Maternal deprivation Flashcards
What tragic opportunity arose in Romania to study the effects of institutional care?
The implementation of Decree 770 by former president Nicolai Ceausescu led to many Romanian parents being unable to keep their children, resulting in them ending up in large orphanages under poor conditions.
What was the aim of the ERA study by Rutter et al. 2011?
To test the extent to which good care could compensate for poor early experiences in institutions by following a group of 169 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain.
What were the findings regarding the intellectual development of Romanian adoptees?
Half of the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development upon arrival in the UK, with mean IQ scores varying by age of adoption: 102 for those adopted before 6 months, 86 for those adopted between 6 months and 2 years, and 77 for those adopted after 2 years.
What attachment style was observed in children adopted after 6 months?
Children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment, characterized by attention-seeking, clinginess, and unusual social behavior.
What was the procedure of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project?
Zeanah et al. 2005 assessed attachment in 95 children aged 21-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care, comparing them to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution.
What were the findings regarding attachment types in the Bucharest study?
74% of the control group were securely attached, while only 19% of the institutional group were securely attached, with 65% classified as having disorganized attachment.
What is disinhibited attachment?
Disinhibited attachment is characterized by children being equally friendly and affectionate towards familiar people and strangers, contrary to typical stranger anxiety seen in most children.
How did Rutter explain disinhibited attachment?
Rutter explained it as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation, where children may have many caregivers but fail to form secure attachments.
What is Nadia’s story and its implications?
Nadia, adopted at two years old, shows attention-seeking behavior, which may be related to her early experiences in an orphanage, indicating signs of disinhibited attachment.
What is a limitation of previous orphan studies compared to Romanian orphan studies?
Previous studies often involved children with pre-existing trauma, making it difficult to isolate the effects of institutionalization, while Romanian orphan studies allowed for observation without these confounding variables.
What ethical issues arose in Rutter’s ERA project?
Children were not randomly assigned to conditions, which could introduce confounding variables, while the Bucharest project used random allocation but raised ethical concerns about the well-being of vulnerable children.
What are the long-term effects observed in studies of adopted or fostered orphans?
Studies have shown lasting effects of early experiences, particularly for those adopted late, but it remains uncertain whether these effects are short- or long-term.
