Institutionalisation (Romanian orphans)

Question 1

What is meant by institutionalisation in regards to attachment?

Answer 1

the effect of institutional care and how it can affect the development of children

Question 2

What is the procedure of Rutter and Sonuga-Barke’s study on Romanian orphans?

Answer 2

• longitudinal study since early 1990’s
• 175 Romanian children who spent early lives in Romanian institutions
• most (111) were adopted before 2 years old, 54 by the age of 4
• adoptees tested at regular intervals (throughout the years)
• assessed to see their physical, cognitive, and social development (includes interviews with parents &i teachers)
• compared with a BRITISH CONTROL GROUP of adopted children

Question 3

What are the findings of Rutter and Sonuga-Barke’s study on Romanian orphans?

Answer 3

• at the time of the adoption:
in comparison to the British children, the Romanian orphans lagged behind on physical, cognitive, and social development
• By the age of 4, some of the children had caught up in their developments (typically for those adopted before 6 months)
• many romanian orphans adopted after 6 months had problems with attachments and relationships
• this shows that if there is an opportunity to form attachments, long-term consequences will be less severe

Question 4

In Canada, Le Mare and Audet did another study on Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada. What did this study show?

Answer 4

• at 4 and a half years:
adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched control group

• at 10 and a half years:
the difference had disappeared

• shows recovery from the effects of institutionalisation is possible

Question 5

In Romania, Zeanah et al did another study on Romanian children who had spent most of their lives an institutions and compared this to children who had never been in an institution. How were the children assessed and what were the findings?

Answer 5

Assessed using the strange situation

the institutionalised children showed signs of disinhibited attachment

Question 6

What are the main effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 6

• physical underdevelopment e.g being smaller - Gardner suggests a lack of emotional care can cause deprivation dwarfism
• disinhibited attachment - a form of insecure attachment (similar indiscriminate attachment in schaffer and emerson, they can be overly friendly with strangers)
• intellectual underfunctioning - ‘mentally retarded’
• becoming poor parents in the future (Harlow showed this in his monkey study)

Question 7

Positives of the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 7

• la mare and audet - recovery is possible
• individual differences - not all children are as strongly affected as others
• real-life application is good, benefits child care & has sped up adoption process to avoid attachment problems
• longitudinal study gives good data & shows long term effects

Question 8

Negatives of the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 8

• the romanian orphan studies ignore other issues the institutions may cause (such as poor living conditions causing health problems) as opposed to just psychological issues
• research is suggesting it may actually be irreversible