Romanian orphan studies: Effects of institutionalisation

Question 1

What is the association between Romanian orphan studies and Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 1

The theory of maternal deprivation predicted that long-term negative effects result from early deprivation. This can be studied in the context of institutional care.

Question 2

Over the last 25 years a number of studies have been conducted in Romania. Explain why.

Answer 2

Over the last 25 years a number of studies have been conducted in Romania because historical events left a large number of children there in poor quality institutions. This enabled psychologists to study the effects of deprivation.

Question 3

What is ‘institutionalisation’?

Answer 3

Institutionalisation is a term for the effects of living in an institutional setting. Psychologists are interested in studying the effects of institutional care on children’s attachment and subsequent development.

Question 4

What is meant by the term ‘institution’?

Answer 4

The term ‘institution’ refers to a place like a hospital or an orphanage where children live for long, continuous periods of time. In such places there is often very little emotional care provided.

Question 5

What is an orphan?

Answer 5

An orphan is a child whose parents have either died or have abandoned them permanently.

Question 6

When were the effects of institutional care first investigated in Romania?

Answer 6

A tragic opportunity to look at the effects of institutional care arise in Romania in the 1990s. Former President Nicolai Ceaucescu required Romanian women to have five children. Many Romanian parents could not afford to keep their children and the children ended up in huge orphaned in poor conditions. After the 1989 revolution many of the children were adopted, some by British parents.

Question 7

Which psychologist famously conducted a Romanian orphan study?

Answer 7

Michael Rutter (2011)

Question 8

What study was conducted by Michael Rutter in 2011?

Answer 8

The ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study.

Question 9

What was Rutter’s procedure?

Answer 9

Rutter and his colleagues followed a group of 165 Romanian Orphans adopted in Britain to test to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions. Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 years.

Question 10

How many Romanian orphans were adopted by Rutter and his colleagues?

Answer 10

Rutter and his colleagues studied a group of 165 Romanian orphans.

Question 11

What was the central aim of Rutter’s study?

Answer 11

Rutter wanted to understand the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions.

Question 12

The Romanian orphans were assessed on three separate levels. What did Rutter assess?

Answer 12

Rutter assessed the physical, cognitive and emotional development of the orphans.

Question 13

Alongside his experimental group, Rutter also had a control group. Who made up Rutter’s control group?

Answer 13

A group of 52 British children, adopted around the same time as the Romanian orphans, served as a control group.

Question 14

What did Rotter initially find when the 165 Romanian orphans first arrived in the UK?

Answer 14

When they first arrived in the UK, half of the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the majority were severely undernourished.

Question 15

At the age of 11, what was revealed regarding the adoptees rates of recovery?

Answer 15

At age 11 the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. These differences remained at age 16 (Beckett et al. 2010).

Question 16

At age 11 the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. What was the mean IQ of those children adopted before the age of six months?

Answer 16

The mean IQ of those children adopted before the age of six months was 102.

Question 17

At age 11 the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. What was the mean IQ of those children adopted between six months and two years?

Answer 17

The mean IQ of those adopted between six months and two years was 86.

Question 18

At age 11 the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. What was the mean IQ of those children adopted after two years?

Answer 18

The mean IQ of those adopted after two years was 77

Question 19

Children adopted after they were six months displayed a different attachment style to other adoptees. What was this attachment style identified by Rotter?

Answer 19

Children adopted after they were six months showed signs of a particular attachment style called disinhibited attachment. In contest those children adopted before the age of six months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment.

Question 20

How can disinhibited attachment be characterised?

Answer 20

Symptoms of disinhibited attachment include:

-Attention seeking
-Clinginess
-Social behaviour directed
indiscriminately towards
all adults, both familiar and unfamiliar

Question 21

Who conducted the Bucharest Early Intervention Project?

Answer 21

Zeanah et al. (2005)

Question 22

What was Zeanah’s procedure?

Answer 22

Zeanah assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care (90% on average). They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution. Their attachment type was measured using the Strange Situation. In addition, carers were asked about unusual social behaviour including clingy, attention-seeking behaviour directed inappropriately to all adults.

Question 23

How many children were assessed by Zeanah?

Answer 23

Zeanah assessed attachment in 95 children.

Question 24

Zeanah assessed attachment in 95 children. How old were these children?

Answer 24

These children were aged between 12 and 31 months.

Question 25

On average, how long had Zeanah’s sample spent in institutional care?

Answer 25

His sample had spent, on average, 90% of their lives in institutional care.

Question 26

Who made up Zeanah’s control group?

Answer 26

Zeanah’s control group consisted of 50 children who had never lived in an institution.

Question 27

How did Zeanah measure the attachment types of his sample?

Answer 27

Their attachment type was measured using the Strange Situation.

Question 28

What percentage of Zeanah’s control group came out as securely attached in the Strange Situation?

Answer 28

74% of the control group came out as securely attached.

Question 29

What percentage of Zeanah’s institutional group were securely attached?

Answer 29

Only 19% of the institutional group were securely attached.

Question 30

What percentage of Zeanah’s institutional group were classified with disorganised attachment?

Answer 30

65% of the institutional group were classified with disorganised attachment.

Question 31

What percentage of Zeanah’s institutional group identified with disinhibited attachment?

Answer 31

The description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutionalised children.

Question 32

What percentage of Zeanah’s control group identified with disinhibited attachment?

Answer 32

The description of disinhibited attachment applied to less than 20% of the controls.

Question 33

As a consequence of numerous studies being conducted into Romanian orphans, two distinct effects of institutionalisation have been identified. Name these two effects.

Answer 33

• Disinhibited attachment

- Mental retardation

Question 34

How can institutionalisation lead to disinhibited attachment?

Answer 34

Disinhibited attachment is a typical effect of spending time in an institution. They are equally friendly and affectionate towards people they know well or who are strangers that they have just met. This is highly unusual behaviour because most children in their second year display stranger anxiety.

Question 35

How did Rutter attempt to explain the existence of disinhibited attachment?

Answer 35

Rutter has explained disinhibited attachment as an adaption to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation. In poor quality institutions, like those in Romania, a child might have 50 carers, none of whom they see enough to form a secure attachment.

Question 36

How can institutionalisation result in mental retardation?

Answer 36

In Rutter’s study most children showed signs of retardation when they arrived in Britain. However, most of those adopted before they were six months old caught up with the control group by age four. It appears that damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered provided adoption takes place before the age of six months (the age at which attachments form).