Romanian Orphans And Institutionalisation Flashcards
What is institutionalisation
When you grow up in an institution WITHOUT any CAREGIVER, and in very POOr conditions.
- ***similarity with mat dep= both include seperation from primary/ mother figure.
Whatis background of romania?
- romania was a communist country until 1989 when government was OVERTHROWN.
- abortion and contraception was FORBIDDEN
-increase in children= increased no of abandoned children in orphanages.
- orphanage conditions DECLINED in attempt to save money, which led to neglect and physical/ sexual abuse.
What are two pieces of research conducted on romanian orphans?
Zeanah et al
Rutter et al
Rutter et al?
Observed romanian orphans who migrated to the UK
- those adopted AFTER 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment
- those adopted 6 months or younger had a mean IQ of 102
- adopted between 6 months-2.5 years=-130.357 weeks IQ of 86
- adopted AFTER 2= IQ of 77
Zeanah et al
Observed romanian orphans who migrated to canada
-19% of institutionalised children showed SECURE attachment
-65% classified as having DISINHIBITED ATTACHMENT
What are three effects of institutionalisation?
- disinhibited attachment
- poor intellectual development
- physical underdevelopment effect
What causes the physical underdevelopment effect?
- children who have experienced lack of emotional care may show physical underdevelopment.
- eg, children are PHYSICALLY smaller and research has shown it is due to a Lack of EMOTIONAL care rather than poor nourishment.
- the PRODUCTION OF growth hormones is affected by severe emotional disturbance causing this underdevelopment.
What is evidence supporting the physical underdevelopment effect?
LA MERE ET AL
- conducted a LONGITUDINAL study of 36 romanian orphans ADOPTED by families in CANADA.
- found that adopted orphans were PHYSICALLY smaller than the CONTROL group at 4.5 years.
- BUT this difference disappeared by 10.5 years (after theyre cared for)
What is. Strength of romanian orphans studies?
P- practical application
E- orphanages and children’s care homes now AVOID having LARGE numbers of caregivers and try to ensure that EACH child is assigned a key workerx
L- this is a strength as it helps to avoid disinhibited attachment and allows healthy emotional development of orphans.
What is a weakness of romanian orphans studies?
P- it is not generalisable
E- the conditions in romanian orphanages were SO extreme that it is possible that the results cannot be applied to children in other types of institutional care.
E- eg, children in romanian orphanages were extremely MALNOURISHED, abused and underfed. This led to underdeveloped emotion and physical growth. Furthermore the orphanages had significantly poor hygeine.
L- this is a weakness as findings of romanian orphanages studies cannot be applied to the general population so lack EXTERNAL VALIDITY.