Effects Of Institutionalisation: Roman Orphanage Studies

Question 1

Main effect of institutionalisation

Answer 1

Disinhibited attachment- children have multiple caregivers so they cannot attach to one specific person

Question 2

Second effect of institutionalisation

Answer 2

• children who have been institutionalised show signs of mental retardation
• this is no shown if children are adopted before 6 months of age

Question 3

Rutter et al (2011)

Answer 3

• longitudinal study
  -165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain
• the children had lived in a large institution with horrible conditions, and many staff.
  -they assessed functioning of the children at 4, 6, 11 and 15
  -they were compared to a control group of British adopted children
  Found-
  At age 11:
  -those adopted before 6 months = IQ 102
  -those adopted between 6 months and 2 years = IQ 86
  -beyond 2 years = 77
• those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (suggests critical period)
• physical differences aswell

Question 4

Evaluation- understanding

Answer 4

-It’s enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation
- we know it can have damaging effects
So- we can change factors of institutionalisation such as having one Carer stick with one child so they can for some sort of attachment

Question 5

Evaluation- natural study

Answer 5

• Very hard to generalise
• quite an adverse event as all were made orphans
• lot of trauma
• cultural differences in the institution

Question 6

Evaluation of Rutter’s study

Answer 6

Natural study- good real life application, but still hard to generalise because of the adverse sircumstances of it.

Detailed research of physical, mental and emotional so we get the full picture of the effects on the children.

Used control group for good comparison

Very limited sample and all from Romania

We know little about the children’s medical history so we don’t know what’s situational or inherent

Question 7

Tizard and hodges 2015

Answer 7

-investigated the effect of having good physical care as a child but with poor emotional care.
Method:
- 65 children raised in a children’s home from 4 months old. To the age of 4.
- longitudinal study
- 50 different cares for them so they had bad emotional care.
- compared to a control group who spent their whole life with their family.
Found:
- when first studied at 2 years old the children showed abnormal patterns of behaviour towards adults.
- High stranger anxiety
- and many insecure attachments.
Later effects with parents:
- attachment was much higher at ages 8 and 16 if they were adopted than if they were taken back to their biological parents.
- could be due to poor parenting skills leading to them having their kids taken in the first place.

Question 8

Genie

Answer 8

• case study
• she experienced 13 years of neglect and abuse at the hand of her parents
• she was Locked in a room and tied to a child’s potty.
• she had minimal interaction with her family and was beaten if she made noise.
• she was malnourished
• afterwards she made good progress.