Romanian Orphan Studies - Effects Of Institutionalisation

Question 1

What is institutionalisation? (Intro)
(3)

Answer 1

• inst is when children have spent a long period of time living outside of their home, within an institution e.g. orphanage
• this can result in a loss of personal identity and child adopting the rules and norms of the inst that can impair cognitive functioning

Question 2

What are the effects of inst?

Answer 2

• reactive att disorder
• disinhibited att
• cognitive impairment

Question 3

Describe what is meant by reactive att disorder (2)

Answer 3

• extreme lack of sensitive responsiveness from parent in early life
• can lead to child growing up unable to trust or love others
• they become isolated, selfish , lack remorse and sociopathic.

Question 4

Describe what is meant by disinhibited att?

Answer 4

• long periods of inst care in early life where children may have multiple c.g. during critical period for att formation, so no secure att
• can lead to condition in which children select att figures indiscrimanately and bhv in an overly familiar way such as being friendly with complete strangers
• this is unusual bhv as young children would usually be shy as a sign of stranger anx
• inst children may show other bhv disorders such as attention seeking too

Question 5

Describe what is meant by cognitive impairment?

Answer 5

• delay in intellectual development
• e.g. low IQ, conc problems and having difficulty learning new concepts or bhvs

Question 5

Who investigated the effects of inst using romanian orphan studies and what was their aim, sample and method?

Answer 5

Rutter et al inv whether loving + nurturing care could overturn the effects of inst children had suffered in romanian orphanages using over 100 romanian orphans adopted into british families with a longitudinal study

Question 6

What was Rutter et als procedure into investigating the effects of inst using romanian orphan studies?

Answer 6

• physical, emotional and cog development were assesed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15
• IV = age of adoption
• DV = childrens emotional + cog development
• he studied three groups; adopted before age of 6 months, bw 6 months and 2 years, adopted after the age of two
• they were then compared to a control group of 52 british adopted children

Question 7

What was Rutter et als findings into investigating the effects of inst using romanian orphan studies?

Answer 7

• initially half of the romanian children showed signs of cog impairment + were severely undernourished
• at 4 the children were making good recoveries , children who were adopted before 6 months were significantly recovering and doing as well as british adopted children
• however those adopted after 2 had a higher level of disinhibited att
• at 11, the mean IQ for those adopted later was lower than those adopted earlier who had a normal IQ level, showing cog imp

Question 8

What did Rutter et al conclude?

Answer 8

some neg effects of inst can be overcome by sensitive and nurturing care, esp if adoption takes place earlier

Question 9

What are the three AO3 PEELS to evaluate Romanian Orphan Studies - Effects Of Institutionalisation?

Answer 9

Strength - prac apps
Weakness - confounding variables
Weakness - example of confounding variable