Institutionalisation

Question 1

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 1

A term used for the effects of living in an institutional setting.
- The term ‘institution’ refers to a place like a hospital or orphanage where children live for long, continuous periods of time.
- In such places there is often little care provided.

Question 2

Effects of institutionalisation

Answer 2

1. Disinhibited attachment- equally friendly and affectionate towards people they know and people they just met.
2. Mental retardation- damage to intellectual development (low IQ).
3. Poor physical development.
4. Emotional difficulties.

Question 3

Romanian orphan studies (Procedure)

Answer 3

Rutter and his colleagues have followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions.
- Physical, emotional and cognitive development has been assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 years.
- A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time served as a control group.

Question 4

Romanian orphan studies (findings)

Answer 4

• When they first arrived in the UK half the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the majority were severely undernourished.
• At age 11 the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption.
• The mean IQ for those children adopted before the age of 6 months was 102, compared with 86 for those adopted between 6 moths- 2 years, and 77 for those adopted after 2 years. These differences remained later in life.

Question 5

Romanian orphan studies (findings= attachment)

Answer 5

• There was a different outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after 6 months.
• Those children adopted after six months showed signs of a particular attachment type called disinhibited attachment type.
• Symptoms include attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour.

Question 6

Evaluation of the Romanian orphans study

Answer 6

1. Real life application- enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation= these results have led to developments in childcare, to ensure children are cared for properly preventing disinhibited attachment and developing normal development.
2. The Romanian orphans were not typical= their conditions were so bad that the results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of quality institutional care.
   - This is a limitation of the Romanian orphan study because the unusual situational variables means the studies may lack all generalisability.