PRINGLE, MIA

PRINGLE, MIA (1920–1983), British psychologist. Born in Vienna, the daughter of a wholesale merchant, Samuel Kellmer, Pringle arrived in London with her mother as a refugee in 1938. Gaining a degree in psychology at London University, she became an academic at Birmingham University, specializing in remedial education and children in care. In 1963 she became the first director of the National Children's Bureau, where she remained until her retirement in 1981. Pringle is probably best known for heading the National Child Development Study, a longitudinal study of 17,000 children born in 1958 whose development has been reported on at seven-year intervals ever since. This survey was imitated in Britain and other countries. She also made important contributions to child care in such works as Adoption: Facts and Fallacies (1967) and The Needs of Children (1974). She received honorary degrees from three universities. A chronic depressive who spoke little of her personal feelings, she committed suicide at the age of 62. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online. (William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)