Romanian orphan study - Rutter and Sonuga-Barke

Question 1

Aim?

Question 2

Procedures?

Answer 2

• longitudinal study (since 1990s)
• ERA study (English and Romanian adoptees)
• 165 Romanian children (suffered effects of institutionalisation)
• 111 adopted before age of 2
• 54 more by age of 4
• adoptees tested at regular intervals to assess physical, cognitive and social development
• progress compared to 52 British children adopted in UK before 6 months old (control group)

Question 3

Findings?

Answer 3

• Romanian orphans smaller, weighed less, classified as mentally retarded compared to British counterparts
• subsequent follow ups -> significant deficits remain in minority of those who experienced institutional care beyond 6 months old
• showed disinhibited attachments + problems with peer relationships

Question 4

Conclusion?

Answer 4

Long term consequences may be less severe than was once thought if children have opportunity to form attachments

Question 5

Effects of institutionalisation: 1

Answer 5

Physical underdevelopment

Gardner 1972; lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of deprivation dwarfism

Question 6

Effects of institutionalisation: 2

Answer 6

Intellectual under functioning

Skodak and Skeels 1949; cognitive development is affected

Question 6

Effects of institutionalisation: 3

Answer 6

Disinhibited attachment

Insecure attachment where children do not disceimnate between people they choose as attachment figures
E.g. will treat strangers with inappropriate familiarity

Question 7

Effects of institutionalisation: 4

Answer 7

Poor parenting

Harlow; showed monkeys raised with a surrogate mother went on to become poor parents
Quinton et al 1984; study that compared 50 women reared in institutions with a control group of 50 women reared at home
-> in their 20s, ex-institutional women experienced extreme difficulty in acting as parents

Question 8

Other studies of Romanian orphans?

Answer 8

Zeanah et al 2005
Compared 136 Romanian children who’d spent 90% of their lives in an institution to a control group of Romanian children who had never been in an institution
Institutional children showed signs of disinhibited attachment