Lesson 11- Romanian Orphan Studies: Effects of Institutionalisation Flashcards
What is an institution?
Institution- place for particular task e.g. looking after 👶 awaiting adoption, caring for mentally ill etc
What gave psychologists the opportunity to study deprivation?
1966- Romanian 🇷🇴 government tried to ⬆️ population of 🇷🇴- encouraged parents have large families & banned abortion-> 👶 ✖️ be cared for by families-> opportunity for psychologists to study deprivation
Who conducted a study on Romanian to study the effects of institutionalisation & hence deprivation and when did they do so?
Rutter & Songua-Barke (2010)
What was the method used in the study investigating the effects of institutionalisation & hence deprivation?
Method:
1) 165 🇷🇴 👶 spent early lives in 🇷🇴 institutions & … suffered effects of institutionalisation were adopted by 🇬🇧 families
3 age categories of 🇷🇴 👶:
• 54 adopted before 6 months old
• 57 adopted between 6 months- 2 years old
• 54 adopted between 2-4 years old
2) Adoptees tested regularly (ages 4, 6, 11 & 15 years)- assess physical, cognitive 🧠 & social development
3) Info gathered in interviews with parents & teachers 👩🏫
4) Progress compared to control group of 52 🇬🇧 children adopted in 🇬🇧 before 6 months old
What were the findings in the study investigating the effects of institutionalisation & hence deprivation?
Findings:
1) At adoption time- 🇷🇴 orphans behind 🇬🇧 👶 in physical, social, emotional & 🧠 development- e.g. 🇷🇴 orphans severely malnourished & showed signs of mental retardation
2) BUT by age 4- some 🇷🇴 👶 caught up with 🇬🇧 👶- especially those adopted before 6 months old
3) 🇷🇴 children adopted after 6 months old (experienced longer institutional care)- ⬆️ likely to suffer social, emotional & 🧠 deficits & showed signs of ‘disinhibited attachment’ (attention seeking, clingy, & social behaviour same towards all adults, both familiar & unfamiliar)- unusual 🏃♂ as most children at 2 years old still show stranger anxiety
4) Disinhibited attachment caused by 🇷🇴 👶 having several carers during critical period & … secure attachment ✖️ formed to any of them
IQ of 🇷🇴 👶 at age 11:
• Adopted before 6 months- 102
• Adopted between 6 months-2 years old- 86
• Adopted between 2-4 years old- 77
5) IQ differences remained when 👶 16 years old
6) 👶 adopted between 2-4 years old ⬆️ likely suffer mental health issues
What was the conclusion found in the study investigating the effects of institutionalisation & hence deprivation?
Conclusion:
1) 👶 can recover from institutional care especially if adopted before 6 months old … effects of institutionalisation minimised if 👶 adopted as young as possible (e.g. before 6 months old)
2) OTHERWISE-> long term effects (lack of development- social, emotional & 🧠)
What were the evaluation points of the Romanian orphans study?
Evaluation- 🇷🇴 institution orphans study:
👎- ✖️ knowing conditions of orphanages in 🇷🇴 before 👶 entered 🇬🇧
👎- ✖️ generalise findings- only some 👶 received detailed clinical investigations
👎- ethical issues- consent of 👶 problem
👎- extraneous variables- natural experiment … could have affected findings e.g. quality of care received from parents of adopted 👶
Which 2 other psychologist also studied Romanian orphans & what did they find?
1) Le Mare & Audet (2006)
- longitudinal study
- 36 🇷🇴 orphans adopted to families in 🇨🇦
- Adopted orphans physically smaller than matched control group at 4 & a ½ years old BUT difference disappeared by age 11
- … recovery possible from effects of institutionalisation on physical development
2) Zeanah et al. (2005)
- 95 🇷🇴 👶- spent 90% of lives in orphanage compared to control group of 50 👶- never been in institution
- Aged between 12 & 31 months- assessed using Strange Situation
- 74% of control group- securely attached
- 19% of institutional group- securely attached
- 65% of institutional group- Type D attachment (disorganised attachments)
- 44% of institutional group- disinhibited attachment (SEE ABOVE FOR MEANING ⬆️)
- 20% of control group- disinhibited attachment (SEE ABOVE FOR MEANING ⬆️)
What were the 4 effects of institutionalisation?
1) Physical underdevelopment
2) Intellectual 🧠 under-functioning (mental retardation)
3) Disinhibited attachment
4) Poor parenting
How does institutionalisation effect physical development?
Physical underdevelopment:
- 👶 in institutional care- physically smaller-✖️ emotional care rather than poor nourishment-> deprivation dwarfism
How does institutionalisation effect intellectual development?
Intellectual 🧠 under-functioning (mental retardation):
- Due to emotional deprivation
- 👶 scored poorly on intelligence tests until transferred to different institution- inmates gave 👶 emotional care-> IQ scores ⬆️ by up to 30 points
How does institutionalisation effect attachment type?
Disinhibited attachment:
- Form of insecure attachment- 👶 ✖️ discriminate between strangers & non-strangers
- Treat unfamiliar people with inappropriate familiarity & show over-friendliness
How does institutionalisation effect parenting?
Poor parenting:
- Harlow- showed 🐵 raised in isolation or with surrogate mother became poor parents
- Quinton et al. (1984)- 50 👩 raised in institutions compared with control group of 👩 reared at normal 🏠
- In 20s ex-institutional 👩 struggling to be good parents- many of their 👶 spent time in care
What are the evaluation points of institutionalisation studies?
👎- Individual differences- ✖️ all 👶 who ✖️ form primary attachment within critical period are unable to recover (research suggested that 👶 ✖️ recover)- some children ✖️ as affected as others BUT Rutter suggested some 👶 did receive special care in institution- maybe 😊 ⬆️ or just ‘cute’ … had some attachment experience
👍- Value of longitudinal studies- same 👶 followed up through many years … ⬆️ able to understand effects of institutionalisation & whether permanent or reversible
👎- Methodological & ethical issues- methodological issue- Rutter’s 🇬🇧 & 🇷🇴 Adoptee project- 👶 ✖️ randomly assigned to conditions … 👶 adopted early may have been ⬆️ sociable (extraneous variable)
Ethical issue- 🇷🇴 orphan studies- consent of adoptees & parents
👍- Real life application- research into effects of institutionalisation allowed us to learn that if adoption is to happen- needs to happen whilst 👶 is young as possible (e.g. 👶 adopted before 6 months old had✖️ significant problems) & whilst within critical period (first 2-3 years old)
