Institutionalisation

• Institutionalisation - being raised in a group setting, with not just one primary care giver
• Rutter - Romanian orphanage study - longitudinal, natural study comparing Romanian orphans to UK orphans.
• 3 naturally occurring variables:

  Adopted before 6 months ( 58 )

  Adopted between 6 - 24 months ( 59 )

  Adopted after 24 months ( 48 )
• Rutter found when he observed the children at age 6 that the Romanian orphans showed signs of disinhibited attachment compared to the UK orphans
• Rutter found when he observed the children at age 11 that only half of the Romanian orphans showing signs of disinhibited attachment still did, and they were the ones that were adopted later.
• Effects of institutionalisation:

  Physical dwarfism

  Intellectual underdevelopment

  Disinhibited attachment
• Physical dwarfism - lack of a growth hormone can occur due to a lack of emotional and psychological care and cause physical underdeveloped.
• Disinhibited attachment - low stranger anxiety, very affectionate and attention seeking. Rutter says this is an effect of living with multiple carers during the sensitive period
• If a child is deprived of emotional care for longer than five months, they begin to develop anaclitic depression.
• Anaclitic depression - a child becomes depressed due to a lack of love and affection
• Rutter found that most of the Romanian orphans showed signs of learning difficulties when they arrived in Britain, however those adopted before six months caught up with the control group by 4 years.
• Rutter found that privation and deprivation can be reversed if an attachment starts to form before 6 months. Long term effects are more permanent if attachment doesn't occur before six months.
• The effects of institutionalisation depend on the quality of care, and there are less effects if the child is removed from the institution earlier. The quality of care received after being removed from the institute affects the severity of the effects.
• AO3. There are individual differences in institutionalisation. Children respond differently to lack of attachment. Some may overcome the effects more easily. Also, children in the institute may have received different qualities of care, as some nurses may have had " favourites ". This shows that institutionalisation won't affect all children in the same way
• AO3. Rutter's study has real world application. The study changed the way that institutions are run, they now focus more on childcare and the importance of early adoption. This shows that Rutters study had positive effects on institutionalised children.
• AO3. Rutter's study is valuable as it is longitudinal. The study is high in temporal validity as it is not a snapshot of the children's lives, but it shows the whole picture of the effects on children. We would also assume that all the effects of institutionalisation were permanent if there was no follow up, however we now know that they can be reversed with adequate care.
• AO3. Deprivation is only one factor in the lives of the Romanian orphans. There were also physical factors such as unclean equipment which could have promoted illness, not just emotional factors. The situation is also very specific, and is not similar to orphanages in other areas of the world, this situation would not occur in the UK. This means that the study is not very generalisable.