Attachment: Institutionalisation Flashcards
what’s institutionalisation?
children in institutional care are very likely to experience privation. a number of studies into children in care shows that young children admitted to institutional care usually respond with acute distress.
what was Hodges and Tizard’s study?
they followed 65 british children from early life to adolescence. they had been placed in an institution when they were less than 4 months old and hadn’t formed attachments yet. there was a policy against caretakers forming attachments with the children. at an early stage, 70% children reported as not ‘to care deeply about anyone’.
what were the findings of Hodges and Tizard’s study?
they were assessed at regular intervals until 16. Most had left (adopted or restored with their original families). the restored children were less likely to form attachments with their mothers but adopted were closely attached to their new parents. they were more likely to be bullies and sought more attention from adults.
what were the conclusions from Hodges and Tizard’s study?
these findings suggested that ealry privation had a negative effect on the ability to form relationships. this supports Bowlby’s view that failure to form attachments in the critical period had irreversible effects on emotional development.
what was the procedure of Rutter’s study?
studied 165 Romanian orphans and assessed them at 4, 6 and 11 in terms of psychological, emotional and physical development. the results were comapred to 50 children adopted in Britain (control group).
what were the findings of Rutter’s study?
majority were malnourished. the mean IQ was dependent on when they were adopted. those adopted after 6 months displayed signs of disinhibited attachment, whereas those before 6 months showed no signs. this is characterised as attention-seeking and affectionate behaviour as a result of having too many caregivers at the critical period.
what were the conclusions of Rutter’s study?
the importance of adopting orphans at different ages which related to their rate of recovery. a full recovery could be made if they were adopted before 6 months.
what was a strength of Rutter’s study? (A03)
he studied the effect of institutionalisation in isolation, removing confounding and extraneous variables of PTSD and trauma associated with war-orphans. this increases confidence that the researchers can draw reliable conclusions about the effects of institutionalisation.
what’s a methodological issue of Rutter’s study? (A03)
the focus was on short-term recovery, not long-term rates. for example, just because a child adopted at 3 doesn’t exhibited normal intellectual development at 4, doesn’t mean the child will have an intellectual disability. to improve the validity, the study should’ve been carried out for longer.
how does Rutter’s study have low ecological validity?
due to the conditions of Romanian orphanages being especially poor. for example, the orphanages didn’t provide any intellectual stimulation for the orphans, which may have a larger impact on their intellectual development. cases of abuse were frequently reported. the findings can’t be generalised beyond research settings.
what’s attachment disorder?
when children experience disruptions of early attachments, this affects their social and emotional development. children with attachment disorder have: no preferred attachment figure, an inability to interact and relate to others, experience of severe neglect and frequent change of caregiver. 2 types: inhibited (shy and withdrawn) and disinhibited (over-friendly and attention seeking).
