Bowlby’s study of 44 Juvenile Thieves

• Bowlby's study of 44 Juvenile Thieves

  Illustrates the maternal deprivation theory
• Procedure

  1. The sample consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing

  2. All 'thieves' were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy

  3. Their families were interviewed to establish whether the 'thieves' had prolonged early separation from their mothers

  4. A control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often maternal separation/deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves
• It was concluded that prolonged separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy
• 𝓢𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓽𝓱𝓼:

  Supporting research - Levy et al. Found that if rats were separated for even a day, there was a permanent effect on their social development.
• 𝓛𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓽𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼:

  • Researcher bias - Bowlby was very subjective as he carried out the research himself for the interviews.
  • Conflicting research - Lewis found the opposite results to Bowlby, no links between criminality and maternal deprivation.
  • Conflicting research - Koluchova found that damage after deprivation isn’t inevitable and can be reversed if the child is placed in the right home.
  • Conflicting research - Rutter Said that Bowlby was wrong as he was confusing deprivation for privation.