findings

• Bowlby distinguished between 6 main personality types in order to properly diagnose each child


  • normal
  • depressed
  • circular
  • hyperthymic
  • affectionless - children who lack normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility
  • schizoid
• having identified a group of 14 affectionless children, 12 of which had experienced frequent separation from their mothers, Bowlby noticed a very clear pattern in terms of delinquency. 


  • Betty I - spent a lot of time in foster care before returning home aged 5
  • Derek B - who spent 9 months in hospital unvisited by his parents at 18 months old
• in total, 17 thieves had experienced early seperation
• of the remaining 27, Bowlby noted that 17 had anxious, domineering or oppressive mothers and 5 had fathers who openly hated them
• however, these experiences were also reported by the control groups, so they may be linked to emotional problems rather than delinquency