Attachment: Romanian Orphan Studies Flashcards
What is an institution?
a place where children live for several years
historically they provided limited emotional care
What procedure was used in Rutter’s English and Romanian adoptee study?
it was a longitudinal study of 165 Romanian Orphans adopted in Britain to test whether good care could make up for earlier deprivation
a group of 52 British children of the same age and adopted at the same time acted as a control group
What were the findings of Rutter’s study?
(age 6 assessment before/after 6 months and age 11 assessment before/after 6 months)
AGE 6-
Before 6 months-R children caught up socially emotionally and cognitively
After 6 months-R children had impaired language and social skills , also showed disinhibited attachment
AGE 11-
Before-R children caught up intellectually
After-R children showed significant deficits , had poor attachment and relationships as adults and had low IQ
What conclusions did Rutter draw from his study?
2
the age of adoption/length of time in institution determines the severity of the effects
LT consequences won’t be as severe/can be reversed if child is given nurturing care afterwards
What procedure was followed in Zeanah et al’s study in 2005?
-95 children who had been institutionalised for most of their lives were compared with a control group of 50 children
-attachment type measured using SS and carers were asked if their child displayed disinhibited attachment
What were the findings of Zeanah’s study?
2
74% of the control group were securely attached compared to 19% of the institution group
disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institution group and 20% of control
What are the effects of institutionalisation?
Explain them
5
delayed intellectual development-may struggle academically and pick up new things more slowly
disinhibited attachment-over friendly/affectionate with strangers
problems with emotional development
difficulty forming close relationships/interacting with friends
delayed language and physical development
Why does institutionalisation have these effects?
(refer to disinhibited attachment and IWM)
DA-result of living with multiple care givers during the sensitive period
institutionalised children don’t form a secure attachment so don’t form a healthy IWM that they can use as a template for future relationships
What is a strength of Romanian Orphan Studies?
+practical applications
the findings have led to changes in adoption policies and has led to improvements in child care in institutions (key workers)
this adds credibility and external validity
What is a weakness?
-the studies lack validity
children were not randomly assigned to conditions so children adopted earlier may have just been more sociable
this is a cofounding variable so findings should be interpreted with caution
What are 2 further limitations?
-there is problems with generalising
the standards of care were extremely poor so findings may not be applicable to all institutionalised settings/children
-methodology makes it difficult to draw conclusions
children were not studied whilst in the institution so it is impossible to conclude which aspects of the institutionalisation had the greatest impact on their development
