romanian orphan institutionalisation

Question 1

Why are Romanian orphans studied?

Answer 1

Romanian women required to have 5 children
Children ended up in orphanages in poor conditions
Many children adopted

Question 2

What are the two major studies into institutionalisation?

Answer 2

Rutter’s ERA study

The Bucharest Early Intervention project

Question 3

Describe Rutter’s procedure

Answer 3

Followed 165 orphans adopted in Britain
Test how good care made up for poor early experience
Physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed
Assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15
52 British children as control group

Question 4

What did Rutter find concerning the orphans’ development?

Answer 4

First arrived - signs of delayed intellectual development
Severely undernourished
Age 11 - differential rates of recovery related to age of adoption

Question 5

What were the mean IQs of different orphans in Rutter’s study?

Answer 5

Adopted before 6 months - 102
Adopted between 6 months and 2 years - 86
After 2 years - 77

Question 6

What did Rutter find concerning attachment?

Answer 6

Adopted after 6 months - disinhibited attachment

Before 6 months - rarely displayed disinhibited attachment

Question 7

What are the symptoms of disinhibited attachment?

Answer 7

Attention seeking
Clinginess
Social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults

Question 8

What is the procedure of the BEI project?

Answer 8

Zeanah assessed attachment in 95 children
Aged 12-31 months
Spent most of life in institutional care
Control - 50 normal kids
Attachment type measured using strange situation
Carers asked about unusual social behaviour

Question 9

What did Zeanah find?

Answer 9

74% of control were secure
19% of institutional were secure
65% disorganised
43% disinhibited
20% of control disinhibited

Question 10

How does Rutter explain disinhibited attachment?

Answer 10

Adaptation to living with multiple carers

Question 11

What are the two main effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 11

Disinhibited attachment

Mental retardation

Question 12

Describe how orphans suffer from mental retardation

Answer 12

Adopted before 6 months - caught up with control by age 4

Damage can be recovered from

Question 13

Evaluation - real life application

Answer 13

Enhanced understanding of institutionalisation
Improvements in institutions
Only a couple of caregivers per child (key worker)

Question 14

Evaluation - fewer extraneous variables than other orphan studies

Answer 14

Orphan studies often involve trauma or loss
Confounding participant variables
Internal validity - no variables

Question 15

Evaluation - Romanian orphanages are not typical

Answer 15

Conditions were extreme
Cannot apply to other institutions
Low intellectual stimulation
Poor standards of care
Lack generalisability

Question 16

Evaluation - ethical issues

Answer 16

ERA project - children not randomly assigned to conditions
Adoption process not interfered with
Early adopted children may have been more sociable
BEI project - orphans randomly allocated to care or fostering
Methodologically better but raises ethical issues

Question 17

Evaluation - long term effects not clear

Answer 17

Too soon to say whether effects are long term
May experience problems as adults
Conclusions are tentative