Romanian orphans: effects of institutionalisation Flashcards
What is institutionalisation?
The effect of institutional care including social, mental and physical underdevelopment - some of these effects may be irreversible
Who did the key study on Romanian orphans?
Rutter and Sonuga-Barke (2010)
What were the procedures of the Romanian orphans study?
- includes 165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in Romanian institutions and thus suffered the effects of institutionalisation
- 111 adopted before age of 2 and further 54 adopted by age 4
- adoptees tested in regular intervals (ages 4, 6, 11 ad 15) to assess their physical, cognitive and social development
- their progress was compared to a control group go 52 British children adopted in UK before age of six months
What were the findings of the Romanian orphan study?
At time of adoption the Romanian orphans lagged behind their British counterparts on all measures physical, cognitive and social development - smaller, weighed less and were classified as mentally retarded
- By age of 4 some had caught up to their British counterparts - true for almost all orphans adopted before six months
- Follow-ups have confirmed that significant deficits remain in a substantial minority of individuals who had experienced institutional care beyond age of 6 months (showed disinhibited attachments and problems with peer relationships)
What are the conclusions drawn from the Romanian orphans study?
Long term consequences may be less severe than once thought IF children have the opportunity to form attachments
HOWEVER, if they do not form attachments (i.e. continuing failure of attachments) then consequences are likely to be severe
What are the effects of institutionalisation?
- Physical underdevelopment e.g. Gardner - causes deprivation dwarfism
- Intellectual underfunctioning
- Disinhibited attachment e.g. treating strangers like primary attachment caregivers (over friendliness)
- poor parenting in later life
Why can the idea that children are unable to recover from institutionalisation not be generalised to all?
Individual differences
Some children are not as strongly affected as others
Rutter suggests this might be because some children received special attention in the institution e.g. smiling at them more, and this might have enabled them to cope better
Therefore, it is not possible to conclude that institutionalisation inevitably lead to an inability to form attachments
Suggests innate temperament or other factors play a role, limiting the deterministic conclusions.
Why is real-life application a strength of Romanian orphan studies?
findings have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions (e.g., adoption policies, key workers)
-Babies often adopted in the first week of birth
- Singer - adoptive mothers and children are just as securely attached as those non-adoptive families
Supports practical application
What is the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal studies?
Studies like Rutter’s followed children over many years, allowing researchers to observe long-term effects of early deprivation.
This adds depth and reliability to findings
Disadvantages - take a lot of time which involves a lot of planning and waiting for results - arguably the benefits outweigh this
What confounding variables limit the Romanian orphans study?
The orphans were faced with much more than just emotional deprivation - physical conditions were appalling and this impacted their health + lack of cognitive stimulation would also affect development + many infants experience poor care after being adopted e.g. living in poverty, parental disharmony
Likely effects go beyond emotional deprivation - study lack validity
