Romanian Orphan studies- institutionalisation

Question 1

orphan studies definition

Answer 1

concerns children placed in care because their parent cannot look after them.an orphan is a child whose parents have either died or permanently abandoned them

Question 2

institutionalisation definition

Answer 2

a term for the effects of living in an institutional setting. the term institution refers to a place like a hospital or an orphanage where people live for long, continuous periods of time. in such places there is often very little emotional care provided. in attachment research we are interested in the effects if institutional care in children’s attachment and subsequent development

Question 3

what do orphan studies of maternal deprivation study

Answer 3

effects of deprivation on emotional and intellectual development

Question 4

how did the opportunity to study the Romanian orphans arise

Answer 4

opportunity to look at the effects of institutional care and the consequence institutionalisation arose in Romania in the 1990s. Former president Ceaucescu required Romanian woman to have 5 children. many Romanian parents could not afford to keep their children and the children ended up in huge orphanages in very poor conditions. after the 1989 Romanian revolution many of the children were adopted, some by British parents

Question 5

when did Rutter et al do research

Answer 5

2011 as part of the English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study

Question 6

Rutter et al sample

Answer 6

165 Romanian orphans

Question 7

Rutter et al procedure of effects of institutionalisation on Romanian orphans

Answer 7

followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans for many years as part of the English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study. the orphans have been adopted by families in the UK. the ERA aim has been to investigate the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions. physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed at ages 4,6,11,15 and 22-25 years. a group of 52 children from the UK adopted around the same time have served as a control group

Question 8

Rutter at al findings

Answer 8

-when children first arrived in the UK, half of the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the majority were severely malnourished. at the age of 11 the adopted children showed differential rated of recovery that was related to their age of adoption. the mean IQ of those children adopted before the ago of 6 months was 102, compared to 86 for those adopted between 6 months and 2 years and 77 for those adopted after 2 years. these differences remained at age 16 (Beckett et al 2010) ADHD was more common in 15 and 22-25 year old samples (kennedy et al 2016)

Question 9

Rutter et al conclusion and findings

Answer 9

-in terms of attachment, there appeared to be a difference in outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after 6 months. these children adopted after 6 months showed signs of a particular attachment style called disinhibited attachment. symptoms included attention-seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults, both familiar and unfamiliar
-in contrast those children adopted before the age of 6 months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment

Question 10

Zeanah et al procedure

Answer 10

Zeannah et al 2005 conducted the Bucharest early intervention project, assessing attachment in 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months who has spent most of their lives in institutional care (90%) on average. they were compared to a control group of 50 children who has never lived in an institution. their attachment type was measured using the strange situation. in addition carers were asked about unusual social behvaiour including clingy, attention-seeking behaviour directed inappropriately at all adults which is a measure of disinhibited attachment

Question 11

Zeanah et al findings

Answer 11

researchers found that 74% of the control group were classed as securely attached. in contrast, the description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutionalised children ads opposed to lead than 20% of the controls

Question 12

effects on institutionalisation - disinhibited attachment

Answer 12

children who have spent their early lives in an institution often show signs of disinhibited attachment, being equally friendly and affectionate towards familiar people and stranger. this is highly unusual behvaiour as most 2 year olds show stranger anxiety

Question 13

effects on institutionalisation - how did Rutter explain disinhibited attachment

Answer 13

Rutter 2006 explained disinhibited attachment as an adaption to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation. in poor quality institutions such as in Romina, a child might have 50 cares but doesn’t spend enough time with any of them to form a secure attachment

Question 14

effects on institutionalisation - intellectual disability

Answer 14

-in Rutter’s study most children showed signs f intellectual disability when they arrived in Britain. However, most of those adopted before they were 6 months old caught up with the control group by the age of 4
-it appears that, like emotional development, damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered provided adoption takes place before the age of 6 months - the age at which attachments form

Question 15

strengths of research on effects of institutionalisation - Romanian orphans - Real-world application

Answer 15

-application to improve conditions for children growing up outside their family home
-Studying the Romanian orphans has improved psychologists’ understanding of the effects of institutional care and how to prevent the worst of these effects (Langton 2006). this ahs led to improvements in the conditions experienced by looked-after children such as those growing up in the care system. for example children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child. instead the children have one or two key workers who paly a central role in their emotional care. also institutional care is now seen as an undesirable option for looked-after children. considerable effort if made to accommodate such children in foster care or to have them adopted instead –> means children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided

Question 16

strength of research on effects of institutionalisation - Romanian orphans - fewer confounding variables

Answer 16

-lack of confounding variables
-many orphan studies before the Romanian orphans such as orphans studied during the second world war. Many of these children had varying degrees of trauma and it is difficult to disentangle the effects of neglect, physical abuse and bereavement from those of institutional care. however the children from Romanian orphanages has, in the main, been handed over by loving parents who could not afford to keep them –> means the results were much less likely to be confounded by other negative early experiences so has higher internal validity

Question 17

limitation of research on effects of institutionalisation - Romanian orphans - counterpoint to fewer confounding variables

Answer 17

-however, studying children form Romanian orphanages might have introduced different confounding variables. the quality of care in these institutions was remarkably poor, with children receiving very little intellectual stimulation or comfort –> means the harmful effects seen in the studies of Romanian orphans may represent to effects of poor institutional care rather than institutional care

Question 18

limitation of research on effects of institutionalisation - Romanian orphans - lack of adult data

Answer 18

-current lack of data on adult development
-latest data from the ERA study looked at children in their early to mid 20s. this means that we do not currently have data to answer some of the most interesting research questions include the lifetime relevance of mental health problems and participant’s success in forming and maintaining adult relationships. it will take a long time to gather this data because of the longitudinal design of the study (the same participants are followed over a long time period) –> means it will be some time before we know more completely what the log-term effects are for the Romanian orphans. it is possible that late-adopted children may catch up.

Question 19

evaluation of research on effects of institutionalisation - Romanian orphans - social sensitivity

Answer 19

-Romanian orphan studies are socially sensitive because the results show that late-adopted children typically have poor developmental outcomes. results have been published while the children have been growing up, meaning that their parents, teachers and anyone else who knew them might have lowered their expectations and treated the adopted children differently. this might even have created a self-fulfilling prophecy
-however, much has been learned form the Romanian orphan studies that might benefit future institutionalised or potentially institutionalised children