romanian orphan studies - effects of institualisation

Question 1

what is the history behind roman orphan studies ?

Answer 1

• 1965-1989 Nicole Ceausescu
• 1966 decree –> in order to boost the population restrictions on abortion and contraception were implemented
• women were encouraged to have lots of children
  5 + saw huge benefits
  10 + made you a heroine of the state
• problem –> child abandonment

Question 2

how many children were estimated to be living and raised in orphanages ?

Answer 2

1989 –> between 100,000 - 170,000 children living in orphanages
- an estimated 500,000 children were raised in orphanages

Question 3

how does this situation link to psychology ?

Answer 3

• after 1989 revolution many of the children were adopted by english families
• gave psychologists the opportunity study the effects of deprivation

Question 4

what is privation ?

Answer 4

• occurs when children have never formed an attachment
  –> more likely to happen in institutions if there is poor emotional care - although it can happen also outside

Question 5

who conducted a study to do with Romanian orphan studies and what was it called ?

Answer 5

• Rutter et al 2011 + english romaian adoptee study (ERA)

Question 6

what was the aim of rutter’s study ?

Answer 6

• to examine the long-term effects of institutionalisation in a longitudinal study
  –> beginning in the early 1990s called ERA

Question 7

what was the method of rutter’s era study ?

Answer 7

-followed 165 children who were adopted by British families
- compared to a control group of 52 british children ( adopted before they were 6 month old )
- adoptees cognitive,physical and emotional development assessed at ages 4,6,11,15,22-25
- interviews were conducted with adoptive parents

Question 8

what was the question rutter was trying to answer ?

Answer 8

• whether good quality aftercare could make up for early attachment experiences

Question 9

what was the 2 impacts of institutionalisation ?

Answer 9

• intelluctual impact
• impact on attachement

Question 10

what was the effect of intellectual impact ?

Answer 10

• when the adoptees 1st arrived in the UK they were malnourished and showed signs of delayed intelluctual development

Question 11

how did the test the effect of intellectual impact ?

Answer 11

• rates of recovery when tested at the age of 11 , were related to their age at adoption

Question 12

what was the findings of intellectual impact ?

Answer 12

adoptation age vs mean IQ at age 11
before 6 months –> 102
6months - 2 years –> 86
after 2 years –> 77

Question 13

what was the effect of impact on attachement ?

Answer 13

adoptees who were adopted after the age of 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment style

Question 14

what was characteristics the orphans showed within the impact of attachment ?

Answer 14

• clingy
• attention seeking
• social behaviour directed towards both familiar and unfamiliar adults

Question 15

what was the results of impact of attachment characteristics ?

Answer 15

• this is potentially a result of living with multiple carers (rutter 2006)

Question 16

what was the conclusion of Rutter’s ERA study ?

Answer 16

• institutionalisation can have severe long-term effects on development , especially if children aren’t provided with adequate emotional caregiving
  –> i.e adopted by 2 years old

Question 17

who conducted a study about institutionalisation + what is the name of the study the conducted ?

Answer 17

–> zeenah et al (2005) + Bucharest early intervention project

Question 18

what was the aim of the BEIP ?

Answer 18

• to investigate attachment type of children who had spent most of their life in institutional care

Question 19

what was the method of BEIP ?

Answer 19

• attachment was assessed in 95 romainian children aged 12-31 months
  –> spent most of their institutional care
  –> compared to a control group of 50 children who have never lived in care

Question 20

what is the findings of BEIP study ?

Answer 20

experimental vs control group
–> 19 % vs 74% securely attached
–> 44 % vs >20% disinhibited attachment

Question 21

what does the findings of the research show ?

Answer 21

• shown that there appear to be 2 major effects to institutionalisation
  –> delayed intellectual development
  ( displayed by rutter )
  –> problems in attachments
  higher proportion of disinhibited attachments when compared to a control group

Question 22

what was a conclusion of BEIP study ?

Answer 22

• infants who spend early years in institutional care
  –> with absence of primary attachment figure provide consistent and sensitive emotional caregiving –> less likely to develop a secure attachment and far more likely –> to experience a disinhibited attachment