Bowlby (1944) Forty-four juvenile thieves: Their character and home-life

Question 1

What was Bowlby’s study?

Answer 1

A series of case studies (NOT AN EXPERIMENT!!)
He used children from his guidance clinic.

Question 2

The 44 thieves

Answer 2

All children attended Bowbly’s child guidance clinic. 31 boys, 13 girls aged between 5-17 years old. They had all been found guilty of stealing.
The binet scale was used to measure their intelligence. 80% had an IQ between 85-114, 15 had above average and 2 had below average.

Question 3

Grades of stealing

Answer 3

Grade 1 (only one theft) - 1
Grade 2 (few thefts) - 8
Grade 3 (persistent but irregular thefts) - 10
Grade 4 (chronic and serious thefts) - 22

Question 4

The control group

Answer 4

Also children who attended the guidance clinic. Same ages to the thieves and similar IQ’s. None of them had stolen anything but were also said to be emotionally disturbed.