FOrty-four Juvenile Thieves
- Type:
Reviews
- Author:
John Bowlby, M.A.,
i M.D. Balli&re, Tindall & Cox. 1946. 7s’ 6d’ ^
I The outstanding value of th^s ^”^venUeSdelincluents tion of a group of severe, chronic j . , ^ Gf afTecv/ho are distinguished by their remar are ciassed hon or warmth of feeling for anyone. r-haracter. In under the heading of Affection e_ ^ children also addition to stealing, the majority of eated are small truant and wander The numbers sample and, as the author recognizes, they a rhild guidance ?f juvenile delinquents. Cases S^,nn Bowlby’s cases dimes are a selected group, and all Dr Bowioy ere referrals to a clinic. J?0 however, ^th large, unselected groups of delraquents w 11,^ agree that the author has drawn a delinquency, and common mechanism in the ^jology mother or v*. prolonged separation of a child from his motne substitute-mother during the first five years of life resulting in the development, with alarming frequency, of the affectionless character.” That such a character probably always steals and usually becomes a recidivist is no doubt quite true, but many readers will consider that the suggestion that of children who steal persistently perhaps as many as one-half are of an affectionless character is much too high an estimate.
It is a pity that routine physical examinations were not made. Other studies of large numbers of unselected cases have shown that various bodily defects and disabilities occur more frequently in delinquents than in non-delinquents, and it would be of interest to have careful physical studies made in affectionless characters. As the author says, juvenile delinquency as a total problem is the outcome of many and complex factors, and various socio-economic factors are in many cases very important, and there is a need for further research of this type using true samples of delinquents. The distribution of intelligence in true samples of delinquents is very different from that in the author’s series. This study illuminates the pioneer research by Healy and Bronner in that it succeeds in identifying one of the important experiential frustrations of early life resulting in delinquency. The author’s account of the subsequent development of the psyche will provoke critical discussion: that the stealing of milk is so common will hardly be the experience of many other students.
Six divisions are used, viz. normal, depressed, circular, hyperthymic, affectionless and schizoid, but this grouping will not appeal to all readers. Dr Bowlby is, of course, only too well aware himself of the perennial difficulty of classification and of the need for a satisfactory grouping. In his account of the groups other than the affectionless character, he demonstrates the importance of the ambivalence or hostility of the mother or substitute-mother in the genesis of anti-social conduct.
Nearly all the pitfalls in the use of nomenclature in a psychiatric monograph are avoided, but the writer’s use of the terms psychopathic personality, moral deficiency and constitutional psychic inferiority may not meet with general agreement. The subject has been approached from the viewpoint of Freudian theory, and in at least one place the term psychiatrist could with advantage have been used in place of psychoanalyst. These, however, are minor details and do not detract from the importance of this study. His plea for combined research into psycho-analytic and socioeconomic factors, and for the early diagnosis and treatment, both preventive and remedial, of the affectionless character will have the full support of other workers. This publication merits a place among the books of all students of juvenile delinquency. J. D. W. P.
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