Forty Four Juvenile Thieves

Bowlby's 1944 Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves: Characters and Home Life

Bowlby conducted a classic study investigating the effects of prolonged maternal separation on juvenile delinquency, known as the 44 Juvenile Thieves Study. 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.

Figure 1: How a mother interacts with her child influences their child's later behaviour.

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.

Bowlby Maternal Deprivation

Bowlby hypothesised that disruptive and poor-quality attachment styles between infants and their primary caregivers could result in later social, cognitive, emotional and behavioural problems.

Bowlby provided evidence of his theory in his 44 juvenile thieves study.

Bowlby's 1944 Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves: Conducting the study

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 participants in total were recruited, and the age range for both groups was 5-16 years old.

• In the juvenile thieves group, there were 31 boys and 13 girls.
• In the control group, there were 34 boys and 10 girls.

Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves: Study Procedure

Upon arrival at the clinic, a child was given mental tests to assess their intelligence and how they emotionally approached the tests. 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 the mother himself.

Bowlby 44 Thieves: Findings

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.

Let's take a closer look at the 'affectionless' character type, as this is crucial for the findings.

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 experienced this separation.

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 most cases, there were many replacements for the child's caregivers. Bowlby diagnosed those children with 'affectionless psychopathy.'

Figure 2: Bowlby concluded that the quality and presence of maternal bonds influence whether a child commits later crimes.

Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves: Conclusion

Prolonged maternal separation is a prominent factor in juvenile delinquency, as those showing affectionless psychopathy displayed emotional and social development issues. This can lead to juvenile delinquency later on in life.

Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves: Ethical Issues

The ethics of the study can be questioned for several reasons. The participants were not kept confidential.

To maintain confidentiality, Bowlby should have used pseudonyms, just their initials or participant numbers, which would have kept their identity hidden.

Bowlby 44 Thieves Study: Evaluation

Let's take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the study.

Strengths of Bowlby's 44 Thieves Study

This case study provided detailed qualitative information. This allows us to understand what led to the findings of affectionless character types leading to juvenile delinquency and the findings regarding prolonged separation.

The study highlighted the importance of the maternal bond during the first five years, which has led to changes and developments in childcare practice, such as changing hospital visiting hours to allow children to spend more time with their parents. Some governments offer greater support for new mums and dads.

Weaknesses of Bowlby's 44 Thieves Study

The case studies presented were based on the parents' recollections. Memories, i.e. retrospective data, may not be accurate, affecting the study's internal validity.

In addition, both groups (the juvenile thieves group and the control group) had emotional disturbances; this means the results cannot be generalised to all children, i.e. those without emotional disturbances. Also, not all juvenile delinquents have emotional issues, so the research may reinforce stigmas that aren't necessarily valid.

A cause-and-effect relationship cannot be established as this was not an experimental study. There may have been other factors that led to juvenile delinquency; this is a weakness of non-experimental research.

The findings may be subject to bias, as Bowlby himself conducted the psychiatric assessments and made the diagnoses. If Bowlby had another researcher conducting assessments to assess inter-rater reliability, the findings would be more reliable.