Adoption studies

• Institutionalisation


  The effects of how time spent in an institution such as an orphanage can affect the social, mental and physical development of children. Some of these effects may be irreversible.
• Orphan studies


  These concern children placed in care because their parents could no longer look after them. An orphan is a child whose parents have died or have abandoned them permanently.
• At the time of adoption when they first arrived in the UK over half of the Romanian children were severely malnourished and showed signs of delayed intellectual development
• Intellectual Development


  • By age 4, some of the children had caught up intellectually with the British adoptees. This was especially true for Romanian children adopted before the age of 6 months.
  • At age 11 the adopted children showed different rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption.
• Age of Adoption and Average IQ Score by Age 11


  • Before 6 months - 102
  • Between 6 months and 2 years - 86
  • After 2 years - 77
• Attachment Types


  • Children adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (clingy, attention seeking and a lack of selectivity in social relationships). Children adopted before 6 months rarely displayed this attachment type.
  • At age 11 Rutter found that the disinhibited behaviour type still existed.
• Issues faced by adopted children

  • Quasi autistic features (autistic like characteristics but not necessarily being clinically diagnosed with the disorder)
  • Inattention/overactivity – this could be in combination with attachment problems or the quasi autistic features
  • Poor mental health associated with early deprivation, including: borderline personality disorder, bi-polar, psychosis
• Long term consequences may not be as severe as was once thought, especially if children have the opportunity to form attachments before the age of 6 months
• Rutter suggested that Bowlby's 'critical period' could be better described as a 'sensitive period'; meaning that, although there is an optimal period for forming attachments, it is not impossible to form them after the age of 2 and a half if the child is adopted into a warm and loving environment
• Evaluation of Rutter's Effects of Institutionalisation

  • Individual Differences - Some children recover when they do not form a primary attachment within that early period. In all of these types of studies some children are not as strongly affected as others.
  • Very Long-Term Effects Still Unclear - It is too soon to say with certainty whether children suffered short or very long terms effects.
• Overall Effects of Institutionalisation

  • Physical underdevelopment - Children are usually physically small and research has found this is due to lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment.
  • Disinhibited attachment – A form of insecure attachment where children are equally as friendly and affectionate towards familiar people and complete strangers.
  • Intellectual disability - Cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation but this may be recovered if the child is adopted before the age of 6 months.
  • Poor parenting – Quinton (1984) compared a group of 50 women who had been reared in an institution with a control group of 50 women reared at home. Once in their 20's, the ex-institutional women were experiencing extreme difficulties acting as parents and more of their children had spent time in care.
• Evaluation of Rutter's Effects of Institutionalisation

  • Unusual sample - The infants and young children in Rutter's sample experienced extreme deprivation and privation.
  • Real Life Application - Results from these studies have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions.