effects of institutionalisation Flashcards
what is the procedure?
longitudinal study which began in 1998
physical , emotional and cognitive development were assessed at ages 4,6,11 and 25
age of being naturally occurring IV and DV was children development (cognitive and emotional)
what groups did rutter study?
- adopted before the age of 6 months
- adopted between 6 months and two years
- adopted after the age of two (late adoptees)
what is the aim?
to investigate whether loving and nurturing care could overturn the effects of institutionalisation
what is sample size?
111 Romanian orphans who were adopted into British families 🇬🇧
who were the Romanian orphans compared to?
control group of 52 British 🇬🇧 adopted
What were the findings?
at initial assessment when they first arrived to the UK 50% showed signs of cognitive impairment and were severely undernourished
by the age of 4 children were making very good recoveries however those adopted later (older than 2 years) had a much higher level of disinhibited attachment
on the other hand orphans adopted before the 6 months were doing as well as the British adopted them (control group)
at age 11 mean IQ of those adopted later (2 years) was lower than those adopted earlier (before the age of six months) showing cognitive impairment
those adopted before the age of 6 months had a normal IQ level
What was the conclusion?
some negative effects of institutionalisation can be overcome by nurturing , sensitive care more so if adoption takes place earlier
Whats strength for institutionalisation
P - practical applications
E - led to improvements in the conditions experienced by children growing up outside their family home
e.g avoid having large number of caregivers each child tend to have ‘one or two key workers’ who play a central role in childrens emotional care.
I seen as undesirable option and considerable effort is made to accomodate children with foster carers and adoptive parents
L - reduces negative effects that can stem from I such as disinhibited A as children more likely to form bond with carer that spends more time with them
important in applied psych improved psych’s understanding of he effect of early I care and how to prevents the worst of these effects
Give a strength into I
P - compared to previous research into I care, Rutter’s Reseach have high control over extraneous variables
E - in previous orphan studies children often experienced neglect trauma abuse or even bevreavement before being I difficult to tell if there was long term effects were due to neglect/abuse or I care
E - However in R’s reseacrh majority of romanian orphans had been handed over loving parents who could not afford to keep them meaning it was possible to study the effects of I w out these confounding variables
L increasig internal validity of R into effects of I
give the counter
P - However studying children from romanian orphaages must have introduced different confounding variables
E - qoc was extremely poor w children recieving v little intellectual stimulation or comfort
L this meas that the harmfuel effects seen in studies of romanian orphans may be due to effects of poor I care rather than I care on it’s own
