Attachment - Romanian orphan studies

Question 1

What are institutions?

Answer 1

• Children’s homes (Orphanages)
• Hostels
• Hospitals

Question 2

What are the effects of staying in institutions?

Answer 2

-Extended stays can alter normal functioning such as adopting rules and norms of an institution (Institutionalisation), this can result in a loss of personal identity, deindividuation and factors identified by Bowlby such as: Affectionless psychopathy, delinquency and low IQ

Question 3

What is deprivation?

Answer 3

• Deprivation is a loss or damage to an attachment, so not receiving suitable emotional care from the primary caregiver
• Privation is the total lack of development of any attachment bond

Question 4

How were the Romanian orphanages revealed to be in such unethical conditions?

Answer 4

• The fall of the communist government in 1989 revealed conditions of 300,000 Romanian orphans suffering from privation
• The orphans lacked physical and emotional care from staff and many of the children were malnourished and abused

Question 5

What did Rutter’s longitudinal study on Romanian orphanages show about deprivation and the effects of the institutions?

Answer 5

• Rutter conducted a longitudinal study with 165 Romanian orphans who were adopted into UK families
• The orphans were either: Adopted under 6months, 6 to 24months or over 24months old
• The orphans were then compared to a control group of British adoptees
• All the groups were assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old
• Age 6: If adopted after 6 months, the children showed a disinhibited attachment, an overly friendly behaviour to strange adults
• Age 11: If adopted after 6 months the children showed significant delayed intellectual development, the average IQ if the child was adopted after 24 months was 77
• In some cases, the orphans showed characteristics of quasi-autism, problems understanding the meaning of social context
• This suggests, adoption within 6 months avoids effects of privation, and the recovery seen from some of the adopted orphans suggests that the “Critical period” is more of a “Sensitive” period as the children can recover by forming a later attachment

Question 6

What is an advantage of the Romanian orphan studies?

Answer 6

-Research done in the Romanian orphan studies have resulted in changed policies around adoption and care in orphanages and other institutional settings

Question 7

What is a disadvantage of Romanian orphan studies?

Answer 7

• Infants were not randomly assigned to parents/caregivers when they were adopted
• This means that more sociable infants may have been picked first, so some of the orphans would have been left out

Question 8

What did Goldfarb find about fostering British children and the effect on IQ score and social skills?

Answer 8

-Goldfarb showed that early fostering in British children led to higher IQ and improved social skills