institutionalisation

• what is institutionalisation?

  settings outside of a family home where children are cared for by multiple staff leading to a lack of attatchments
• what country where the studied orphans from?

  romania
• romanian orphans - outline

  -longitudinal study to observe the effects of early deprivation on 165 romanian orphans' physical, mental and emotional development at ages 4, 6, 11, 15 and to test if care could reverse it
• romanian orphans - method + procedure

  -parental reports at age 4-6 about their willingness to go with strangers

  -home observation at 6 to look for "overly friendly behaviour with strangers"

  -parent + teacher reports from 11 about peer relationships
• what is the IV

  age of adoption - before 6months, 6months to 2years or after 2years
• what is disinhibited attatchment?


  the pervasive pattern of attention seeking behaviours with a lack of selectivity in social relationships
• disinhibited attatchment findings

  26.1 % who were adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attatchment because they didnt see anyone long enough to form attatchments
• cognitive development findings

  half of the infants showed signs of cognitive deficits when they were first adopted

  -by 4 years if adopted before 6 months, they managed to catch up with peers

  -at 11 years their mean IQ showed that the earlier they were adopted the higher their IQ was
• AO3 - supports bowlbys critical period


  infants younger than 6 months when adopted stood a better chance at forming attatchments in their new environment
• AO3 - consistent findings

  -a study found that children who spent 90% of their time in an institution were more likely to show disinhibited attatchment when older
• AO3 - population validity

  -longitudinal = reliability, follows the same group :( stopped at 15

  -romanian orphans = may not represent all childrens experiences of deprivation
• AO3 - irl application

  -lead to improvements in adoption policies and the quality of care provided in institutions

  (babies put up for adoption within the first few weeks)