institutionalisation

• who conducted the study on romanian orphans

  rutter
• what is institutionalisation


  the effects of spending significant time in an orphanage or childrens home, whereby very little emotional care is given
• outline the procedure in romanian orphan studies

  • 165 romanian orphans adopted in britain
  • test to what extent good care could make up for early institutionalisation
  • physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed between the ages of 4, 6, 11 and 15.
  • 53 british children who were adopted around the same time were the control group.
• outline the results from the romanian orphan study

  • when orphans arrived in the UK they were malnourished and showed signs of delayed intellectual development
  • mean IQ for those adopted at 6 months was 107
  • mean IQ for those adopted between 6 months - 2 yrs was 86
  • mean IQ for those adopted after 2 yrs was 77
  • those adopted after 6 months had disinhibited attachment types
• what was the procedure in the bucharest early intervention project

  • 91 children
  • ages 21-31 months
  • had spent most of their lives in institutional care
  • compared to a control group of 50 children who never had institutional care
  • attachment types measured using strange situations
  • carers were asked if children displayed signs of a disinhibited attachment
• what were the findings in the bucharest early project

  • 74% control group had secure attachments
  • 19% institutional group had secure attachments
  • 65% institutional group had disinhibited attachments
  • less than 20% control group has dishibited attachment
• what are some behaviours of disinhibited attachments

  • unusual social behaviours
  • clingy
  • attention seeking to all adults
• what are the two effects of institutionalisation

  delayed intellectual development and disinhibited attachment
• explain how institutionalisation leads to disinhibited attachment

  • an adaption to living with multiple caregiversd during the sensitive period
  • a child may have 50 givers whereby none of which form a secure attachment
• explain how institutionalisation leads to delayed intellectual development

  • occurred in those adopted after 6 months
• why are there few extraneous variables in the romanian orphan study

  • prior studies to this had involved children who had experienced loss or trauma prior to being institutionalised
  • these factors acted as confounding participant variables
  • in the romanian orphan study there are no confounding variables
  • he finding have increased internal validity
• explain real life application in the romanian orphan study

  • enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation
  • led to the improvement of the way children are cared for in institutions
  • e.g. children have fewer caregivers (a key worker)
  • A child can develop normal attachment and not have disinhibited attachments
  • study has practical application and led to the improvement od many lives
• explain the issue with romanian orphan studies not being typical

  • conditions were very bad in instituitions
  • results can't be applied to our understanding of better insitutional care where children experienced deprivation
  • unusual situational variable
  • may lack generalisability