Bowlby - 44 thieves study:

Bowlby interviewed 44 criminal teenagers, accused of stealing, for signs of affectionless psychopathy
Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers
A control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often maternal separation/deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves
14 of the 44 thieves were described as affectionless psychopaths
Of the 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives
Only 5 of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations
Of the control group, only 2 out of 44 had experienced long separations
It concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
The study had some design flaws - Bowlby carried out the assessments and interviews knowing what he hoped to find
Lewis replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger scale and found that prolonged separation from the mother did not predict criminality or difficulty forming close relationships
Bowlby called it a critical period because he believed that prolonged separation inevitably caused damage if it took place within that period. However later research has shown that damage is not inevitable. Some cases of severe deprivation have had good outcomes, provided the child has some social interaction and good aftercare. For example Koluchova reported a case of Czech twin boys that were kept in a cupboard from 18 months until they were 7. When they were found they were looked after by two loving adults and recovered fully. This shows it is a sensitive period rather than a critical one.
Rutter claimed that Bowlby was confusing deprivation - which is the loss of primary attachment after the attachment has developed - with privation - which is the failure to form any attachment in the first place

	Created by Caitlyn Grayston over 7 years ago

AS level Psychology (Attachment) Note on Maternal Deprivation, created by Caitlyn Grayston on 12/05/2017.

Maternal Deprivation