At - Romanian orphan studies: Effects of institutionalisation

Question 1

Who studied the effects of institutionalisation and with what study?

Answer 1

Rutter and Sonuga-Barke (2010) - Romanian orphan studies.

Question 2

Who did the Romanian orphans studies?

Answer 2

Rutter and Sonuga-Barke (2010).

Question 3

Describe the procedure of Rutter and Sonuga-Barke’s (2010) Romanian orphan studies

Answer 3

• 165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in Romanian institutions and thus suffered from the effects of institutionalisation.
• 111 of them were adopted before the age of 2 years and a further 54 by the age of 4.
• The adoptees have been tested at regular intervals (ages 4, 6, 11 and 15) to assess their physical, cognitive and social development.
• Information has also been gathered in interviews with parents and teachers.
• Their progress has been compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK before the age of 6 months.

Question 4

What study have Rutter and Sonuga-Barke (2010) led and from when?

Answer 4

The study of a group of Romanian orphans since the early 1990s - the study is called ‘ERA’ (English and Romanian adoptees).

Question 5

Describe the findings of Rutter and Sonuga-Barke’s (2010) Romanian orphan studies

Answer 5

• At the time of adoption the Romanian orphans lagged behind their British counterparts on all measures of physical, social and cognitive development.
• They were smaller, weighed less and were classified as mentally retarded.
• By the age of 4, some of the children had caught up with their British counterparts.
• This was true for almost all of the Romanian children adopted before the age of six months.
• Subsequent follow-ups have confirmed that significant deficits remain in a substantial minority of individuals who had experienced institutional care to beyond the age of six months. Many of these orphans showed disinhibited attachments and had problems with peer relationships.
• This suggests that long-term consequences may be less severe than once thought if children have the opportunity to form attachments. However, when children do not form attachments (i.e. continuing failure of attachment) than the consequences are likely to be severe.

Question 6

What do the findings of the Romanian orphan studies by Rutter and Sonuga-Barke (2010) suggest?

Answer 6

That long-term consequences may be less severe than once thought if children have the opportunity to form attachments. However, when children do not form attachments (i.e. continuing failure of attachment) than the consequences are likely to be severe.

Question 7

Aside from Rutter and Sonuga-Barke, who also conducted studies on the Romanian orphans?

Answer 7

Le Mare and Audet (2006) in Canada.

Zeanah et al. (2005).

Question 8

Explain the study on Romanian orphans carried out by Le Mare and Audet in 2006

Answer 8

They have reported findings from a longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada.

The dependent variables in the study have been physical growth and health.

The adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched control group at four and a half years, but this difference had disappeared by ten and a half years. The same was true for physical health.

This suggests that recovery is possible from the effects of institutionalisation on physical development.

Question 9

Explain the study on Romanian orphans carried out by Zeanah et al. in 2005

Answer 9

They compared 136 Romanian children who had, on average, spent 90% of their lives in an institution, to a control group of Romanian children who had never been in a institution.

The children were aged 12-31 months and were assessed in the Strange Situation.

The institutionalised children showed signs of disinhibited attachment.

Question 10

What are the well-documented effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 10

• Physical underdevelopment: children in institutional care are usually physically small; research has shown (E.g. Gardner, 1972) that the lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of what has been called deprivation dwarfism.
• Intellectual underfunctioning: cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation (Skodak and Skeels).
• Disinhibited attachment: a form of insecure attachment where children do not discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures. Such children will treat near-strangers with inappropriate familiarity (overfriendliness) and may be attention seeking.
• Poor parenting: Harlow showed that monkeys raised with a surrogate mother went on to become poor parents. This is supported in a study by Quinton et al. (1984) who compared a group of 50 women who had been reared in institutions (children’s homes) with a control group of 50 women reared at home. When the women were in their 20’s it was found that the ex-institutional women were experiencing extreme difficulties acting as parents. For example, more of the ex-institutional women had children who had spent time in care.

Question 11

Define institutionalisation

Answer 11

The effect of institutional care. The term can be applied widely to the effects of an institution but our concern focuses specifically on how time spent in an institution such as an orphanage can affect the development of children. The possible effects include social, mental and physical underdevelopment. Some of these effects may be irreversible.