A- Effects of Institutionalisation

Question 1

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 1

• institutionalisation is when a child’s living arrangements are outside of the family.
• Some children are raised in institutions, such as children’s homes, hostels, hospitals etc.
• adopt the rules and norms of the institution, which could impair functioning and lead to a loss of personal identity (deindividuation)

Question 2

Who studied romanian orphans?

Answer 2

Rutter et al. 2011

Question 3

Describe the procedure of Rutter et al’s study.

Answer 3

• 165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in Romanian orphanages, before being adopted, thus suffered from the effects of institutionalisation
• The adoptees were tested at regular intervals (ages 4, 6, 11 and 15) to assess their physical, cognitive and social development.
• their progress were compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK before the age of six months.

Question 4

Describe the findings of Rutter et al’s study.

Answer 4

• at time of adoption the Romanian orphanages lagged behind their british counterpart on all measures of physical, cognitive and social development.
• By the age of 4 the Romanian children adopted before the age of 6 months had caught up with their British counterparts.
• However, a significant number of individuals adopted after the age of 6 months still had significant deficits at age 4.
• mean IQ before 6 months = 102
• mean IQ of 86 for those adopted between 6 months and two years
• 77 for those adopted after two years.
• disinhibited attachment type for adopted after 6 months
• Symptoms included attention seeking, clinginess directed indiscriminately towards both familiar and unfamiliar adults.

Question 5

Describe the conclusions of Rutter et al’s study.

Answer 5

• This study suggests that the long-term consequences of institutionalisation may be less severe if children are adopted before six months and receive sensitive parenting.
• However, if children are not adopted by six months then the consequences of institionalisation are likely to be severe.

Question 6

Describe the 6 effects of institutionalisation.

Answer 6

1) DELAYED INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
–Children raised in institutions can have a low IQ and concentration problems.
- This means they may struggle at school because they cannot learn new behaviours and concepts as quickly.
- They can also have delayed language development

2) DISINHIBITED ATTACHMENT
- Children raised in institutions may not know what appropriate behaviour towards strangers is.
- They can be overly affectionate and attention-seeking.

3) EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Children raised in institutions can have difficulty managing their anger (e.g. they have more temper tantrums than other children).

4) LACK OF INTERNAL WORKING MODEL
- Children raised in institutions may have difficulty interacting with peers and forming close relationships.
- As adults they will have impaired adult relationships and can struggle to parent their own children.

5) QUASI-AUTISM
- They struggle to understand the meaning of social contexts and can have obsessional behaviours.
- They can have lower frequency of pretend play and reduced empathy.

6) DELAYED PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
- Children in institutional care are usually physically small.
- Research has shown that a lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of what has been called deprivation dwarfism

Question 7

Evaluate the effects of institutionalisation. (ADVANTAGES)

Answer 7

1)VALUE OF LONGITUDINAL STUDIES
- The importance of the Romanian Orphan studies were that they were longitudinal.
Longitudinal studies provide rich data on how institutionalisation affects intellectual development over time and allows for cause and effect to be established. This helped us understand that early adoption is important in preventing long-term damage to intellectual development. This would not have been possible with a short-term assessment of children.This increases the validity of the research.

2) REAL LIFE APPLICATION
- Studies that have investigated the effects of institutionalisation have also led to changes in the adoption process.
- In the past mothers were encouraged to nurse their children for as long as possible before giving them up for adoption.
- Today most babies are adopted within their first week of life (certainly before six months).

Question 8

Evaluate the effects of institutionalisation. (DISADVANTAGES)

Answer 8

1) There are problems when generalising findings of studies of Romanian orphans as standards of care were particularly poor in Romanian orphanages.
- The Romanian orphans were faced with much more than emotional deprivation.
- The physical conditions were appalling, and there was a lack of cognitive stimulation.
- It is likely that long-term damage from institutional care onlyoccurs when there are multiple risk factors.

2) INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
- Adoption and control groups were not randomly allocated to conditions in studies of Romanian orphans. There may be independent differences that affected later intellectual development aside from age of adoption. Suggests its an incomplete explanation.