Why did John Bowlby research Attachment Theory?
Because of his previous work with maladapted and delinquent children, Bowlby became interested in the development of children and began work at the Child Guidance Clinic in London. This interest was probably increased by a variety of wartime events involving separation of young children from familiar people; these included the rescue of Jewish children by the Kindertransport arrangements, the evacuation of children from London to keep them safe from air raids, and the use of group nurseries to allow mothers of young children to contribute to the war effort. Bowlby was interested from the beginning of his career in the problem of separation and the wartime work of Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham on evacuees and Rene Spitz on orphans. By the late 1950s he had accumulated a body of observational and theoretical work to indicate the fundamental importance for human development of attachment from birth. Bowlby was interested in finding out the actual patterns of family interaction involve
