Romanian Orphans Flashcards
What does PIES stand for
Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and social
What does PIES mean
It is what is affected by Institutionalisation
How is the P affected
People tend to be malnourished and shorter then most
How is the I affected
Lower IQ then most
How is the E affected
Disinhibited attachment style- overfamiliarity, attention seeking and clingy
How is the S affected
often children who were in care have their children put into care due to lack of IWM
What is institutionalisation
The result of people being in institutionalised care
What was Rutters study
Longitudinal study- done over a period of years to track the development of the children
165 Romanian orphans adopted by families in the UK
Investigated the extent to which good care can make up for early poor experiences
Measured just P and E in children at 4,6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years
Control group were 52 UK adoptees
What was the results of Rutters study
Half Romanians showed signs of delayed intellectual development and severely undernourished
Adopted after 6 months- high rate of disinhibited attachment style
Mean IQ stats- adopted before 6 months- 102
adopted between 6 months and 2 years- 86
adopted after 2 years- 77
What was the Bucharest Early Intervention project
Zeanah et al
95 Romanian children 12-31 months
Control group- 50
Measured using strange situation
74% control group- securely attached
19% institutional group-securely attached
44% institutional group- disinhibited
less than 20% control group- disinhibited
Effects of institutionalisation in study
Disinhibited attachment- Rutter explained it to having multiple caregivers during sensitive period- children may have had 50 carers none of which the spent enough time to form an attachment with
Intellectual disability- Most children showed difficulty upon arrival in UK- Most of those adopted before they were six months old caught up with the control group by 4- most emotional damage appears to be recoverable if adoption has taken place before 6 months
Physical effects- Institutionalised children physically smaller than controls
Social effects- 50 women raised in children’s homes V 50 control women raised at home- Found women who grew up in children’s home experienced difficulties as parents- supports IWM
Strengths of institutionalisation research
High internal validity in Rutter’s experiment- children had not suffered trauma before institutionalisation meaning any results must be due to privation and few extraneous variables
Longitudinal study- very precise data over a long time span
PA for institutions- stricter ratio of staff to children, key workers allocated to allow normal attachment to develop
Weaknesses of research into institutionalisation
Longitudinal study- 25 year period might mean people are more likely to withdraw meaning all data is lost and its expensive
No random allocation- means that maybe the healthier, more intelligent, more sociable children were more likely to be adopted
Romanian orphanages were not typical- conditions were so bad and poor standards of care and intellectual stimulation- lacks generalisability to normal intuitions
Long terms affects are still unknown as the study does not cover 30-40 when most attachments are formed
Socially sensitive- in danger of labelling- self fulfilling prophecy
