Romanian Orphana Studies Flashcards
What was the aim of the Rutter Romanian orphan study??
To investigate the long term effects of institutional care and to see the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions
What was the procedure???
Longitudinal study started in early 1990s and has followed a group of Romanian children adopted to the UK from institutions in Romania
A randomly selected sample of 165 children (144 has been reared from institutions) who were adopted by UK families, with placement before the age of 4, 6 and 11 years of age
Comparisons were made with a sample of 52 non-institutional UK children adopted before the age of 6 months who were studied in the same way. Researchers used a range of measures
What are the results of the study??
Physical development = over half of the Romanian children showed evidence of severe malnourishment and were in the bottom third of the population weight and head circumference. By the ages of 4 years many had caught up with their peers
Intellectual development = by age of 11 they showed differences in recovery related to the age of adoption and many showed signs of learning disabilities . Adopted before 6 months - IQ of 102, adopted 6 months - 2 years = 86, adopted after 2 years = 77.
Emotional development = at 6 70% of those adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment compared to only 47% of Romanian children adopted before 6 months . 45% of those measured as showing disinihibted attachments at 6 continued to show this behaviour at 11 years. This 45% were also far more likely to be receiving help for special educational needs for poor mental health
What is the conclusion of the study??
Institualisation can have relatively long term negative effects on social and emotional and cognitive development but these effects can be minimised if children are taken out of the Institutional environment
