methodology

• • Bowlby noticed that 9/10 criminal cases the charge is theft - furthermore, a large amount of convicted thieves are young people.
  • Bowlby argued that the cause of this delinquent behaviour was seperation from the mother.
• • Bowlby used a series of case studies in order to conduct his correlational research
  • this data was also gathered through intelligence tests, clinical interviews and content analysis of reports.
• • Bowlby studied 44 children who had attended his child guidance clinic in London
  • these children all had a history with stealing, but only a few had been charged with this due to age
• sample


  • 31 boys 13 girls, ranging in ages from 5-17
  • were graded in terms of the seriousness of their stealing - 22 were Grade VI thieves, and 4 were Grade I thieves (only committed one theft)
  • in terms of IQ, 15 had a high IQ, 27 had an average IQ, and 2 had a low IQ
  • the control group consisted of 44 children with similar ages and IQ.
  • they were also emotionally disturbed but did not steal.
  • the mothers of all 88 children were also involved in the study and were interviewed to assess the case histories of the children
• Bowlby used an opportunity sample based around those who attended his own clinic