Effects of Institutionalisation: English & Romanian Adoptees

What did E+R adoptees project investigate?

Effects of institutionalisation on attachment and development in Romanian adoptees

Who conducted the Romanian adoptees study

Rutter et al 2011

What type of study was the Romanian adoptees research

Longitudinal natural experiment

What was the sample in the Rutter study

165 Romanian orphans adopted into UK families

plus 52 British adoptees as control group

How were children grouped in the study

1. before 6 months

2. between 6 months and 2 years

3. after 2 years

What was the independent variable in the study

Age at adoption

What was the dependent variable in the study

Attachment behaviour and cognitive development

Findings →

(all after 6 months)

1. signs of disinhibited attachment

2. impaired intellectual development

3. ¼ quasi autism

What attachment behaviour was found in children adopted after 6 months

Disinhibited attachment

What is disinhibited attachment (3 characteristics)

no stranger anxiety

attention seeking

clinginess

What cognitive effect was found after long institutional care

Impaired intellectual development with lower IQ

Average IQ at age 11 for children adopted before 6 months

About 102 which is within normal range

Average IQ at age 11 for children adopted between 6 months and 2 years

About 86 showing some delay

Average IQ at age 11 for children adopted after 2 years

About 77 showing significant delay

What condition appeared in a quarter children adopted after 6 months

Quasi autism

Characteristics of quasi autism

Difficulty understanding social context

language problems

repetitive behaviour

What critical period was suggested by findings

Around first 6 months of life for normal attachment development

Real life application

Improved childcare policies

reduced number of caregivers in institutions

Why does institutional care cause attachment problems

Lack of consistent caregiver prevents stable attachment formation

Issue of generalisability in the study

Romanian orphanages had extremely poor conditions so findings may not apply everywhere

Strength of using a longitudinal design

Researchers tracked development over many years allowing long term conclusions

Limitation of long term conclusions

Participants are not yet old adults so full lifespan effects unknown

Methodological issue with natural experiments

Lack of control over extraneous variables such as quality of adoptive families

Why cause and effect is difficult to establish

Better adoptive homes may improve outcomes not just age of adoption

Name 1 strength

• Improved the way children are looked after avoided large number of caregivers

Name 3 limitations

• Issues with generalisability

extremely harsh conditions, not common

• Long term effects are not yet clear

possible that participants could have dementia, still ongoing

• Methodological issues

hard to create cause and effect relationship, no control over extraneous variables (better vs worse adopted family)