Attachment Booklet 7: Romanian Orphans Flashcards
What was the Method in Rutter’s ERA (English and Romanian adoptees) Study 2010?
-Longitudinal study. followed a group of 165 Romanian children who spent time in a Romanian orphanage
-Of this group 111 were adopted before age 2 and 54 adopted before age 4
-Assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 in terms of social, cognitive and physical development
-Progress compared to that of 52 British Children adopted in uk before age of 6 months
What was the results of Rutter’s ERA study?
-The Romanian Orphans were smaller, and classified as intellectually delayed
-Some of those adopted after six months had disinhibited attachment and had problems forming relationships
-Disinhibited attachment: A pattern of attention seeking clingy behaviours with lack of selectivity
What was the method of Zeanah’s study?
-Zeanah assessed the attachment in 95 children aged between 12-31 months who spent on average 905 of life in an institution, comparing them to a control group who had never experienced it
-The attachment type was measured through the strange situation
What were the results of Zeanah’s study?
-Found that 74% of the control group was found to be securely attached, only 19% of institutionalised group securely attached. 65% had disorganised attachment
What’s one way of remembering the effect of child institutionalisation?
D.I.D.S
What does D.I.D.S stand for?
Disinhibited attachment
Intellectually delayed
Disorganised attachment
Social skills
Explain disinhibited attachments…
-This was found by Rutter in children adopted after age 6 months
-It’s where children show clinginess and attention seeking behaviour from any adult, non-selective, run to and hug strangers, show anxiety when they leave
Explain intellectually delayed…
-Children who have been institutionalised often have a lower average IQ
-This was shown by Rutter who found Romanian orphans who were adopted have very low IQ and were described as being intellectually delayed
Explain disorganised attachment…
-This was found by Zeeanah where 65% of institutionalised children had this
-It involves children displaying inconsistent patterns of attachment, for example, sometimes strong attachment and sometimes none
Explain social skills…
-Children who have been institutionalised often have poor social skills
-They particularly have trouble forming peer relationships and socially struggle to make and maintain friendships
-Found by Rutter in children adopted after 6 months
All effects of institutionalisation (DIDS) were identified by Rutter, but one, which one?
Disorganised attachment - this was identified by Zeanah
What are the evaluations of Romanian Orphan Studies?
😊Practical application (babies adopted in first week)
😒Ignores individual differences (Zeanah 65% not 100% disorganised)
😊/😒Ethical issues (Didn’t decide which children adopted, had a say in which kids went into orphanages)
😒Romanian orphans suffered more than emotional deprivation
😒Methodology issues (didn’t control variables, so CV could’ve caused effects)
