Effects of institutionalisation

what happened that caused psychologists to study the effects of institutionalisation ?

1990s - political events in Romania

what happened in the orphanages in Romania ?

• large numbers of children placed in orphanages as parents could cope with strict government rules - bid to boost population

• more than 100,000 children in 600 state orphanages

What are 3 documented effects of institutionalisation ?

• parenting

• developmental dwarfism

• attachment disorder

how is parenting an effect of institutionalisation ?

• lack of emotional care during early years may result in an adult that struggles to parent others

• Quinton 1984 - compared 50 women raised in orphanages with 50 women raised in home

• the ex-institutionalised women had children who spent time in care

how does developmental dwarfism occur ?

children who experience lack of emotional care may show physical underdevelopment eg small

how does attachment disorders show itself ?

• recognised as a psychiatric condition

• effects social and emotional development of children

• institutionalised children have no preferred attachment figure - inability to relate to others

what are reactive/inhibited attachment disorders ?

children who are shy , withdrawn and unable to cope with most social interactions

what is dis inhibited attachment disorders ?

refers to children who are over friendly with adults and attention seek

what is the aim of the English and Romanian adoptees project ?

• examine the long term effects of institutionalisation in a longitudinal study , from 1990s

• to examine effects and reversibility of spending early years in a Romanian orphanage of typically poor quality

how many children were in the experimental group ?

165 - had spent early years in institutions in Romania

how many of the 165 were adopted before ages 2 ?

111

when were the remaining 54 adopted by ?

ages 4

who were the 164 Romanian adoptees compared to?

control group of 52 British children , adopted before 6 months old

when was the social , cognitive and physical development of the adoptees measured ? Who was included in the measurements ?

ages 4, 6, 11 and 15

interviews conducted with adoptive parents and teachers

what did the Romanian orphans show developmentally at the point of adoption?

• delay in social , cognitive and physical progress

• physically smaller

• classified as mentally retarded

what did the Romanian adoptees who were adopted at 6 months or less show ?

they caught up on development when compared to British group

what did the Romanian adoptees who were adopted after 6 months show ?

continued to show significant delays in social , cognitive and physical development

difficulties making and maintaining relationships

characterised as having disinhibited attachment disorder

what was the conclusion of the ERA study ?

institutionalisation can have a severe long term effect on development , especially if children aren’t provided with adequate emotional caregiving by the time they reach 2 years old

what is a strength of the ERA study ?

• real world applications to social services

• changed the way children are looked after when it comes to adoption process

• previously , mother’s would be encouraged to keep baby past th critical period

• now , adoption occurs within one week and infants are just as securely attached to adoptive parents as biological mother

• benefit of institutionalisation research for improving lives

what is a weakness of the ERA study ?

• deprivation is only one factor in development

• orphans had little mental stimulation and were malnourished - thus there are multiple risk factors involved in finding effects of institutional care

• difficult to interpret results as there are many influences that affect the children such as living in poverty

• Romanian orphanages were also particularly dire and thus don't reflect all situations where children are placed in care

• lack of external validity

what was another study that investigated attachments and institutions ?

The Bucharest Early intervention project - Zeenah et al

what was the aim of the Bucharest intervention project ?

investigate attachment type of children who spent majority of life in institutional care

how many children were sampled in the bucharest project ?

100 children aged 12 months to 31 months

what percentage of the bucharest sample had spent most of life in institutions ?

90%

who were the Bucharest group compared to ?

control group who were never institutionalised

how was the infants’ attachment types assessed ?

strange situation methodology

what were the parents or carers of the institutionalised children and control group asked ? Bucharest

• clingingness

• attention seeking

• behaviour towards adults - determine if disinhibited attachment disorder

what did Zeenah et al find ?

74% of the control group were classified as securely attached

19% of experimental group had secure attachment

65% of experimental group had disinhibited attachment disorder

what did Zeenah et al conclude ?

institutionalised infants with an absent primary caregiver that proves consistent emotional are , are less likely to develop secure attachments and more likely to have disinhibited Attachment disorders

what did Barke assess ? what did he find?

ERA adoptees at aged 22-25

• continued emotional and intellectual difficulties in those adopted later - 6 months +

what did Edwards et al 2023 find ?

• 20% of all Romanian adoptees that become parents

• of this group , 20% had parenting difficulties