3. ATTACHMENT (Romanian orphan studies: Effects of institutionalisation) Flashcards
What does the term “institutionalisation” refer to?
Institutionalisation refers to the effects of living in an institutional setting, such as a hospital or orphanage, where children often receive minimal emotional care.
What are orphan studies focused on?
Orphan studies examine children placed in care because their parents are unable to look after them, often due to death or abandonment.
What is “disinhibited attachment”?
Disinhibited attachment is when a child is equally affectionate towards both familiar and unfamiliar people, often due to multiple caregivers in institutional settings, preventing the child from forming secure attachments.
What is “intellectual delay” in the context of institutionalisation?
Institutionalised children often show signs of intellectual delay, particularly if they were adopted after the age of 6 months. Early adoption (before 6 months) allows children to catch up with their peers by age 4.
What is “disorganised attachment”?
Disorganised attachment is a type of attachment where children display signs of all attachment types interchangeably, often seen in institutionalised children.
What was the aim of Rutter’s (2011) English and Romanian Adoptee Study?
Rutter aimed to investigate whether good care could compensate for poor early experiences in childhood, focusing on the effects of institutionalisation.
What were the key findings of Rutter’s (2011) study on Romanian orphans?
- Children adopted before 6 months had a mean IQ of 102, while those adopted later had lower IQs.
- Disinhibited attachment was most common in those adopted after 6 months.
- The study showed that the age of adoption impacted both cognitive and emotional development.
What was the conclusion of Rutter’s (2011) study?
The findings supported the idea of a sensitive period in attachment development, suggesting that children adopted before 6 months are less affected by institutionalisation than those adopted after 6 months.
What was the aim of Zeanah et al’s (2005) Bucharest Early Intervention Project?
Zeanah aimed to investigate the type of attachment in children who had spent most of their lives in institutional care, comparing them to a control group of children who had not experienced institutional care.
What were the findings of Zeanah et al’s (2005) study on Romanian orphans?
- 74% of the control group were securely attached, compared to only 19% of the institutional group.
- 65% of the institutional group showed disorganised attachment, and 44% exhibited disinhibited attachment.
What is one strength of the Romanian orphan studies?
A strength is that they have led to successful practical applications, including improvements in institutional care, such as assigning key workers to children and shortening adoption processes.
How do Romanian orphan studies contribute to the understanding of institutionalisation?
These studies offer reliable evidence about the long-term effects of institutionalisation, showing that early adoption can reduce the negative impact on children’s development.
What is a strength of the Romanian orphan studies in terms of extraneous variables?
A strength is that they had fewer extraneous variables than previous studies, as many Romanian orphans had been taken into institutional care at an early age, reducing the impact of prior trauma.
What is a limitation of the Romanian orphan studies regarding long-term effects?
A limitation is that it is too soon to determine the long-term effects of early institutionalisation, as the children have only been followed into their mid-teens, and some issues may not emerge until adulthood.
What is a limitation regarding the assignment of children in Rutter’s study?
A limitation is that children were not randomly assigned to conditions, meaning that those adopted earlier may have been more sociable, which could be a confounding variable affecting the study’s validity.
