romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation

• Rutter et al, English and Romanian adoptee study (ERA) (procedure)

  • The researchers have followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans who experienced very poor conditions before being adopted in the UK
  • This longitudinal study has tested the extent to which good care can make up for poor early experiences in institutions
  • Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed at 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years
  • The study also followed a control group of 52 adopted children from the UK
• Rutter et al, English and Romanian adoptee study (ERA) (findings/conclusions) - intellectual development

  • 1/2 of the orphans showed delayed intellectual development when they came to the UK
  • at age 11, recovery rates were related to their age at adoption
  • Those adopted before 6 months = mean IQ of 102
  • Those adopted after 2 years = mean IQ of 77
  • Beckett et al = those differences continued to be apparent at age 16
• Rutter et al, English and Romanian adoptee study (ERA) (findings/conclusions) - disinhibited attachment

  • Frequency of disinhibited attachment related to the age at adoption
  • Apparent in children adopted after they were 6 months old = clinginess, attention-seeking and indiscriminate affection to strangers
  • adopted before 6 months = disinhibited attachment rare
• Rutter et al, English and Romanian adoptee study (ERA) (findings/conclusions) - sensitive period

  • These findings support Bowlby’s view that there is a sensitive period in the development of attachments
  • A failure to form an attachment before the age of 6 months (and after the age of 2 years) appears to have long-lasting effects
• Zeenah et al, Bucharest early intervention project (BEI)

  • Procedure:
  • The researchers used the strange situation to assess attachment in 95 Romanian children (aged 12-31 months) who has spent most of their lives in institutional car
  • They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never experienced institutional care
  • Findings/conclusions:
  • Only 19% of the institutionalised group were securely attached
  • 74% of the controls
  • 44% of the institutionalised group had characteristics of disinhibited attachment
  • 20% of the controls
• effects of institutionalisation

  • Disinhibited attachment:
  • such children tend to be equally friendly and affectionate towards people they know well or total strangers
  • This may be an adaptation to multiple caregivers
  • Damage to intellectual development:
  • Institutionalised children often show signs of intellectual disability
  • This effect is not as pronounced if the children are adopted before 6 months of age
• strength = Romanian orphans study has RWA

  • Langton =results from this research have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions
  • Children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child
  • They have 1 or 2 ‘key workers‘ who play a central role
  • this means children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided
• strength = fewer confounding variables than other research

  • There were many orphan studies before the Romanian orphans became available to the study
  • These often involved children who experienced loss or trauma before they were institutionalised
  • Neglect, abuse and bereavement meant it was hard to observe the effects of institutionalisation in isolation
  • The children were affected by multiple factors functioning as confounding variables
  • This means we can be fairly sure that differences in institutionally-cared-for children are the result of this type of care (high internal validity)
• counterpoint to fewer confounding variables

  • Romanian orphan studies may have new confounding variables because quality of care was so poor
  • Making it hard to separate effects of institutional care from those of poor institutional care
  • This means that internal validity might not be better than in previous studies after all
• limitation = lack of data on adult development

  • It is too soon to say for certain whether children suffered permanent effects because we only have data on their development as far as their early twenties
  • It will be some time before we have information about some key research questions
  • Eg = orphans‘ ability to form and maintain romantic and parenting relationships
  • this means the Romanian orphan studies have not yet yielded their most important findings, some children may ‘catch up’
• extra evaluation = social sensitivity

  • Late-adopted children were shown to have low IQ = this might subsequently affect how they are treated by parents, teachers etc and might create a self-fulfilling prophecy
  • BUT = much has been learned from the Romanian orphan studies that might benefit future institutionalised or potentially institutionalised children
  • So the potential benefits of the studies probably outweigh their social sensitivity