effects of institutionalism Flashcards
Why would Bowlby study instiutions such as orphanages
- His theories of maternal deprivation would predict that institurional care will have permanent and irreversible effects on the psychological well being of the children
- Prolonged emotional deprivation cannot be manipulated for ethical reasons
- There are very few open to this day
Describe Rutters experiment
- 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain under three conditions
1. adopted before 6 months old
2. adopted from 6 months - 2 years
3. adopted after 2 years - before the age of 4 - They were tested regularly at the ages 4, 6, 11, 15 and compared to a control sample of 52 adopted British children
When was Rutter’s experiment
1998-2007
What were the findings of Rutter’s experiment
- On initial assessment, all Romanian children lagged behind the UK children in terms of physical, cognitive and emotional development
- Those adopted before 6 months had caught up with the control group at 4 years
- Orphans adopted after 6 months were more likely to show disinhibited attachment (symptoms include peer relationship problems)
What was the conclusion made about Rutters experiment
That orphans are sad mfs. Sorry thats too funny for orphans to understand let me give u the answers:
- The negative effects of instiutionalisation can be overcome by senstive, nurturing care
- When children do not form attachment (i.e. continuing failure of attachment) then the consequences are likely to be severe
Describe the Bucharest Early Intervention project 2005 (Zeanah et al)
- 95 children aged 2-31 months (who says that)
- Compared to a control group of 50 children
- Attachment was measured using the Strange situation
- Carers were asked about unusal social behaviours such as clingy, attention seeking behaviour directed inappropriately at all adults (disinhibited attachment)
What were the findings from the Bucharest Early Intervention project
- 74% of the control group were securely attached
- Only 19% of the experimental group were securely attached, with 65% being classified with disorganised attachment
- 44% were disinhibited attachment compared to 20% of controls
What are some effects of institutionalisation to do with disinhibited attachment
- Equally friendly and affectionate to people they know well or strangers
- Rutter (2006) - an adaption to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation
- In some instiutions they could have 50 carers and not form a secure attachment with anyone
How does mental retardation (oh dear) intertwine with the results
- Most of those adopted before six months did catch up with the control by age 4
- Intellectual development can recover if the infant is adopted before the age of 6 months
What is deprivation dwarfism
- Children from institutions are usually physically small due to the lack of emotional care
- Emotional disturbances may affect the production of growth hormones
- Gardner 1927 studied an 8 month yr old girl who was never cuddled and she was physically stunted and withdrawn
However with attention from hospital staff she returned to normall
What other long term effects could there be for instiutionalisation
- Affectionless psychopaths (elishka take the floor)
- Delinquency
- Anaclitic depression
Give some positive evaluation about effects instutionalisation to do with real life application
- Langdon (2006) these studies have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in instutions
- Key workers - children can form an attachment to one person and it helps to avoid disinhibited attachment
Give some positive evaluation about effects of inst. to do with fewer extraneous variables than other orphan studies
- Studies before the Romanian Orphan study involved children who had experienced loss or trauma before they were instutionalised
- This makes it difficult to observe the effects of institutionalisation in isolatyion - confounding participant variables
- Romanian study had increased internal validity
Give some negative evaluation to do with Romanian orphanages were not typical
- The conditions were far worse than other instiutions and results cannot be applied to children who experience deprivation
- Unusual situational variables studies after may have lacked generaslisability
Give some negative evaluation to do with ethical issues
- Methodological issue - children were not randomly assignedf to the conditions
- The researchers did not interfere with the adoption process, which means that those children adopted early, may have been more sociable - a cofounding variable
- The Bucharist study did use random allocation - the children were randomly allocated to instutional or fostering
