romanian orphan studies

• What is institutionalisation?

  Effects of living in an institutional setting
• What is a disinhibited attachment?

  Affectionate towards familiar and unfamiliar people
• Why might disinhibited attachment occur?

  Adaptation to multiple caregivers
• What damage can institutionalisation cause to intellectual development?

  Signs of mental retardation in children
• When is the effect of institutionalisation less pronounced?

  If adopted before 6 months of age
• Who investigated the effects of institutionalisation in Romanian orphans?

  Rutter
• How many Romanian orphans did Rutter follow in his study?

  165
• What was the mental condition of half the orphans when they arrived in the UK?

  They showed mental retardation
• What was the mean IQ of children adopted before 6 months?

  102
• What was the mean IQ of children adopted between 6 months and 2 years?

  86
• How did the age of adoption relate to disinhibited attachment?

  Older adoption led to clinginess and affection
• What happens to children adopted after 6 months?

  They show clinginess and affection to strangers
• What does Rutter's study suggest about sensitive periods in attachment development?

  There is a sensitive period of 6 months
• What can failure to form an attachment in 6 months lead to?

  Disinhibited attachment and mental retardation
• What are the practical applications of studying Romanian orphans?

  • Informing child welfare policies
  • Improving care in orphanages
  • Enhancing adoption practices
• What is a potential problem with Rutter's conclusions?

  Issues with generalisability of findings
• What factors may have caused mental retardation in the children studied?

  Trauma and poor living conditions
• What is a limitation of Rutter's study regarding the children involved?

  They were war orphans living in poor conditions
• How might the trauma experienced by the children affect Rutter's findings?

  It may confound the results on attachment
• What does the lack of primary attachment lead to in institutionalised children?

  Disinhibited attachments and mental retardation
• What is a criticism of the generalisability of Romanian studies?

  Findings may not apply to other contexts
• What is the significance of the sensitive period in attachment development?

  Failure to attach can lead to serious issues
• what does institutionalization mean

  a term for the effects of living in an institutional setting such as hospital or orphanage where children live for long, continuous periods of time
• what are the effects of institutionalisation

  disinhibited attachment and damage to intellectual development
• what is disinhibited attachment

  where a child is equally friendly and affectionate towards people they know well and strangers
• what is damage to intellectual development

  institutionalised children often shown signs of mental retardation
• what is damaged to intellectual development like for children adopted before 6 months 


  not as pronounced
• who conducted a study about Romanian orphans

  rutter
• what did rutter investigate

  the extent to which good care can make up for poor early experiences in institutions
• what did rutter do in his study

  he followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans who experienced very poor conditions before being adopted in Britain
• what did half the orphans in rutter study show

  mental retardation
• what did rutter test at the age of 11

  the children's intelligence
• what did rutter find about children adopted before 6 months (IQ)

  they had a mean IQ of 102
• what did rutter find about children adopted between 6 months and 2 years (IQ)

  had a mean IQof 86
• what was related to the age of adopting in rutters study

  disinhibited attachments
• what did rutter find about disinhibited attachments in children

  children adopted after 6 months they were clingy and showed indiscriminate affection to strangers but this was rare in children adopted before 6 months
• what was the conclusion of rutters study

  supports the idea that there is a sensitive period (6 months) in the development of attachments and failure to form an attachment in 6 months leads to disinhibited attachment and mental retardation
• what is one strength of romanian orphan studies (PEE)(practical application)

  P - studying romanian orphans has important practical application

  E - Rutters research allowed for us to increase our understanding of the negative and hugely impactful effects of institutions on young people

  E - as a result institutions such as hospital now try to avoid multiple caregivers per child and aim to assign only 1 or 2 key workers for each child
• what is one strength of romanian orphan studies (L)(practical application)

  L - this change avoids a child developing a disinhibitory attachment and increases the likelihood of them developing normal attachments, this is a very useful applications of the research
• what is one limitation of romanian orphan studies (PEE)(conclution)

  P - there are problems with rutter's conclution from the study

  E - rutter concluded that the children in these orphanages suffered mental retardation because they had not formed a primary attachment and had disinhibited attachments

  E - however the children in this study were war orphans who were traumatized and lived in extremely poor conditions they potentially experience abuse, neglect and/or bereavement even before they were institutionalized and these factors could be confounding variables