The Cambridge Evacuation Survey
- Type:
Book Reviews
- Author:
Susan Isaacs,
with the co-operation of Sybil Clement Brown and R. H. Thouless. London: Methuen & Co., 1941. Pp. x. + 235.
The study of evacuated children, edited by Dr Isaacs and her colleagues, is in many ways unique. The numbers are smaller than those covered by other inquiries ; but the results are discussed with far greater detail than has been possible in wartime articles published in psycho- logical journals. The readable style, the vivid anecdotes, and the relegation of technical statistics to an appendix, will give the book a wide and popular appeal. Moreover, whereas most of the previous surveys have been based on material collected and analysed by voluntary co-operators, the inquiry at Cambridge has received generous financial help from the Mental Health Emergency Committee, who loaned the services of three psychiatric social workers ; and the whole study has been planned and supervised by an able and experienced research committee. It is, therefore, extremely en- couraging to find that, on the main points, the report appears to confirm the conclusions reached independently by other investigators, who have studied the same problem in other areas by extensive or intensive methods.
At Cambridge, records were first obtained for 373 boys and girls evacuated from Totten- ham, mainly older and brighter children coming from fairly comfortable homes. Later, similar records were secured for 352 children from poorer districts in Islington. Special visits to the billets were in general deemed inadvisable. Hence the material gathered consists primarily, we are told, of ” such information about the child and the foster-home as was already in the minds of those who had supervised the children for the first two monthsThis, however, was freely supplemented by informa- tion secured from other sources, particularly from teachers and from essays written by the children themselves.
The investigations showed that only about 8 per cent of the children were unsatisfactorily adjusted to their new environment. Some may be surprised at the low figure ; yet it tallies with those obtained in other surveys. The statistical appendix?a masterpiece of lucid exposition?gives a detailed analysis of the amount of correlation discernible between maladjustment and such conditions as sex and age of child, age of foster-mother, changes of billet, presence of other children in billet, visits of parents, and the economic status of the two homes. Here, too, the main con- clusions agree with those of other investigators, namely, that non-psychological factors have comparatively little influence.
To study the influence of psychological factors, an intensive investigation was attempted with a small group of 40 maladjusted children, and a control group of 40 well-adjusted children. These were tested for intelligence by a psycho- logist ; and the character of each child was estimated by a scrutiny of school and home records, by interview, or by observations made during the intelligence tests. The statistical analysis is here perhaps a little less convincing. Of the children whose relations in their foster- homes were rated as unsatisfactory, ” only 7 we are told, ” were assessed as being perfectly normal “. The amount of subnormality which this implies would seem to be exceptionally high. It should, however, be noted that the scheme adopted for classifying the tempera- mental peculiarities of the children was sug- gested ad hoc by one of the physicians assisting in the work; and consequently comparison with the results of other surveys, either before the war or during the war, may not be altogether justifiable.
Lack of space has presumably prevented the writers from comparing the results of their own investigations with those of others, and thus confirming their results where findings are similar, or explaining the differences where findings are different; and this has led more than one commentator to regret that there have been no other investigations. No doubt, as the writer of the introduction complains, more prevision might have been shown after the warning given in September, 1938. But it is only fair to record that, well before the out- break of war, attention had already been given to the problem by educational psychologists, tentative schemes for investigation drawn up, and communications opened with officials of some of the larger education authorities ; and as soon as war broke out, the editor of the British Psychological Society’s Journal (Educa- tion Section) inserted a note suggesting a co-operative inquiry by agreed methods ; and both he and the Society have been active in stimulating and publishing inquiries on the whole subject. The Cambridge investigators rightly emphasize that, with so complex and widespread a problem, collaboration is essential. Moreover, conditions are constantly changing, and fresh problems arising. Similar inquiries, for instance, are urgently needed on the evacua- tion of pre-school children, on the effects of air raids, food-restrictions, and the like; and not the least interesting part of the book is the attention incidentally drawn to numerous specific problems still awaiting scientific research. As the writers point out, conclusions drawn from a survey confined to a single area may not hold good in other localities ; and comparisons would be easier if psychologists engaged on such researches in various parts of the country could, in spite of the obvious difficulties, consult together, and agree upon the adoption of one or other of the existing schemes for assessing children’s personalities, and gather their data upon some more or less uniform plan. Let us hope that the publication of this suggestive survey will stimulate many other inquiries along similar lines.
Meanwhile, in regard to children of school age, the summary of provisional recommenda- tions with which the volume concludes should be of the greatest practical value. The dis- cussion of the reasons for the return of so many children to their homes, the description of child guidance in the reception area, the account of the teachers’ personal impressions, and (in some ways the most fascinating contribution of all) the numerous extracts from the children’s own essays, still further enhance the merits of the whole book. The committee is to be heartily congratulated on having planned, executed and published so suggestive a piece of work. C.B.
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