Romanian Orphan Studies

what is institutionalisation?

Institutionalisation in terms of attachment refers to the effects of growing up in an orphanage or children’s home (lack of emotional care/unable to form attachment)

what is the main study for institutionalisation?

Rutters ERA (English and Romanian adopter) study

what was the procedure of Rutters ERA?

Had 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions.

Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15.

A group of 52 British children adopted at the same time served as a control group.

this was a prospective/longitudinal study

what were the findings of Rutters ERA study?

The children showed differential rates of recovery (in terms of IQ), related to their age of adoption.

• adopted before six months: 102

• Adopted between 6 months and 2 years: 86

• Adopted after 2 years: 77

Found that the difference remained at 16 (shows its permanent/ irreversible)

what are the five main effects of institutionalisation?

1) low IQ

2) Quasi autism

3) disinhibited attachment

4) reactive attachment disorder

5) deprivation dwarfism

how is low IQ an effect of institutionalisation?

Rutter found that most children in his study showed signs of intellectual delay.

→ they’ll go onto struggle in school, poor concentration, not learning behaviours/ concepts as quickly

however, most adopted before 6 months caught up with the control group by age 4. So, IQ can be improved, if adoption takes place before six months (age at which attachments forms).

how is quasi autism an effect of institutionalisation? (4 ways)

• self stimulation behaviours: hand flapping/rocking

• Language delays- affects communication (not interacted with as much)

• social deficits- problem understanding meaning of social contexts

→ difficulty relating to peers/awkward interaction/hugging strangers (used to having 50+ carers)

• Reduced empathy- don’t understand how others think/feel

how is disinhibited attatchment an effect of institutionalisation?

inappropriate social boundary crossing

→ they’re equally friendly/affectionate towards people they know well and strangers (no stranger anxiety)

They’re less likely to be securely attached as they can’t form a good attachment (50+ carers)

how is RAD an effect of institutionalisation?

RAD is when children have difficult time emotionally connecting with others, including their parents.

Child with RAD is extremely withdrawn, has a hard time managing emotions. They rarely see comfort when stressed and have severe temper tantrums and then resist comfort (they’ll ignore soothing gestures, cuddles, verbal reassurance)

how is deprivation dwarfism an effect of institutionalisation?

Gardner 1972 showed that children who experienced a lack of emotional care may show physical underdevelopment (short)

The production of growth hormones are affected by severe emotional disturbances resulting in this dwarfism

evaluation of research into Romanian orphan studies (2 strengths, 2 weaknesses)

Strength: Research is longitudinal/ prospective

Weakness: Orphans could drop out at any point

Strength: enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation

Weakness: Romanian orphanages particularly bad

how is research being longitudinal strength?

more valid/accurate data compared to if you gave them questions about their past which they’ve likely forgot how they behaved back then

how is the fact that orphans could drop out at any point a weakness? (change phone number/ adress)

Lack of data – hard to draw full conclusions about institutionalisation

how is research having RWA of enhancing our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation a strength?

such results have led to improvement in the way children are cared for in institutions.

For example, nurseries have a small adult to child ratio (3:1) to ensure each child gets sufficient interaction. This will help avoid disinhibited attachment as they’re able to form better attachments and learn how to socially interact.

How is the Romanian orphanages being particularly bad a weakness?

Conditions were so bad that the results of effects of institutionalisation can’t be applied to understand the impact of better quality institutional care on orphans

→ Affect on generalisability; every orphanage/standard of care is different