctors, were aware of the appalling damage which separations of this kind have on the development of a child’s character, many could be avoided and many of the most distressing cases of chronic delinquency prevented."