Romanian orphan studies Flashcards
Who completed the Romanian orphan study?
To investigate the long term effects of institutional care and to see the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in life.
What was the procedure of Rutter’s Romanian orphan study?
Early 1990’s - followed a group of Romanian orphans adopted to the UK from institutions in Romania. A randomly selected sample of 165 children who were adopted before the age of 4, and studied at 4, 6 and 11.
Comparisons were made with a sample of 52 non-institutionalised UK children adopted before the age of six months.
What were the results of Rutter’s Romanian orphan study?
Over half the children showed severe signs of malnutrition, but by the age of 4 many had caught up with the peers in terms of physical development.
If they were adopted before 6 months, they had a mean IQ of 102. Adopted between 6 months and 2 years - mean IQ 86. Adopted after 2 years, mean IQ was 77.
70.4% of those adopted after 6 months shows signs of disinhibited attachment.
What was the conclusion of Rutter’s Romanian orphan study?
Institutionalisation can have relatively long term negative effects on social, emotional and cognitive development, but these effects can be minimalised if children are taken out of the institutional environment before 6 months.
What are the likely effects of institutionalisation according to Rutter?
Disinhibited attachment
Developmental retardation
Deprivation dwarfism
How was disinhibited attachment shown in the Romanian orphan research?
Some children randomly came and sat on the researcher’s knee
How was developmental retardation shown in the Romanian orphan study?
Kids who spent over two years within an orphanage had an average IQ of 77
How was deprivation dwarfism shown in the Romanian orphan research?
Over half of the institutionalised children were in the bottom third for weight and head circumference.
Does the Romanian orphan study have useful practical applications?
Showed the negative effects of being raised in an institution and has led to the establishment of a key worker system to allow children to create meaningful attachments.
Is there positive evidence from the Romanian orphan study?
Suggests those adopted before six months showed normal behaviour and those adopted after showed signs of disinhibited attachment
Is the results from the Romanian orphan study generalisable?
Standards in Romania were particularly poor. Could not control all extraneous variables such as temperament of child.
Are the effects of institutionalisation clear?
More research needs to be done into the child’s internal working model and the continuity hypothesis.
