Bowlby Flashcards
Bowlby?
This was a case study of 44 children at a London guidance clinic who had committed the crime of stealing. They were ranked depending on severity of their crimes. The sample consisted of 31 boys and 13 girls aged between 5-17.
There was also a control group of 44 people at the clinic who had mental disturbances but had not committed the crime of stealing. They were matched in age, sex, and IQ.
Procedure?
Participants were sourced from an opportunity sample. The children would be assessed by a psychiatrist to asses their intelligence and diagnose there mental disorders. The mothers would meet with the social worker to get a full history with the child.
Both psychiatrist and social work reported to the psychiatrist Bowlby who would then interview the children and mother. After this two hour process the team discussed school and other reports.
The children continued to see the psychiatrist weekly for six months and mothers would discuss issues with a social work at the same time.
Findings?
The children were put into categories. 14 children were put into the affectionless category. 12 of these had experienced frequent separation from their mothers.
17 had experienced early separation. The remaining 27 had mothers who were anxious, irritable, fussy or rigid, domineering , oppressive.
Evaluation?
There was no casual findings. This is because the link between separation from mothers and crime was not manipulated.
The data was biased. Despite a large amount of qualitative data from interviews, it is all from one persons perspective.
The sample was made up of 88 people with psychological issues. This means the data cannot be generalised as it does not represent the rest of the population.
