Romanian orphan studies: Institutionalisation

Question 1

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 1

• the effects of living in an institute like a hospital or orphanage for a long period of time

Question 2

What is the context to the Romanian orphan studies?

Answer 2

• former president Nicolai Ceaucescu required romanian women to have five children. However, many could not afford this and this led to many children ending up in huge orphanages under poor conditions

Question 3

Who were the two researchers?

Answer 3

• Rutter
• Zeanah

Question 4

What was Rutters research?

Answer 4

Procedure = Rutter followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans who had been adopted in the UK. Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at 4,6,11,15 and 22-25 and were compared to a control group
Findings = - half of the adoptees showed signs of intellectual development and were malnourished.
- mean IQ for those adopted before 6 was 102, between 6 months and two was 86. after two years it was 77 and these remained at age 16. ADHD was common in the 15 and 22-25 samples. The children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment

Question 5

What is disinhibited attachment?

Answer 5

• symptoms show attention seeking, clinginess and indiscrimate behaviour to all adults.
• Rutter explains this as being a cause of having to live with multiple caregivers during the critical period.

Question 6

What was Zeanahs research

Answer 6

• procedure = conducted the Bucharest early intervention and assessed 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutions. Their attachment type was then assessed during the strange situation. They then compared this to a control group.
• Findings = 74% was securely attached in the control group whereas in the institution group 19% were. Disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutionalised children whereas less than 20% of the controls.

Question 7

What is the explanation for intellectual disability?

Answer 7

• damage to intellect occurs before 6 months where attachments form as it is the sensitive critical period

Question 8

Give two strengths

Answer 8

1. Real world applications - It can help improve conditions for children growing outside their home. This helped psychologists understand the effects of early institution and improve conditions such as having one key worker. This means children have a chance to not develop disinhibited attachment
2. Lack of confounding variables. in previous studies, children in the orphanges had previous trauma however in the romanian studies, they were all handed over by loving homes which reduces confounding variables

Question 9

What is a weakness?

Answer 9

• Lack of adult data. The latest data is from children in their early to mid 20s. This shows that we do not have answers to the long term effects of institutionalisation. As this is a longitudinal study, it takes a lot of time to gather this data