Institutionalisation Flashcards
What is institutional care?
Refers to situations where children spend part of their childhood in a hospital, an orphanage or a residential children’s home.
What is institutionalisation?
The adverse effects on children of being placed in an institution; these effects can influence cognitive and social development.
When did Hodges and Tizard complete their ‘effects of privation and institutional care’ study?
1989.
What was the aim of Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study?
Studied the effects of privation but their study also tells us about the effects of institutional care.
They investigated the permanence of the effects of privation considering both emotional and social effects in adolescence.
How many children were taken into one institution before the age of 4 months? What type of sample was used?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
65 children.
Forming an opportunity sample.
What type of experiment was this? What design was used - how?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
Natural experiment.
Matched pairs design, as the institutionalised children were compared with a control group raised at home.
Hodges and Tizard’s study was a longitudinal study. Why?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
It took place from age on entering care to 16 years.
In Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study - each child had been looked after on average by how many different caregivers by the age of 2.
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
24.
By the age of 4 years, how many children had been adopted?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
24.
By the age of 4 years, how many children had been restored to their natural home?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
15.
By the age of 4 years, how many children remained in the institution.
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
26.
The children in the institute were assessed at what ages? What were they tested on? How were they tested?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Procedure)
The children were assessed at the ages 4, 8, and 16 on emotional and social competence through interview and self-report questionnaires.
Did the institutional children form attachments at 4 years?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
No.
What existed between the adopted and restored children at the age of 8?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
Significant differences.
At the age of 8 and 16, most of the adopted children had what?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
Formed close relationships with their caregiver.
At the age of 8 and 16, had restored children formed close relationships with their caregivers? Explain?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
Not many did.
This is because their parents were often unsure they wanted their children back.
At the age of 8 and 16, what was evident in both adopted and restore children?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
Negative social effects.
They were attention seeking and had difficulty in forming peer relationships.
At the age of 16, what were adopted families like? What are restored families?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
The family relationships of the adopted children were as good as those of families in which none of the children had been removed from the family home.
However, children who had returned to their families showed little affection for their parents, and their parents weren’t very affectionate towards them.
At the age of 16, what was similar between the adopted and restore adolescents?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
Both groups of adolescents were less likely than adolescents in ordinary families to regard other adolescents as sources of emotional support.
Were the adopted children better adjusted than Bowlby would have predicted?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Findings)
yes, overall, the adopted children were better adjusted than would have been predicted by Bowlby.
What do findings show about the effects of privation and institutionalisation? Why? Why not?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Conclusions)
The findings show that some effects of privation and institutionalisation can be reversed.
This is because the children were able to form attachments in spite of their privation and experience of institutionalisation.
However, some privation effects are long-lasting, as shown by the difficulties the institutionalised children faced at school.
What is the most important factor when moving out of institutional care? Who is this most applicable for?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Conclusions)
What seems to be especially important is for children who have been institutionalised to move to a loving environment.
That was more likely to be the case for children who were adopted than those who returned to their own families.
The decision as to whether any given child should return to its own family or be adopted depended on complex issues to do with family dynamics and the child’s wishes. How is this a limitation?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Limitations)
It is hard to know precisely why adopted children suffered fewer long-term negative effects of institutionalisation than those restored to their families.
The children were assessed at the ages 4, 8, and 16 on emotional and social competence through interview and self-report questionnaires. How is this a limitation?
(Hodges and Tizard’s 1989 study)
(Limitations)
The interview and self-report data may provide a somewhat distorted perspective - perhaps some of the adolescents exaggerated or minimised the problems they were having with their lives.
