Broken Attachments Flashcards
Define privation (Rutter):
A child that has never experienced an attachment to a caregiver.
What did Rutter aim to investigate?
Consequences of privation on child’s development through children in orphanages.
Define institutionalisation (Rutter):
Children who grow up in orphanages (an institution).
What did the child experience if they are put in an orphanage at a young age? (Rutter)
They never formed an attachment to a loving caregiver.
What did the child experience if they are put in an orphanage later in life? (Rutter)
They had unloving/neglectful parents -> experienced privation.
Outline Hodges + Tizard study:
- 65 babies placed in a residential nursery before four months old.
- Investigated whether different experiences had effects on their long-term development + future relationships
- Studied their behaviour/development once aged 16.
- Compared them to a control group (those not been Institutionalised).
What were the three different experiences in Hodges + Tizard study:
- Some Romanian children were adopted.
- Some Romanian children were returned to their biological parents.
- Some Romanian children stayed at the orphanage.
What type of study was Hodges + Tizard?
Natural experiment.
What were Hodges + Tozard findings?
- Adopted at a young age = able to form strong relationships despite privation.
- Those who stayed = impaired emotional development + struggled to form strong relationships.
- Those who returned to biological parents = impaired emotional development + struggled to form strong relationships.
What does Hodges + Tizard study support?
- That privation can have long lasting negative effects on emotional development.
- However this can be reversed if placed in a loving environment at a young age.
Who conducted The Romanian Orphan Studies?
Rutter.
Outline Rutters study (Romanian Orphans):
- UK citizens adopted Romanian orphans.
- Researchers followed them across their whole childhood/adolescence.
- Compared 111 Romanian orphans to 52 British orphans. (British had better care).
- Looked at their: cognitive, emotional, behavioural development through observations, tests and interviews.
What type of study was Rutters study (Romanian Orphans)?
A natural longitudinal study.
What were the findings of the groups in Rutters study (Romanian Orphans)?
- British children + adopted in Britain = good emotional/cognitive development-> able to form secure relationships.
- Romanian children + adopted before six months = good emotional development despite past conditions.
- Romanian children + adopted after six months = impaired emotional/cognitive development + struggled to form secure relationships.
What was the difference between the British and Romanian orphans? (Rutter)
British children didn’t experience the same psychological damage (different amount of abuse, poverty, neglect).
