Romanian Orphan Studies & Institutionalization Flashcards
What is Institutionalisation?
Living arrangements outside that of the typical family home (e.g. in a children’s home)
What is Disinhibited Attachment?
When a child displays indiscriminate attachment behaviour towards familiar adults and strangers (e.g. hugging and clinging to both)
What does Disinhibited Attachment stem from?
Having lots of carers at a young age and not spending enough time with any of them to form a secure attachment
What does Institutionalisation affect?
Physical, cognitive, emotional and social development
Describe Rutter’s ERA Romanian Orphan Study
- A longitudinal study comparing 150+ Romanian orphans that had been adopted in the UK to a control group of 52 UK children that had been adopted roughly around the same time
- He assessed their development at various intervals being the ages of 4 and 25.
Describe Rutter’s Findings in terms of the affects of Institutionalisation
- He found that those adopted before 6 months displayed few negative effects
- Rates of recovery depended on the age of adoption: the younger the children was adopted, the faster their rate of recovery
After what age of adoption did Rutter find children displayed signs of Disinhibited Attachment?
6 months
What did Rutter conclude about the relationship between IQ and age of adoption?
Adoptees had higher mean IQ’s correlating to how early they were adopted
By what age did Rutter find those adopted before 6 months tended to recover from stunted intellectual development?
4 years
Describe Zenah’s Study regarding Institutionalisation & Attachment Type
- Assessed 95 Romanian infants that had spent most of their lives in institutional care using The Strange Situation
- Compared them to a control group that had never been in institutional care
Describe Zenah’s Findings regarding Institutionalisation & Attachment Type (2 Findings)
- Only 19% of institutionalised infants were classified as securely attached, compared to 74% of non-institutionalised infants
- 44% of institutionalised infants were classified as having a disinhibited attachment type
What were Gunnar’s Findings in terms of the cortisol levels in Romanian adoptees?
Those that had spent more than 8 months in institutionalised care had higher cortisol levels compared to those that had spent under 8 months in institutionalised care, suggesting the long-term negative effects of institutionalisation as they still appeared anxious and stressed despite having been removed from institutionalisation.
Why may the findings of studies regarding Romanian Orphans not be generalisable to the affects of institutionalised care overall? (2 Points)
- Because the conditions were especially unpleasant in Romanian orphanages (e.g. many were deprived of food and contracted STD’s due to the use of unsanitary equipment)
- It is a natural study, and therefore has a greater risk of confounding variables (e.g. the quality of care after being adopted) due to variables not been meticulously monitored as they are in laboratory experiments
Why does research into Romanian Orphans & Institutionalisation offer useful insight?
It suggests the affects of institutionalisation can be overcome, should the child be adopted before 6 months
Why is there a current lack of data regarding the affects of institutionalisation? (2 Points)
- Due to the longitudinal nature of the study, it is still ongoing, meaning the potential affects of parenthood and long-term mental health issues are still unclear
- Some orphans have also since dropped out of Rutter’s original study, meaning there is a reduced amount of adult participants
