Attachment: Romanian orphanages

Question 1

outline the aim an procedure of Rutter’s key study in Romanian orphanages

Answer 1

• aim = to test to what extent good care can make up for poor early experiences in institutions
• 165 Romanian orphans
• adopted by British families: before 6 months, before 2 years, after 2 years
• assessed at ages 4,6,11,15 for physical, social and cognitive development
• control group: 52 British children adopted at the same time

Question 2

outline Rutter’s findings and conclusions

Answer 2

• age 11 mean IQ:
  Before 6 months =102
  Before 2 years = 86
  After 2 years = 77
• these differences remained at 15 years
• this shows that intellectual development can be recovered, providing adoption occurs before the age of 6 months
• Adopted after 6 months: showed signs of disinhibition attachment (clingy, attention seeking)
• findings support the view that there is a sensitive period in the development of attachment - failure to form an attachment before the age of 6 months appears to have long lasting effects

Question 3

explain the cultural bias in Rutter’s study

Answer 3

• weakness
• based on Romanian orphans so can’t generalise findings to other cultures
• resume could be down to cultural context of time. 1966 dictator who encouraged banning abortion so large population. Many babies couldn’t be cared for by families
• conditions so bad in his orphanage (no physical or emotional stimulation ) so may not apply to other institutions

Question 4

explain two weakness of Rutter’s study

Answer 4

• last assessment at age 15. Don’t know if effects of institutionalisation carried into adult life. May still catch up with intelligence, emotional and physical development
• children were not randomly assigned to conditions. Children adopted early may have been more sociable. The Bucharest Early Intervention study did randomly assign the orphans to institutional care. This is methodological better as it removes the confounding variable of some children being selected by parents

Question 5

explain a strength of Rutter’s study

Answer 5

• important practical applications
• results from this research led to improvements in childcare
• children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child. The have one or two key workers

Question 6

explain Quinton’s research study

Answer 6

• compared 50 women brought up in children’s home compared to 50 women brought up in home
• those brought up in institution lacked warmth when interacting with child and when in their 20’s they were having severe difficulties acting as parent

Question 7

explain Zeanach - Bucharest early intervention study

Answer 7

• used the strange situation to asses attachment in 95 children aged 12-13 months who spent most of their time in institutional care
• compared to control group of 50 children who never had institutional care
• only 19% of the institutionalised group were securely attached
• 65% classified with disorganised attachment