Romanian Orphan Studies: The Effects Of Intitutionalisation Flashcards
What is the history of the Romanian orphan study?
- Communist rule in Romania banned abortion and denied access to contraception.
- Many Romanian women abandoned their newborn children, leaving thousands to suffer at under-funded, state-run orphanages.
- There were 100,000 orphans in 600 orphanages.
- In 1989, the western world found out that the children were institutionalised (adaptation of the situation).
- Children spent most of the day in cribs with very little stimulation and were malnourished.
What was the aim in Rutter’s Romanian orphanage study?
To see if good care compensates for the privatisation of children.
What was the method in Rutter’s Romanian orphanage study?
Longitudinal study on Romanian orphans (who were adopted by British parents) who had been placed in orphanages - aged 1-2 weeks old - with minimal adult contact (natural experiment).
Assessed at ages 4, 6, 11, 21.
Groups:
*> 6 months.
*6-24 months.
*2-4 years.
What were the results for Rutter’s Romanian orphanage study?
-All of them arrived malnourished.
-At 11 year old, there was a correlation between adoption age and recovery rate (the earlier the adoption, the higher their mean IQ).
-Children who were adopted before 6 months had reversible effects.
-Children who were adopted after 6 months had disinhibited attachment, resulting in attention-seeking and physical, cognitive & social development delay.
What is institutional care?
Care for children who are placed outside of home-specific boundaries.
What is disinhibited attachment?
A rare style of attachment where the infant responds equally to caregivers & strangers.
Why was it harder for Romanian orphans adopted at 6 months + to recover in Rutter’s study?
Schaffer’s Stages of Attachment:
Stage 3- specific attachment (6-10 months).
When the baby forms their first primary attachment.
What was the method of Zeanah et al (2005)?
Strange Situation was used on the following groups:
* 95 children: lived in an institution.
* 50 children: control group.
What were the results of Zeanah et al (2005)?
-74% of the control group showed secure attachment compared to 19% of the institutional group.
-65% of the institutional group showed disinhibited attachment.
What are evaluation points for Rutter’s Romanian orphanage study?
-Policy changes: children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child and instead now have one or two ‘key workers’ who play a central role in their emotional care.
-The research has been conducted as an natural experiment.
-Low external validity: the quality of care was so poor in Romanian orphanages may represent the effects of poor institutional care rather than institutional care in general.
