Attachment: Rutter & The Effects of Institutionalisation 2024 - 2025 Flashcards
Key Term Focus
What is meant by institutionalisation?
Refers to children spending a long period of time living outside of the family home within an institution, for example, an orphanage.
AO1 Focus
Name 3 effects of institutionalisation
- Reactive attachment disorder
- Disinhibited attachment disorder
- Cognitive Impairment
AO1 Focus
What is meant by reactive attachment disorder?
Disorder where children grow up being unable to trust, or love others - they can have a lack of remorse
AO1 Focus
What causes reactive attachment disorder?
Extreme lack of responsiveness from a parent
AO1 Focus
What is meant by disinhibited attachment?
A condition where children select attachment figures indiscriminately and behave in an overly familar fashion with strangers
AO1 Focus
What causes disinhibited attachment disorder?
Having too many inconsistent caregivers during critical period
AO1 Focus
What is meant by cognitive impairment?
Delay in intellectual development;
* Low IQ
* Problems concentrating
* Difficulty in learning new concepts
AO2 Focus
Timmi was adopted by his British parents from Romania after growing up in an orphanage for a long time. At school his teacher comments;
“I often see Timmi walking around on his own, isolating himself from other students”
Which effect of institutionalisation may Timmi be showing, and why?
- Reactive attachment disorder
- As he “isolates himself” due to being unable to trust or form connections with others
AO2 Focus
Ana was adopted by her British parents from Romania after growing up in an orphanage for a long time. At school her teacher comments;
“Ana is having a really hard time adjusting - in lessons she seems to constantly fidget and gaze out the window”
Which effect of institutionalisation may Ana be showing, and why?
- Cognitive impairment
- As “she seems to constantly fidget / gaze out of the window” and so struggles to concentrate
AO2 Focus
Andrei was adopted by his British parents from Romania after growing up in an orphanage for a long time. At primary school his teacher comments;
“I can’t work out whether I’m building a connection with Andrei - he often runs up to me and holds my arm…but he seems to do that with all the teachers - even the ones he hasn’t met yet”
Which effect of institutionalisation may Andrei be showing, and why?
- Disinhibted attachment
- As Andrei “often runs up and holds his teachers arm…but does this with other teachers” showing he attaches indiscriminately and is overly familar with strangers
AO1 Focus
What was the aim of Rutter’s research?
Remember an aim starts with “To investigate….”
To investigate whether loving and nurturing care could overturn the effects of institutionalisation
AO1 Focus
What was Rutter’s sample?
111 Romanian orphans adopted into British families
AO1 Focus
What was Rutter’s independent variable?
Age of adoption
AO1 Focus
What was Rutter’s dependent variable?
The cognitive and emotional development
AO1 Focus
What were the 3 groups Rutter studied?
- Adopted before the age of 6 months
- Adopted between 6 months and 2 years
- Adopted after the age of 2 years
AO1 Focus
How many of the 3 groups were adopted within the critical period?
2
1. Adopted before the age of 6 months
2. Adopted between 6 months and 2 years
AO1 Focus
Who were the Romanian orphans compared to?
A control group of 52 British adopted children
AO1 Focus
What was found during the initial assessment of the Romanian orphans?
50% showed signs of cognitive impairment
AO1 Focus
What % of Romanian orphans showed signs of cognitive impairment at the initial assessment?
50%
AO1 Focus
What was found by the age of 4 in the Romanian orphans?
- Those adopted later (2 years+) showed higher level of disinhibited attachment
- Those adopted earlier ( < 6 months) were doing as well as the British control group
AO1 Focus
At aged 4, which group of children showed the highest level of disinhibited attachment?
Those who were adopted later (after 2 years)
AO1 Focus
At aged 11, how did levels of IQ differ between the groups?
- Those adopted later had a lower IQ (77)
- Those adopted earlier had a ‘normal’ IQ level (102)
AO1 Focus
What was Rutter’s conclusion regarding the effects of institutionalisation?
Some negative effects can be overcome by sensitive, nurturing care - especially if adoption takes place earlier
AO3 Focus
What practical applications have been developed from research into the effects of institutionalisation?
This will form the first E of your PEEL
Improvements in conditions for children living outside of the family home - for example, reducing the number of caregivers so each child has one or two ‘key workers’
This will form the first E of your PEEL
AO3 Focus
Research into institutionalisation has led to improvements in the conditions experienced by children in orphanages - such as a reduce number of caregivers, so they have more consistent ‘key workers’ assigned to them.
What effect of institutionalisation will this help reduce?
This would form part of your second E of your PEEL
Disinhibited attachment
This would form part of your second E of your PEEL
AO3 Focus
Why does Rutter’s research have higher control over extraneous variables, compared to other studies?
This is often a misconception by students - who instead suggest there is low control.
- Previous orphan studies included children who had suffered from abuse and neglect
- whereas
- Rutter’s study included children from loving families who could not afford to keep them
DISCUSSION Focus
Why may the study of Romanian orphanages not be representative?
This will form the first E of your PEEL
Because the quality of care in these institutions was extremely poor
This will form the first E of your PEEL
AO1 / AO3 Focus
What did Zeanah et al do?
This can be used as either AO1 or AO3
This will form the first E of your PEEL
Assess the attachment type of Romanian orphans using the strange situation
This can be used as either AO1 or AO3
This will form the first E of your PEEL
AO1 / AO3 Focus
What did Zeanah et al find?
This can be used as either AO1 or AO3
This would form the second E of your PEEL
- 44% of the institutionalised children showed signs of disinhibited attachment
- Compared to only 20% of the control group
This can be used as either AO1 or AO3
This would form the second E of your PEEL
AO1 / AO3 Focus
What did Zeanah et al. conclude?
This can be used as either AO1 or AO3
This would form the second E of your PEEL
Being in an institution can have negative effects on psychological development
This can be used as either AO1 or AO3
This would form the second E of your PEEL
