Romanian orphan studies

• How does real-world application strengthen Romanian orphan studies?

  • Improved psychologist's understanding of how to prevent the effects of institutionalisation - leading to improvements of the care system
  • e.g. children's homes avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child, instead have 1 or 2 'key workers'
  • More effort is made to accommodate children in foster care or adopted homes
  • Avoids disinhibited attachment, shows benefits of research
• How does fewer confounding variables strengthen Romanian orphan studies?

  • Previous orphans studied had experienced varying degrees of trauma (like during the Second World War) - is difficult to disentangle the effects of abuse, bereavement and neglect from institutionalisation
  • Romanian orphans were handed over by loving parents who couldn't afford to keep them, meaning results were less likely to be confounded by other negative early experiences
  • Increases internal validity
• How does the lack of adult data weaken Romanian orphan studies?

  • Latest data from ERA looked at the children in their early to mid 20s
  • Currently no data on the long-term effects of institutionalisation, like lifetime prevalence of mental health issues and forming and maintaining adult romantic/parental relationships
  • Longitudinal nature of the study means we will not completely know these effects for a while
  • Possible that late-adopted children may catch up later in life
• How are the Romanian orphan studies socially sensitive?

  • Conclusions are that late-adopted children typically have poor developmental outcomes
  • Results were published while the children were growing up - meaning anyone who knew them may have either lowered their expectations of them or treated them differently
  • Could have even led to a self-fulfilling prophecy