attachment: romanian orphan studies Flashcards
who carried out the study
Rutter
What is the term for the effects of living in an institutional setting?
Institutionalization
Refers to the impact of residing in places like hospitals or orphanages with limited emotional care
What does the term ‘institution’ refer to in the context of attachment research?
Places like hospitals or orphanages
These are settings where children may live for long periods, often lacking emotional care.
What happened after the 1989 revolution in Romania?
Many children were adopted, some by British parents
There were a lot of orphans because the former president Nicolai Ceausescu required women to have 5 children which is why so many cildren were in orphanages.
This provided a unique opportunity to study the effects of institutional care.
What was the procedure in the Romanian orphan study conducted by Rutter?
Followed 165 Romanian orphans adopted by UK families to track their physical, cognitive and emotional development
Their development was assessed at multiple ages.
At what ages was the physical, cognitive, and emotional development of the Romanian orphans assessed?
4, 6, 11, 15, 22, and 25 years
This longitudinal study provided insights into their recovery and development.
What was the control group in the Romanian orphan study?
52 children from the UK adopted around the same time
What were the initial signs observed in the children when they arrived in the UK?
About half of the adoptees exhibited signs of delayed intellectual development and severe undernourishment
What was the mean IQ of children adopted before the age of 6 months?
102
This was significantly higher compared to those adopted later.
What was the mean IQ for children adopted between 6 months and 2 years?
86
This indicates a decline in cognitive recovery related to age of adoption.
What was the mean IQ for children adopted after the age of 2 years?
77
These differences in IQ remained at age 16.
What does the study suggest about the timing of adoption?
There might be a critical period of 6 months.
Early adoption may prevent long-term negative developmental consequences.
What is disinhibited attachment?
Atypical friendliness and affection towards both familiar and unfamiliar people
This behavior contrasts with typical stranger anxiety seen in most children by 2 years old
How would Rutter explain disinhibited attachment?
As an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers
This occurs during the sensitive period for attachment formation.
AO3: real life application
There are practical applications
it led to improvements on the way infants are cared for in
orphanages > Children’s homes try and allocate key carers to specific children who play a central role aiming
to provide sensitive and responsive care to the infants
STRENGTH as this gives the child a chance to develop normal attachments and avoid disinhibited attachments. This is especially important for these orphans to develop a positive internal working model of attachments to enable them to be sensitive and caring parents themselves in the future
AO3: high internal validity
Internal validity of Rutter’s study is high
Because the orphans were abandoned to the institution when they were born they would have not experienced any significant trauma that could be a confounding variable.
STRENGTH as it was possible to investigate the effects of institutionalisation on intellectual development and attachment type in isolation. This way Rutter was certain the type of care the children received directly impacted on their development. So
we can establish a cause and effect relationship
AO3: long term effects
The long term effects of institutionalisation are unknown
For example, Rutter followed up fostered and adopted orphans into their early to mid 20s.
WEAKNESS because we are unaware of the long term effects that can arise in adulthood. For example how institutionalisation may affect the individual in a romantic relationship or when they are parents. So the studies are limited in their findings and do not provide a detailed insight into the effects of institutionalisation.
AO3: generalisability
that findings cannot be generalised
This is because the sample consisted of an orphanage in Romanian. In Romanian, women were required to have 5 children. Many parents could not afford 5 children, so ended up in an orphanage. As a result, the orphanages were very poorly run, with very poor conditions due to the over population.
WEAKNESS as Rutter’s study cannot be used to explain the effects of living in an institution elsewhere, perhaps where the conditions are better due to more funding
