Romanian orphans Flashcards
rutters aim
to assess whether loving/ nurturing care could overturn the effects of institutionalisation
rutters procedure
- longitudinal study and natural experiment
-165 romanian infants adopted in Britain - physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed between 4-15 years,
- compared to 52 british adopted children as a control group
rutters findings
half of romanian orphans had an intellectual disability at first
mean IQ adopted before 6 months = 102
mean IQ adopted 6-25 months = 86
mean IQ adopted after 2 yrs old. = 77
rutters 3 conditions
1 = children adopted before age of 6 months
2= adopted between 6 months and 2 years
3 = children adopted after 2 years
effects on attachment
- adopted after 6 months = disinhibition attachment - attention seeking and clingy
- adopted before 6 months = no disinhibited attahcment
meaning the longer children are in institutions the more damage is caused to their development
zeanah et al
Bucharest early intervention study
zeanah aim
to assess whether insitutionalisation affects attachment type
zeanah procedure
used strange situation to measure attachment type in 95 romanian children aged 12-31 months who sent most of their lives in institutional care
longitudinal study, natural experiment
compared 50 children who weren’t in care as a control group
zeanah findings
74% of control group was securely attached
195 of experimental group securely attached
less than 20% of control group showed disinhibited attachment
44% of institutionalised children did
zeanah conclusion
children who spend time in institutions have higher rates of insecure attachment types,
and more frequently show disinhibited attachment style
describe what research with romanian orphans has shown about the effects of institutionalisation
- rutters era study
- impaired language and social skills,
- disinhibited attachment for those adopted after 6 months
- e.g attention seeking, clinginess
- mean IQ adopted before 6 months = 102
- mean IQ adopted between 6-25 months= 86
- mean IQ adopted after 2 years = 77
Bucharest early intervention project
children who spend more time in institutions have higher rates of insecure attachment compared to children who didnt
strength of rutter
P - further research support given by follow up studies which find similar results to that of rutter
E - Morison and Elwood 2005 found similar results from a group of romanian orphans adopted in Canada,
E - however in a follow up study , rutter found that poor peer relations were not because of /associated with insituionalisis
L- suggests rutters findings are reliable
limitation of romanian institions
P- the institions aren’t typical instituions
E - although highly useful data has come from studying romanian orphanages, possible that the conditions in these institutions were so bad that they can’t be generalised to other institutional settings
E - or to study the effects of institutionalisation, where the standards of care are not as extreme as what has been studied in Romania
strength of study
P - real life applications
E - studying ro has enhanced psychologists understanding the effects of institutionalisation , as a result there have been a significant inprivemtn in the way children are cared for in institutions e.g care homes and orphanages
E - e.g children’s homes now avoid having large number of different caregivers and assign children a key worker for them to have a chance to develop a normal attachment with
L- shows that this highly distressing research can have practical benefits
strength
P - results from studies provide evidence for bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis
E - predicts that lack of attachment results in serious and permanent damage to childs emotional, social, and intellectual development
E- results showed that 50% of infants were retarded, and long lasting effects inlcuded problems with attachment and indiscriminate attachment.
L -supports idea that maternal deprivation has long lasting effects
