Roman orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation Flashcards
attachment
What caused the increased amount of Romanian children in orphanages?
Nicolae Ceasescu, the leader of Romania from 1965-1989 made abortion and contraception illegal and told Romanians to have large families as part of their patriotic duty. This was to boost the population and create a citizens army.
How overcrowded were orphanages?
Staff were outnumbered 20:1
What were the three main effects of institutionalisation?
Disinhibited attachments
Poorer intellectual development
Poorer physical development
What are disinhibited attachments?
Similar to insecure-avoidants. Children shoe no stranger anxiety, communicating with strangers and those they know in the same way and often show attention seeking behaviours.
What is poorer intellectual development?
Previously known as retardation. It has generally been found that those who are institutionalised tend to have a lower IQ than those who are not.
What is poorer physical development?
Those who have been raised in an institution are physically smaller than those who have not.
What was Rutter and Songua-Barke’s research?
They are carrying on ongoing research into the effects of institutionalisation on a group of Romanian orphans (165) and compare them to 52 British children adopted in the UK (control group)
What were the findings of Rutter and Songua-Brake’s research?
-The Romanian children all had poor cognitive, social, and physical development
-by the age of four some Romanian children had caught up with their British peers if adopted before six months old.
-those adopted after six months had trouble getting on with their peers and demonstrated disinhibited attachment types
This shows it’s possible to recover from the negative effects of institutionalisation, whilst being consistent with the idea of a critical period
What was Zeanah et al’s research (2005)?
Zeanah’s (2005) reported results from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project which involved 95 Romanian children who spent almost all their lives in an institution. They assessed their attachment types using the strange situation and compared findings to a control group of children never institutionalised. 19% of the Romanian children were securely attached compared to 74% in the control group. They also reported more disinhibited attachment types in the Romanian children than the control group.
What are the strengths of Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation?
It shows how important it is for children to have a continuous attachment. This brought important changes to adoption and hospitalisation policies. Children’s adopted at a younger age fare better so are now given over to adopted sooner. It helped improve conditions of the institutions and there’s now key workers. Shows the positive influence and the positive changes this research has made
What are the limitations of Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation?
Findings could be considered as socially sensitive for institutionalised children- suggests they have lower intellectual development- hinders their prospects in later life- risks may outweigh the benefits- unethical
The methods used to collect the data- self-reported data- may lack validity- parents may not want to share info that questions their parenting skills- strange situation suffers with imposed etic and may not have the same meaning in the Romanian culture
Findings don’t tell us much about adult behaviours- tend to be longitudinal- have to wait- we know effects on children not long term effects until these longitudinal findings are published
