Bowlby (1944) The 44 Juvenile thieves

Question 1

Method

Answer 1

• Case studies completed on the backgrounds of 44 adolescents who had been referred to the clinic where Bowlby worked because they’d been stealing,
• There was a control group of 44 ‘emotionally disturbed’ children who didn’t steal.

Question 2

Results

Answer 2

• 17 of the thieves had experienced frequent separations from their mothers before the age of two, compared with 2 in the control group,
• 14 of the thieves were diagnosed as ‘affectionless psychopaths’,
• 12 of these 14 had experienced separation from their mothers.

Question 3

Conclusion

Answer 3

• Deprivation of the child from its main carer early in life can have very harmful long-term consequences.

Question 4

Evaluation

Answer 4

• Results indicate a link between deprivation and criminal behaviour; can’t be said one causes the other,
• May be other factors that caused the criminal behaviour,
• Case studies provide a lot of detailed information, study relied on retrospective data; may be unreliable.