Romanian Orphan Studies: Effects Of Institutionalisation Content Flashcards
What is the main study from this topic?
Rutter and Sonuga-Barke (2010)
Why were Romanian children sent to orphanages?
The communist regime in Romania led to overpopulation as contraception was banned, but the economy couldn’t supply for all these children. They were sent to orphanages
What were conditions like in the Romanian orphanages?
. Multiple in a cot
. Not fed properly
. Even older babies didn’t get own bed
. No emotional care
What is an orphan study?
The study of a child who has been placed in care as parents not longer able to care for them
What is institutionalisation?
Any effects of living in an institutional setting e.g orphanages, prisons, hospitals
How many studied in the ERA?
165 Romanian orphans adopted in the UK
What is another name for the Romanian orphans study?
ERA study - English and Romanian adoptees
What is Michael Rutter known as?
The ‘father of child psychiatry’
What was the aim of the Romanian orphan study?
To investigate to what extent would recovery be possible when extremely depriving conditions in early life were followed by generally good conditions in middle childhood
How were the Romanian orphans tracked in the study?
Longitudinally - over a long period of time
What was the experimental group (Romanian orphans) compared to?
A control group of 52 British children adopted before 6 months old
- hadn’t been in an institution
When were the groups of the ERA study first assessed?
At 4 years old
How often were the groups of children tested and how?
At 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old - regular intervals
Assessed using:
. Direct observations
. Psychometric assessments to assess physical, cognitive and social development
. Interviews with parents and teachers to gather extra information
How were the 165 Romanian orphans split into different groups of time of adoption?
58 babies adopted before 6 months
59 adopted between 6 months and 2 years
48 adopted between 2-4 years old
What is the research method of the ERA study?
Natural experiment
How old were the Romanian orphans when they went to the orphanages?
1-2 weeks, with minimal adult contact
What were the general findings of the ERA study?
. On adoption, all Romanian orphans lagged behind British control group in physical, social and cognitive development
- malnourished, smaller, mentally retarded
. Some children caught up by age 4, especially for most adopted before six months
. Correlation between age of adoption and rate of recovery
. Earlier adoption = higher mean IQ
. Adopted after 6 months = signs of disinhibited attachment
What do the ERA study findings suggest about the effects of institutionalisation?
Long term consequences are less severe than imagine IF children form attachments early on. If they don’t, the consequences are likely to be severe
What were the ERA findings on disinhibited attachment?
. By age 6, 26% Romanian orphans showed it, while only 3.8% British adoptees showed it
. By 11, 54% Romanian orphans showed this pattern
What were the findings on mean IQ in ERA study?
. Age 11: 102 IQ for those adopted before 6 months
. Age 11: 86 IQ for those adopted between 6 months and 2 years
. Age 11: 77 IQ for those adopted after 2 years
What is disinhibited attachment?
Form of insecure attachment - Typical effect of living in an institution, infants show indifference towards their care-givers and strangers, as they are friendly and affectionate to both
How did Rutter (2006) explain disinhibited attachment?
As partly due to the fact that infants living in institutions had multiple care-givers during the sensitive/critical period, as the Romanian orphanages had no consistency of care. Not seeing a specific care-giver enough stops a secure attachment from forming
What are the 2 other studies on Romanian orphans?
Le Mare and Audet (2006)
Zeanah et al (2005)
What did Le Mare and Audet (2006) do?
Reported the findings from a longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada
What were the dependent variables in Le Mare and Audet (2006)?
Physical growth and health
What were the findings of Le Mare and Audet (2006)?
The adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched control group at age 4 and a half years, but the difference disappeared by 10 and a half years
Same for physical health
What did the findings of Le Mare and Audet (2006) suggest?
Recovery is possible from the effects of institutionalisation on physical development
What was the procedure of Zeanah et al (2005?
. Used 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months
. Attachment assessed on children who spent average of 90% of lives in institution
. Control group pf 50 children who never lived in an institution used
. Strange situation used on these children
. Carers were asked if the child exhibited any unusual behaviours (interviews)
What were the findings of Zeanah et al (2005)?
. 74% control group were securely attached
. 19% institutional group securely attached
. 65% institutional group had disinhibited attachment
What are the main effects of institutionalisation?
. Physical underdevelopment (deprivation dwarfism)
. Intellectual under functioning
. Disinhibited attachment
How did Gardner (1972) show the effects of emotional care on physical development?
Studied a case study of a girl who had been fed through a tube
. Her mum would never cuddle her
. At 8 months, she was withdrawn and physically stunted
. Went to a hospital and thrived off the attention, turning back to normal size
What can be concluded from Gardner (1972) study?
The lack of emotional care can affect growth hormones, as seen in institutionalisation
What are characteristics of disinhibited attachment?
Attention seeking and over friendly
What did Skodak and Skeels (1949) find about the effects of institutionalisation on cognitive development?
Found that children placed in institutions scored poorly on intelligence tests. However, when the same children where transferred to a separate institution with emotional care, the IQ scores increased by almost 30 points
This shows that the lack of emotional care in institutions is what causes the cognitive underdevelopment
