Effects of institutionalisation

• Disinhibited attachment

  Children who show signs of disinhibited attachment are often equally friendly towards familiar people and strangers. This is highly unusual when considering that most children in their second year show stranger anxiety. Rutter said that this was because in poor quality institutions, like those in Romania, a child might have many carers, but doesn't spend enough time with any one of them to be able to form a secure attachment.
• Intellectual disability

  In Rutter's study, most children showed signs of intellectual disability when arriving in Britain. However, most of those adopted before they were six months old caught up with the control group by age four. It appears that damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered provided adoption takes place before the age of six months.