Institutionalisation Flashcards
What is institutionalisation?
The effects of living in an institutional setting (living outside of the family home)
What is an institution?
A place like a hospital or an orphanage where children live for long, continuous periods of time. In such places there is often very little emotional care provided
Who conducted the first study on institutionalisation?
Rutter et al
What was the aim and method of Rutter et al’s study?
Rutter et la follow d a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to investigate to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions. Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15. A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time served as the control group
What were the findings of Rutter et al’s study?
- When they first arrived in the U.K. half the adoptees showed signs of mental retardation and the majority were under malnourished
- The mean IQ of the children adopted before the age of 6 months was 102, compared with 86 adopted between 6 months and 2 years and 77 for those adopted after 2 years
- Those children adopted after 6 months showing signs of disinhibition attachment which is when they can’t tell between a stranger and someone they know really well
- Symptoms of disinhibition attachment include attention seeking and clinginess
What was the conclusion of Rutter et al’s study?
Long term consequences may be less severe than was one thought of children have the opportunity to form attachments before the age of 6 months. However when children form attachments after 6 months the consequences are likely to be more severe
Who conducted the second study onto institutionalisation?
Zeanah et al
What was the procedure of Zeanah et al’s study?
He assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care. They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution. Their attachment type was measured using the strange situation. In addition carers were asked about unusual social behaviour
What were the findings of Zeanah et al’s study?
74% of the control group came out as securely attached. However only 19% of the institutional group were securely attached with 65% being classified with disorganised attachment. The description of disinhibition attachment applied to 44% of institutionalised children as opposed to less than 20% of the controls. This shows that being institutionalised can have an effect on attachment type
What are the two effects of institutionalisation?
Disinhibited attachment and mental retardation
What is disinhibited attachment?
They are equally friendly and affectionate towards people they know well or who are strangers that they have just met. Rutter explained this as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation
What is mental retardation?
Damage to intellectual development such as this can be recovered provided adoption takes place before the age of 6 months
What are two strengths of institutionalisation?
Studying Romanian orphans has enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation, which has led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions. Also it has been possible to study institutionalisation without confounding variables as they didn’t experience loss or trauma so there is a higher internal validity
What are two limitations of institutionalisation?
It is possible that conditions in the Romanian orphan studies were so bad that results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of better quality institutional care so therefore it lacks generalisability. Also the long term effects are not clear yet as its too soon to say whether children suffered short term or long term effects as those that displayed attachment and intellectual difficulties may still catch up as adults
