Attahment- Romanian Orphans (institutionalisation) Flashcards
Key study: Rutter and Barke (2010) ERA
Procedure-
How many Romanian children who had spent lives in Romanian institutions were studied?
How many of this group were adopted before the age of two
How many of this group were adopted before the age of four
How many British children in control group and at what age were they adopted before
What intervals were children tested to assess physical, cognitive and social development
How else was Info Gathered?
165
111
54
52 British children (adopted before 6 months old)
Ages 4, 6, 11 and 15
Interviews with parents and teachers
Rutter and Barke (2010) findings
At time of adoption what did all orohans lag in comparison to British counterparts?
What happened to some of the children by the age of four?
What did subsequent follow-ups shows?
What would the after 6 months adoptees show signs of later on?
What does this suggest about the the severity of the long-term consequences if children form attachments?
Physical, cognitive and social development
Some had caught up to British counterparts (true with all Romanian children adopted before 6 months)
Showed signifcant deficits in a substantial minority of individuals who had been adopted after 6 months
Disinhibited attachment and problems with peers relationships
Less severe if given the opportunity to (contrawise if they don’t)
Other studies of Romanian Orphans:
Le mars and Audet (2006)
Longitudinal study of 36 Romanian I orohans adopted to families is Candada
Dependant variable of the study?
What was found at the age of 4 and a half?
What had happened by the age of 10 and a half?
What did this suggest about effects of institutionalisation on physical health?
Physical growth and health
Orohans were physically smaller in comparison to a matched control group
These differences had disappeared
Recovery is possible
Effects of institutionalisation:
-physical underdevelopment
(What did Gardner 1972 was cause of this and what had this led to?)
-intellectual under functioning
-Disinhibited attachments
(What behaviour is shown)
-Poor parenting
(What did Quniton et al. 1984 find out when studying 50 women raised in institution in regard to their parenting in their 20’s
Effects of institutionalisation:
-physical underdevelopment
(Lack of emotional care > deprivation dwarfism)
-intellectual under functioning
-Disinhibited attachments
(Children do not discriminate between people they chose as attachment figures and attention seeking)
-Poor parenting
(When the women were in their 20’s experienced extreme difficulties acting as parents)
Evaluation-
Individual differences-
Some children were not strongly affected as others when they did not form a primary attachment win he sensitive period
What did Rutter suggest may’ve been the cause?
Some children did receive special attention but the institution (perhaps as they smiled more) = they did have some early attachment experiences
Evaluation-
Real life application-
What happens today in regard to adoption?
What did Singer et al. (1985) find out?
Most babies are adopted working the first week of birth
Adoptive mothers and children were just as securely attached as non-adoptive families
Evaluation-
Value of longitudinal studies-
Longitudinal studies take a lot of time, planning and a long time waiting for results
What did such study allow us to conclude?
The effects of institutionalisation may disappear after sufficient time and suitable high quality care which may’ve not been acknowledged
