Effects of institutionalism

Institutionalism

A term for the effects of living in an institutional setting. An institution is a place where people live for long continuous periods of time. In the past such places have provided very little emotional care and attachment research researchers were interested in the effects of the care on children’s attachment and subsequent development.

Such research has enabled us to find ways to reduce any negative effects on the improved institutional care

Research on institutionalisation

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation was based on his own experiences as a psychiatrist. His hypothesis was that this emotional disturbance stemmed from a lack of care from a mother or mother substitute. One of the situations is when a young child is placed in institutional care and experiences institutionalisation.

The 44 thieves today involves adolescence who had experienced institutional care and were more likely to be thieves. They showed a lack of ability to show affection guilt or empathy.

Later researchers have studied the link between institutional care early in life and later emotional and intellectual difficulties.

The English and Romanian Adoptees project

Rutter and colleagues 1998, 2010

It is the most intensive study on the effects of institutional care.

Rutter focused on a group of 165 children who had been adopted by English families. The adoptees were from Romania and had spent their early years in institutions. When Nicole Ceauşescu came into Romanian power, a law was passed in 1966 outlawing contraception and abortion for women under 40s with fewer than four children. This led to large families.

many Romanian parents could not afford to keep their children and some ended up in huge institutions in poor conditions. After the 1989 Revolution many of the children were adopted some by English parents.

The aim of the ERA was to investigate the extent to which good care would make up for poor early experiences. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed when the children were age 4, six, 11, 15 and 22-25 years. A group of 52 children in the UK around the same time have served as a controlled group

Effects on attachment

There was a difference in outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after six months of age. The Romanian children who were adopted after they were six months old showed signs of a version of insecure attachment called disinhibited attachment.

Disinhibited attachment characteristics include attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults both familiar and unfamiliar. This is quite unusual behaviour. In contrast those children adopted before the age of six months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment.

Rutter 2006 has explained disinhibited attachment as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during a sensitive period for attachment information. Poor quality institutions, a child might have 50 carriers but doesn’t spend enough time with any one of them to form a secure attachment.

Later follow-up studies

Songua-Barke 2017

Edwards 2023

Assessed the adoptees at age 22-25, finding a similar pattern of continued emotional difficulties in those adopted late.

Edwards looked specifically parenting and found the only 20% of all the doctors had become parents and of this group 20% had difficulties in parents. It is possible that the better just did adopt you were the ones who chose to be parents.

Both sets of data suggest a strong lasting effect on development

Effects on IQ

When the Romanian adoptees first arrived in the UK, half of the adoptee showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the major majority were severely under nourished. At age 11 the adopted children showed differential rates recovery that were related to the age of adoption.

The mean IQ of those children adopted before the age of six months was 110, compared with 86 for those adopted between six months and two years, and 77 for those adopted after two years. These differences remained at age 16.

it appears that, like emotional development, damaged to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered provided adoption takes place before the age of six months.

S Practical applications

Showed the importance of key workers so improved the conditions in institutions. This means disinhibited attachment is avoided.

Suggests that institutions are undesirable are undesirable and other methods are better.

S Internal validity

Few extraneous variables. Many studies were done in orphanages before Rutter but it was a time of war where there was trauma and bereavement.

Rutter purely looked at institutional care.

S Spitz

Studied poorly raised kids in South American orphanages. Staff untrained and overworked. Rarely talked to the children.

Children had anaclitic depression - Reaction to loss of a loved object. Showed signs of fearr, sadness and withdrawal

Showed the negative effects of institutional care

W Freud + Dann

Looked at 6 children put in concentration camps at a few months old. No chance to form maternal bonds. Taken to a centre in West Sussex.

Little language and were hostile to adults but gradually became attached. Suggests that severe deprivation can be overcome.