Effects of Institutionalisation

Question 1

What is mental retardation?

Answer 1

• Rutter found that most of the children from a Romanian orphanage showed signs of mental retardation when they arrived to Britain
• This shows that being raised without adequate care during the sensitive period can lead to intellectual deficits i.e. abnormally low IQ

Question 2

What was Rutter’s method?

Answer 2

• Studied 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain
• There were 3 groups of orphans: those adopted before 6 months old, those adopted between 6 months and 2 years of age, those adopted after 2 years old
• They were compared to children from British institutions who were adopted around the same age (control group)
• Physical, cognitive, and emotional development was assessed in these children at ages 4,6,11, and 15 years old

Question 3

What were Rutter’s findings and conclusions?

Answer 3

FINDINGS:
- Around half the adoptees showed signs of mental retardation when they first arrived and the majority were severely undernourished
- The mean IQ of children adopted before 6 months was 102, 6 months - 2 years was 86, and 77 for those adopted after 2 years old
- These differences remained until the age of 16

CONCLUSIONS:
- Institutionalisation leads to mental retardation (abnormally low IQ)
- The effect of institutionalisation is far worse for infants who remain institutionalised after 6 months old

Question 4

What is disinhibited attachment?

Answer 4

• As a result of being cared for by multiple carers during the sensitive period, children are equally affectionate towards strangers as they are with familiar people
• Further symptoms include attention seeking, clinginess, and showing social behaviour towards ALL adults

Question 5

What was the Bucharest Early Intervention Project?

Answer 5

METHOD: Zeanah et al assessed attachment in instituionalised children. Their attachments were measured using the Strange Situation and then compared with those of non-institutionalised children
FINDINGS: 44% of the institutionalised infants showed disinhibited attachment in comparison to less than 20% of the non-institutionalised infants
CONCLUSIONS: Institutionalisation increases the risk of disinhibited attachment due to being cared for by multiple carers in the sensitive period thus lacking one key attachment figure

Question 6

How is practical applications a strength?

Answer 6

• A strength of research into institutionalisation is that there are practical applications
• Orphanages and children’s homes try to minimise staff turnover and ensure each carer has a small group to look after. Carers in such situations are called key carers. Having a key carer means that the children have a chance to develop normal attachments and avoid disinhibited attachment
• This is a strength because such research has led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions
• Thus research on institutionalisation improves lives

Question 7

How is generalisability a weakness?

Answer 7

• Another weakness of the research is that it lacks generalisability
• Romanian orphanages had very poor standards of care, especially when it came to forming relationships and had extremely low levels of intellectual stimulation
• This is a weakness because the exceptionally bad conditions of Romanian orphan studies may mean findings from these children can’t be applied to understand the impact of orphanages here in the UK which have higher standards of care and intellectual stimulation
• Thus due to this lack of generalisability the research decreases in validity

Question 8

How is methodological issues a weakness?

Answer 8

• A weakness of Rutter’s research is that there are methodological issues
• While Rutter assumed he was investigating the effect of institutionalisation on children’s cognitive and emotional development he failed to account for the desirability of the adoptees
• This is a weakness because it may be that the children who were adopted early were naturally more appealling to potential adoptive parents whereas the children who were adopted late may have been the ones left due to natural early signs of intellectual deficits and thus were less desirable
• Therefore, the intellectual deficits may have occured naturally and may have existed regardless of the age they were adopted. As Rutter doesn’t consider this his study loses validity