romanian orphan studies

Question 1

Rutter’s ERA (English & Romanian Adoptee) 2011: procedure

Answer 1

• followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in England
• tested if good care can make up for poor experiences in institutionalisation
  physical, cognitive & emotional development were tested at age 4, 6 , 11 , 15 & again at 22 and 25
• control group = British children adopted around the same time

Question 2

Rutter’s ERA (English & Romanian Adoptee) 2011: findings

Answer 2

• when they first arrived ½ showed signs of mental retardation & most were undernourished
• at age 11 they showed different rates of recovery dependant on the age of adoption
• mean IQ of ones adopted before 6 months : 102
• 82 when adopted between 6 months - 2 years
• 77 when adopted after 2 years
• differences were the same around 16 years
• those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment while those before 6 months rarely showed it

Question 3

AO3: Rutter’s ERA (English & Romanian Adoptee) 2011

Answer 3

• good sample size & longitudinal study
  -good ecological validity
• confounding variables ( d ifferent levels of trauma)

Question 4

Bucharest early Intervention project ( Zeanan et al 2005): procedure

Answer 4

• assessed attachment in 95 children children aged 12-31 months
• control group of 50 children
  attachment was measured using the strange situation
  carers were asked about unusual social behaviour
  clingy, attentional seeking behaviour (disinhibited attachment)

Question 5

Bucharest early Intervention project ( Zeanan et al 2005): findings

Answer 5

• control group: 74% securely attached
• 20% disinhibited attachment
• institutional group: 19% securely attached
• 65% disorganised attachment
• 44% disinhibited attachment

Question 6

disinhibited attachment

Answer 6

• equally friendly towards people/ strangers
• Rutter study: an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during a critical period

Question 7

mental retardation

Answer 7

• showed within Rutter’s study upon arrival
• damage to intellectual development can be avoided if adopted by 6 months

Question 8

AO3: real-world application

Answer 8

• improved conditions for those in orphanages
• due to improved understanding of early institutional care & preventing effects
• e.g = children home avoid having lots of caregivers & tend to 1-2 key workers for a child
• institutional care is now seen as undesirable so more are children are in foster homes or adopted
• means that children have a chance to develop normal attachments

Question 9

AO3: confounding variables

Answer 9

• previous studies involved children who experienced loss or trauma before institutionalisation
• makes it hard to study the effects of institutionalisation in isolation as the children were dealing with loss and trauma as well as being in an institution
• Romanian orphans - no confounding variables so increased internal validity

Question 10

AO3: not a typical orphanage

Answer 10

• conditions in orphanages were extremly poor
• difficult to generalise findings to any institution where they experience deprivation
• due to the situational variables, it lacks generalisability

Question 11

AO3: social sensitivity

Answer 11

• studies show late adoptees have poor developmental outcomes
• people that may know the children may have lowered expectation which may have led to them being treated different due to the research
  may have created a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 12

AO3: long term effects

Answer 12

• too soon to say if the children will suffer long-term effects on intellectual & emotional development
• late adoptees may catch up as adult
• early adoptees appear to be fine but may suffer problems in adulthood