effects of institutionalisation

• institutionalisation causes privation
• privation ?

  failure to form an attachment
• • civil war in Romania led to thousands of orphans who were raised in institutions with poor conditions.​
  • Film coverage indicates babies received minimum physical care 
  • Due to lack of staff and facilities there was minimal time for interaction or play​
  • Most babies spent all day alone in their cots​
• rutter aim ?

  investigate effects of institutionalisation
• Rutter procedure is an on-going longitudinal study comparing Romanian orphans adopted by UK families with a control group of 52 UK-born adoptees.
• Rutter procedure?

  Romanian adoptees had entered the orphanage as small babies between one and two weeks old, exhibiting evidence of severe malnourishment. 58 of the Romanian orphans were adopted before 6 months of age, 59 were adopted after six months with some adopted after the age of two, some were followed up at four, six and eleven years old. The study used a range of measures including interviews, observations of the child’s behaviour, and teacher/peer reports.
• rutter findings for iq?

  when romanian orphans first arrived they showed severe cognitive deficiency, age 4 children adopted before six months had caught up with iq, those after 6 months had ongoing deficits, at age 11 the differences persisted with 86 vs 102
• attachment findings ?

  disinhibited attachment in romanian orphans, children showing this attachment type would be more likely to go off with strangers and make inappropriate contact
• findings age 6 disinhibited attachment ?

  most common in late adopted romanian group (26.1), extremely rare in uk adoptees (3.8) and early adoptees (8.9), this suggests disinhibitd attachments are more likely in children who hav prolonged time in an institution, also more likely in those who expereinced privation of romanian orphanages
• disinhibited attachment persisted at age 11
• rutter conclusion?

  for some, institutionalisation effects of not forming an attachment during bowlbys critical period could be long term, this was a particular issue with late adoptees but the ffects can be reduced with extra effort and early adoption
• strength of various research methods ?

  • The study was carried out over a long period of time and used a range of measures to assess the children’s behaviour​
  • Including semi-structured interviews, observations, teacher/peer reports. ​
  • provides both qualitative and quantitative data​
  • provides a rich and detailed picture of the adoptees functioning in all areas of their life in the long term. 
• triangulation?

  using different research methods to overcome the weaknesses of other methods
• weakness of longitudinal ?

  •  attrition ​
  • People tend to drop out of longitudinal studies as they last many years​
  • certain types of people more likely to drop out leading to a biased sample​
  • In this case the more troubled children may be more likely to drop out​
  • Therefore, the true effects of privation may never be known, children with the biggest problems are no longer being studied​
• weakness of researcher bias ?

  • researcher bias​
  • This is because over the years the researcher gets to know the children & their family​
  • This may affect their conclusions​
  • Therefore , the study may lack validity​
• a03 positive implications?


  • most babies are adopted within the first week of birth..​
  • Research shows that adoptive mothers and children are just as securely attached as non-adoptive families. ​
  • Also led to changes in Institutions around the world – more emotional care, more staff etc. ​
• a03 disadvantage of natural experiment ?

  • IV is naturally occurring & the study takes place in a natural environment we cannot infer cause and effect. ​
  • it may not be institutionalisation alone which is causing the effect of disinhibited attachment especially as some of the Romanian children developed normal attachments (even if they were adopted after 6 months).​
  • Therefore there must be other factors which are involved in whether a child forms a disinhibited attachment or not
• a03 elaboration on cause and effect ?

  other reasons can explain disinhibited attachment- tempermant hypothesis, children who smile more get more attentionat an orphanage so these children will have some attachment experiences, it could also be the environment in the adopted home that determines attachment type shown throughout childhood
• conclusion of institutionalisation ?

  can cause long lasting effects, but may not be permanent if they're caught early. Privation is a vulnerability factor, if extra effort is put in the effects of privation can be minimised.