romanian orphan studies - institutionalisation Flashcards
romanian orphan studies overview
orphan studies were done to support the research on maternal deprivation
they used orphan studies to look at the effects of deprivation on emotional and intellectual development
looking at the effects of institutional care and the consequent institutionalisation arose in romania in the 1990s
former president Nicolai Ceausecu required romania women to have five children
many romainian parents could not afford to keep their children and the children ended up in huge orphanages in very poor conditions
after 1989 romainian revolution many of the children were adopted by british parents
Rutter et al research - procedure
Rutter and colleagues 2011
followed a group of 165 romanian orphans for many years as pat of the english and romanian adoptee study (ERA)
orphans has been adopted by families in the uk
aim of the ERA has been to investigate the extent to which goof care could make up for thr poor early experiences in institutions
Physical cognitive and emotional development had 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 served as a control group
Rutter et als research - findings
when the children first arrived in the UK half the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development
majoirty were severely undernourished
at age 11 the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age in which they were adopted
the mean IQ of those that were adopted before the age of six months was 102
compared with 86 for those who were adopted between six months and two years
77 for those adopted after two years
these differences remained at age 16
ADHD was more common in 15 and 22-25 year old sample (Kennedy et al)
there appeared to be a difference in outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after six months relating to attachment
those children adopted after they were six months showed signs of a particular attachement style called disinhibited attachment
symptoms include attention-seeking clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards adults both familiar and unfamiliar
in contrast those children adopted before the age of six months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment
Zeanah et al research procedure
Zeanah et al (2005)
conducted the Bucharest early intervention (BEI)
assessing attachment in 95 romanian children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care (90%)
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 inappropatiely at all adults
Zeanah et al - findings
researchers found that 74% of the control group were classed as securely attached in the strange situation
19% of the institutional group were securely attached
disinhibited attached applied to 44% of institutionalised children
less than 20% for control
effected of institutionalisation - disinhibited attachment
children who have spent them early lives in an institution often showed signs of disinhibited attachment
they were shown to be equally friendly and affectionate towards familiar people and strangers
this is highly unusual behaviour as most children in their second year show stranger anxiety
Rutter - explained disinhibited attachment as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation
in poor quality institutions such as romania a child might have 50 carers but doesn’t spend enough time with any one of them to be able to form a secure attachment
effects of institutionalisation - intellectual disability
In Rutter study mostly children showed signs of intellectual disability when they arrived in britain
most of those adopted before they were six 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 six months which is the age in which attachments form
strength
real-world application
application can improve conditions for children growing up outside their family home
studying the romanian orphans has improved psychologists understanding of the effects of early institutional care and how t prevent the worst of these effects - Langton
this has led to improvements in the conditions experiences by looked-after children
example - children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child
instead children tend to have one or two key workers who play a central role in their emotional care
also institutional care is now seen as an undesirable option for looked-after children
efforts are made to accommodate such children in foster care or to have them adopted instead
means that children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided
strength
fewer confounding variables
lack og confounding variables in romanian orphan studies
many orphan studied were done before the romanian orphans such as orphans studied during the second world war
many of the children studied in orphanages had experienced varying degrees of trauma and it is difficult to disentangle the effects of neglect physical abuse and bereavement from those in institutional care
children from the romania orphanages had been handed over by loving parent who could not afford to keep them
means that the results were much less likely to be confounded by other negative early experiences
higher internal validity
limitation
lack of adult data
current lack of data on adult development
latest data from the ERA study looked at the children in their early to mid 20s
means that we do not currently have any data to answer most of the interesting research questions about the long term effects if early institutional care
these research questions include the lifetime prevalence of mental health problems and participants success in forming and maintaining adult romantic and parental relationships
it will take a long time to gather this data because of the longitudinal design of the study
means that it will be some time before we know more completely what the long term effects are for the romanian orphans
it is possible that late adopted children may catch up
