Effects on institutionalisation on children Flashcards
What is institutionalisation?
The effects of living in an institutionalised setting e.g., orphanage/hospital for long periods of time. In these places, there is often very little emotional care. It is thought that living in such settings, affects the child’s ability to form normal attachments. This has an effect on their development.
What started the research into institutionalisation?
In the last 25 years, the effects of living in orphanages has been studied especially in light of the discovery of orphanages in Romanian (Eastern Europe). The discovery of these orphanages has allowed psychologist to understand the effects of deprivation and institutionalisation.
What was the procedure of Rutter’s ERA study?
Rutter (1998) studied Romanian orphans who had been placed in orphanages, aged 1-2 weeks old, with minimal adult contact. This was a Longitudinal study and natural experiment, using a group of around 100 Romanian orphans assessed at ages 4, 6, and 11, then re-assessed 21 years later. 58 babies were adopted before 6 months old, and 59 between the ages of 6-24 months old. 48 babies were adopted late, between 2-4 years old. These were the 3 conditions Rutter used in his study.
What type of attachment did children adopted after 6 months tend to demonstrate?
Many adopted after 6 months old showed disinhibited attachments (e.g., attention-seeking behaviour towards all adults, lack of fear of strangers, inappropriate physical contact, lack of checking back to the parent in stressful situations) and had problems with peers.
What did Zeanah et al (2005) do and find?
Looked at attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months that had spent the majority of their life in an institution.
65% disorganised attachment (characteristics of both resistant & avoidant attachments).
Only 19% had secure attachments.
What are the effects of institutionalisation?
Disinhibited Attachment:
Equally friendly & affectionate towards people they know well and people they have just met.
Highly unusual behaviour- as a young child most will show stranger anxiety and these children don’t.
Caused by living with multiple caregivers during the critical period.
In an orphanage, up to 50 care workers.
Mental Retardation:
In Rutter’s study most children showed signs of mental retardation when the arrived in the UK.
However, most children who were adopted before the age of 6 months had caught up by the time they were 4.
Intellectual development is also damage by being institutionalised. This can be reversed before a certain age.
What are the strengths of the effects of institutionalisation?
Fewer EV’s than other orphan studies. There have always been studies that involves orphans but normally these children have also been affected by trauma, bereavement, abuse or neglect. However, in the Romanian Orphan studies the majority of the children had not experienced any of this, allowing researchers to study the effects of institutionalisation in isolation. This is a strength because it increases the validity of the findings about the effects of institutionalisation.
Helped our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation. For example such research conducted by Rutter et al has led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions. Children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of children being cared for by one member of staff (increased staff to children ratio). Additionally, there has been an introduction of a key worker- 1 person that plays a central role in the child’s care which increases the chances of developing normal attachments. This is a strength because this shows that such research has been immensely valuable in practical terms.
What are the limitations of the effects of institutionalisation?
Limited compared to other orphanages. Romanian orphan studies are very rare. The conditions that were found in these orphanages was very poor and not typical of what is found in the UK. This is a limitation because there are difficulties in generalising the findings to other deprivation and institutionalisation situations because of how unusual the situation was.
Long term effects are unclear. Rutter only studied children up to the age of 25. Limited info past this age, therefore the long term effects of institutionalisation are unclear. This is a limitation as there is no clear evidence to suggest whether the effects of institutionalisation are long or short term.
