44 Juvenile Thieves Study, Bowlby (1944)

• What is the name of study and researcher?

  44 Juvenile Thieves Study, Bowlby (1944)
• Aim:

  To investigate the effects of maternal deprivation on a child’s social and emotional development.
• Method:

  Case study and Interviews. A control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often maternal deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves.
• Procedure:

  Bowlby analysed the case history of 88 patients from his clinic in London who were classified as emotionally unstable. He split the children into two groups: 44 had been caught stealing, 44 had not been caught stealing (control group). He was interested in whether or not they had experienced maternal deprivation and whether or not they were ‘affectionless psychopaths’. Affectionless psychopaths: are individuals who lack affection, shame and responsibility for their actions. These characteristics could enable someone to become a thief.
• Results:

  Almost none of the control group had experienced deprivation whereas 39% of the 44 thieves had. These separations often saw the children placed in foster homes and hospitals with very rare visits from family members.

  Bowlby found that 86% (12/14) of the children who had been diagnosed as Affectionless Psychopaths had experienced frequent early separation from their mothers (deprivation).
• Conclusion:

  These findings suggest that early separations are linked to affectionless psychopathy and have a negative impact on a child’s emotional development.