Romanian Orphan Studies Flashcards
What are institutions
Somewhere where people stay for long and continuous periods of time eg. Hospitals and orphanages
What is institutionalization
The effects of living in an institutionalized setting
Context of the Romanian orphan studies
Romania’s communist rule banned access to contraception which led to many children being born into severe food and electricity shortages, leading them to be given to state care.
Orphanages lacked funding and medicine and the children were often subjected to forms of physical and sexual abuse
Who did the Romanian orphan study
Rutter
What was the main aim of Rutters study
To see if good care can make up for poor early experiences in institutions
Who participated in the Romanian study
165 Romanian orphans in the ERA (English Romanian Adopted) study who had been adopted by English families
Procedure of Romanian study
Test physical, emotional and cognitive development aged : 4,6,11,15,22-25
52 adopted kids from England were used as a control
Findings Rutter
When arriving in the UK, half of the adoptees showed delayed intellectual intelligence and malnourishment
Adopted 0-6m = mean IQ 102
Adopted 6-24m = mean IQ 86
Adopted 2y+ = mean IQ 77
Adopted 0-6m = no disinhibited att
Adopted 6m+ = disinhibited att
Who did the BEI (Bucharest early intervention) study
Zeanah
Who participated in the BEI study
95 Romanian children who were part of the BEI and adopted between 12-31 months after spending most of their life institutionalized
Procedure of BEI study
95 Romanian children compared to a control group of 59 non institutionalized children
Using Answorth’s strange situation
Findings
Control g = 74% securely attached
Institutionalized g = 19% securely attached
Control g = 20% disinhibited attachment
Institutionalized g = 44% disinhibited attachment
What is disinhibited attachment
Characterized by having little to no stranger anxiety and being just as clingy and needy to strangers as you are your caregiver
Rutter proposed this is likely during to institutionalized children having multiple caregivers
Intellectual disabilities
In Rutters study most of the institutionalized children had signs of intellectual disabilities however by age 4 most had caught up with the control group.
