Romanian orphan studies + effects of institutionalisation Flashcards
What did the Romanian civil war enable psychologists to study?
It was an international crisis that gave rise to a tragic opportunity to study the effects of deprivation on a large number of children who were orphaned during the war in the 1990s.
What did the Romanian law involve, regarding children?
It was legal for women to be required to have 5+ children, meaning lots of children were left orphaned when their parents died.
Who was one of the main researchers studying the Romanian War and what were they intending to study?
Michael Rotter
Investigating the impact of spending an extended period of time in an orphanage.
What did Rotter et al. (2005) conduct a study on and who were involved? (control group + experimental group)
Conducted an ongoing longitudinal study in investigating the impact of being in an institution on Romanian children who were adopted by UK families and compared them to a control group of 52 UK children who were adopted around a similar time.
What did Rotter assess the Romanian children on and at what 4 ages?
He assessed them on physical / cognitive development at ages:
4, 6, 11 + 15 years
What were the three groups that Rotter involved (the ages of adoption) ?
- 1st group, adopted before 6 months
-2nd, adopted between 6 months + 2 years
-3rd, adopted after 2 years.
What were the findings for the Romanian children at age 4 and which group made the best progress?
At time of adoption, they were on average smaller than British orphans, 50% of them were behind in their cognitive functioning.
They also struggle to befriend.
The best group were the group of Romanians adopted before 6 months, showing no difference between them and the British adoptees.
What were the findings for the Romanian children at age 11, regarding both the adoptees before 6 months and after?
Those adopted before were like the British adoptees.
Those adopted after had the lowest cognitive ability and struggled with friendships.
Infants who spent long time in institution had the most severely affected cognitive/social development.
What did Rutter et al. (2011) find from their collection of observations/ interviews from the orphans at ages 22-25?
Found that orphans adopted after 6 months were likely to suffer from ADHD, and to have low IQs.
The group adopted after 2 years showed the most difficulties.
What groups did Rutter report on having damage attachment types (disinhibited) in regards to his longitudinal study?
The group of orphans adopted after 6 months or after 2 years.
What is disinhibited attachment and what are the 2 things child with this often show?
This is the worst and most damaging attachment type and infants show:
-attention seeking
-clinginess to any adult, even strangers.
Who did Le Mare and Audet study the affects on (2006) that supports Rutter’s findings?
The affects on 36 Romanian orphans who were adopted by couples in Canada.
What did Le Mare and Audet find from their (2006) study and what does this suggest about the effects of institutionalisation?
Found that, despite Romanian orphans being smaller than Canadian children at 4 1/2 years, by the age of 10 1/2 they displayed no differences.
Suggests children can overcome some of the physical affects of institionalisation.
Who did Zeanah et al. (2005) use the ‘Strange Situation’ on, why, and who did they compare them to?
Used it to assess attachment of 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months who spent 90% of their lives in institution, and compared them to children who had never been in institution.
What type of attachment do instutionalised children often have?
Disinhibited attachment
