Effects Of Instituationialisation Flashcards
Describe the study and findings of Rutter whose aims were to investigate if good care made up for poor early experiences in an institution
Assessed 165 Romanian orphans and their physical , cognitive and emotional development
52 British orphans were also assessed as a control group
The affects of the Romanians were more extreme
The children IQ score was decreasing while the time spent in the institution increased
Those adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment
What’s an additional study done
95 children from orphanages were compared to 50 children who never lived in an institution
Strange situation was used to measure their attachment types and asked caregivers to describe any unusual behaviour
74% were securely attached in the non orphans and only 19% were attached in the orphanage
Most had a disorganised attachment type
Describe all the affects from an institution AO1
- disinhibited attachment
Raised in care and are equally friendly towards people they have just met. Highly unusual because infants tend to have stranger anxiety . Other symptoms are attention seeking and clinginess which happens when living with multiple caregivers
-physical underdevelopment effect
Usually physically smaller because of lack of emotional care. The production of growth hormones are affected - poor intellectual development
Lack of emotional care may show problems with their intellectual development. They tend to have lower IQ
Evaluation on institutionalisation
Real life applications - orphanages and care homes ensure that each child has a key worker which means the infants have the ability to form normal attachments
Fewer extraneous variables- Romanians orphans were going through the same situations so we can clearly see cause and affect which increases internal validity
Romanian orphanages weren’t typical - can’t be generalised because of the unique situation was extreme. Low care standards and low levels of intellectual stimulation.
Lack of adult data - only researched affects up to 15 years old, so we don’t know the long term affects , we can’t tell whether they have caught up , we can’t see long term affects
