Romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation Flashcards
Why did Rutter follow the progression of 165 Romanian Orphans?
-it was part of the English Romanian adoption study (ERA)
-The ERA experiment was meant to investigate the extent to which aftercare could make up for early experiences in poor institutions.
Outline procedure of Rutter’s Romanian Orphan study(2011)
-longitudinal study following 165 Romanian orphans for many years after English Romanian adoption
-physical cognitive and emotional development assesed at 4,6,8,11,15,22-25
-compared them to control group of 52 adopted British babies
Outline findings of Rutter’s Romanian Orphan study(2011)
-upon arrival 4: 1/2 of adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and majority were severely malnourished
-Age 11: rates of recovery varied due to time of adoption:
-those adopted before 6m IQ = 102,
-6m-2yrs = 86 IQ
2yrs+ = 77 IQ
-Age 16: differences remained (Beckett et al. 2010)
-22-25: ADHD more common in 15 and 22-25 samples (Kennedy)
- children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment- clinginess and attention seeking to all adults, familiar or unfamiliar
What was Zeanah’s research because of?
-Bucharest Early Intervention(BEI) project
Outline procedure of Zeanah et al’s research
- 95 Romanian children age 12 months - 31 months who lived 90% of their lives in institutions were compared to 50 children who had never been in an institution and they were assessed for their attachment type using strange situation and carers asked about unusual social behaviour associated with disinhibted attachment.
-74% of control group = secure attachment
-19% of institutionalised group = secure attachment
- institutionalised group = 44% disinhibted attachment
What are the effects of institutionalisation?
-Develop disinhibited attachment: unusual behaviour as should show stranger anxiety: Rutter explained this as due to orphans in Romania often having multiple carers without developing attachment
-Intellectual disability: most children showed signs of intellectual disability upon arrival. However, those that arrived before 6 months were caught up by age 4. Therefore can be reversed if young enough
What are the strengths of institutionalisation research
-Real world application: can improve the conditions for children in institutions. Improved understanding of the effects of early institutionalisation and how to prevent those effects (langton 2006)- led to improvement of looked after children: now have 1-2 key workers who play central role in care and wont be changed a lot. Also, institutions are now seen as an undesirable option for children so considerable effort is now made to put children into foster care or adoption. This means children are allowed opportunities for normal development and avoid disinhibited attachment.
-fewer confounding variables: other studies during ww2 children had experienced trauma and varying levels of neglect and abuse before placed in institutions. This means it is hard to disentangle effects of trauma from ww2 and neglect and abuse in institutions. On the other hand, Romanian orphans were mostly adopted by loving families which means results are less likely to be confounded by other childhood experiences.
However, studying children from Romania may have opened up other confounding variables as quality of care in those institutions was really bad. This means the results may be because of the poor institutional care rather than the institution itself.
What are the weaknesses of institutionalisation research
-lack of adult data: rutters study stopped at 25 so we are not aware of long term effects of institutionalisation such as lifetime mental health issues and it would take a long time to get this information.
