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John Bowlby was a prominent psychologist whose theories on child development, such as maternal deprivation theory, greatly influenced views and practice on the care of children. He believed that delinquent behaviour could be attributed to separation or lack of emotional connection to the mother during critical stages of development in childhood. Bowlby conducted a classic study investigating the effects of prolonged maternal separation on juvenile delinquency, known as the 44 Juvenile Thieves Study.
Mother and child, freepik.com
To test the theory of maternal deprivation affecting children's emotional and social development, Bowlby investigated 44 juvenile thieves, comparing them to 44 control children (those at risk of emotional issues but had not committed crimes yet).
The concepts of the study were based on Bowlby's idea of monotropy and how an inadequate monotropic relationship could affect emotional and social development.
Monotropy is the innate need for a child to develop an attachment to one primary caregiver/attachment figure.
Bowlby's 44 thieves study aimed to investigate whether prolonged maternal separation led to juvenile delinquency in children. According to the author, this would aid the establishment of a cause and effect relationship.
The participants were children who had been referred to the London Child Guidance Clinic. There were two groups; one group had been brought to the clinic for stealing (juvenile thieves group), and children in the control group had emotional disturbances but did not steal.
There were 44 children in each group, so 88 in total.
The age range for both groups was 5-16.
The average intelligence for both groups was above that of the general population. Almost one-third of both groups had exceptionally high intelligence.
On their arrival at the clinic, a child was given mental tests to assess their intelligence and how they approached the tests emotionally. A social worker took a preliminary psychiatric examination of the child. The psychiatrist received these results and interviewed the child and their mother to establish their history.
The team then looked at all the information gathered, plus any school or other relevant reports. Finally, a diagnosis was made for the child.
In many cases, researchers conducted further interviews in which the child received psychotherapy and the mother talked about her problems with a social worker. This provided more information, indicating the mother's emotional state.
Bowlby then interviewed the child and mother himself.
The juvenile thieves were divided into six character types. The table below presents the character types and the number of children diagnosed with each type.
Character Type | Description | Number of children |
Normal | Appear fairly normal and stable | 2 |
Depressed | Children who have been unstable, now depressed | 9 |
Circular | These children are unstable and alternate between being depressed and over-activity | 2 |
Hyperthymic | Children who are inclined to over-activity | 13 |
Affectionless | Lack of normal affection, shame, or sense of responsibility | 14 |
Schizoid | Pronounced schizoid or schizophrenic symptoms | 4 |
Let us take a closer look at the 'affectionless' character type, as this is a crucial character type for the findings. Bowlby (1944) distinguished the affectionless type by their 'remarkable lack of affection or warmth of feeling for anyone.'
These children typically spent time alone, a few socialised with other children, but they had no real emotional ties to them, no sense of friendship. These children changed acquaintances often.
Bowlby found that 12 of the affectionless children had prolonged separations (defined in this study as six months or longer) from their mothers or motherly figures before the age of 5. In total, 17 children in the juvenile thieves group experienced prolonged separations.
In comparison, two children in the control group had experienced this kind of separation.
Example of prolonged separation from one of the 'affectionless' children.
Betty I, aged 5.7:
Oldest of four children, the others being four and a half, three and a half, and two. Lived with her mother and stepfather. When she was seven months old, her mother, who was pregnant again, discovered her husband was married to someone else. They parted ways, and her mother got married again quickly.
Betty lived in a series of foster homes from when she was seven months old until she was five years old when she went home.
Bowlby found a correlation between affectionless character and stealing. Also, children with this character type were likely to steal more often and in a more serious way than children with other character types.
The important point about prolonged separations is that these children had been separated from their mothers or motherly figures when attachments had already formed. In a majority of the cases, there were many replacements of the child's caregivers. Bowlby diagnosed those children with 'affectionless psychopathy.'
Bond and attachment between mother and child, freepik.com
Prolonged maternal separation is a prominent factor in juvenile delinquency, as those showing affectionless psychopathy display emotional and social development issues. This can lead to juvenile delinquency later on in life. Diagnosis and treatment are relevant, but prevention is of the utmost importance.
The ethics of the study can be questioned for several reasons:
Let us take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the study.
Bowlby's 44 thieves study was an experiment conducted in a controlled setting (London Child Guidance Clinic), where they collected interview and observation data.
Bowlby's 44 thieves study aimed to investigate whether prolonged maternal separation led to juvenile delinquency in children.
The forty-four juvenile thieves was a study carried out to test how maternal deprivation affects children's emotional and social development.
Bowlby found in the forty-four juvenile thieves study that prolonged maternal separation is a prominent factor in juvenile delinquency. Children separated from their mothers for a long period displayed emotional and social development issues and juvenile delinquency.
The participants were all children who had been referred to the London Child Guidance Clinic. There were two groups of children; a juvenile thieves group and a control group who had emotional disturbances but did not steal. The children were aged 5-16.
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