Aims
To test the maternal deprivation hypothesis which associated early separation with a risk of behavioural disorders, especially affectionless psychopathy.
Procedures
The study was carried out at the London Child Guidance Clinic from 1936-1939. Bowlby gathered various different kinds of data using interviews, case studies and psychological testing to try and look for patterns in the backgrounds of young people at the clinic, to try and distinguish why some would become delinquent.
44 cases were studied and there was a control group of 44 other children who weren’t thieves but attended the clinic. They were matched for age and intelligence with the 44 thieves, but were also maladjusted.
There were various way that a child was assess when they first came into the clinic. A psychologist carried out psychological tests to assess intelligence and also undertook an assessment of the child’s emotional attitudes towards the test. A social worker took down the psychiatric history of the child as well.
The social worker and psychologist gave reports to Bowlby who then the interviewed the mother and the child. A case conference followed and a diagnosis was formed. Often more interviews followed this, along with psychotherapy and the mother talking further to the social worker.
Only a few cases were studies because of the depth of detail in information needed. Bowlby admitted that more studies were needed to substantiate the findings of his study.
Results
Bowlby separated the children into 6 groups: normal, depressed, circular, hyperthermic, affectionless and schizoid. The main category that he was interested in was those who fitted the affectionless group.
14 of the 44 thieves had an affectionless personality meaning they lacked affection or warmth of feeling for anyone. They had been seen to be this way since childhood. The children in this group lied, stole, had no sense of loyalty, emotional ties or friendship. There were no affectionless characters in the control group.
Out of the 14 affectionless thieves, 86% had experienced early and prolonged separation with only 17% of the other 30 delinquents. Only 4% of the control group had.
Conclusion
Bowlby linked the affectionless character with a lack of attachment and some strong emotional loss in childhood. The findings suggest a link between early separation and later social and emotional maladjustment. In its most severe form maternal deprivation leads to emotionless psychopathy.
Evaluating Bowlby (1944): 44 thieves
The applications of his study are good because they recognise the causes which could lead to earlier/better intervention and potential ways that could help people.
There is validity in the findings because the data gathered as in depth, detailed and both qualitative and quantitative. The data also came from a number of different sources and was collected by people of different professions.
The matched control of similar children offers comparison which strengthens the results. Because of the strong controls it means that it is replicable so it can be tested for reliability. However because of the numbers of case histories and psychotherapy being suited to the individual it is not entirely replicable.
There are issues with validity as well. Bowlby overlooked areas of interest such as the relationship with the father and relatives as well as experiences at school. The data on separation was collective retrospectively and so it might not have been recalled accurately.
All of the children studied had problems in their lives, even the control group. Bowlby admitted that he would have liked a control group of children without problems in their lives. Also all the children were from the same clinic and this means that it cannot be generalised to the wider population.