A01 Romanian Orphan Studies: Effects Of Institutionalisation

• Maternal deprivation


  Research on maternal deprivation turned to orphan studies as a means of deprivation
• Context in Romania


  Tragic opportunity when the president of Romania required Romanian women to have 5 children to which they couldn't afford so the children ended up in large orphanages with poor conditions
• Rutter's ERA(English and Romanian Adoptee) study Procedure

  Rutter et al followed group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain (after Romanian Revolution) to test what extent of good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions
• Assessment of development


  Physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 years. There was a control group of 52 adopted British children
• Findings of ERA study

  When first arrived in the UK, half of the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the majority of children were severely malnourished
• Age of adpoption


  At age 11, adopted children showed showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption
• Mean IQ


  Mean IQ of children adopted before age of 6 months was 106 while it was 86 for those adopted between 6 months and 2 years while it was 77 for those adopted after 2 years. Beckett et al stated that these differences remained at 16
• Disinhibited attachment


  Children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment Contrastingly, children adopted before 6 months rarely showed signs of disinhibited attachment
• Disinhibited attachment meaning


  Attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults - family and non-family
• The Bucharest Early Intervention Project procedure


  Zeaneh et al assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who spent 90% of their lives in institutional care. Compared to control group of 50 children who never lived in an institution
• Method of assessing attachment

  Their attachment type measured using strange situation and carers also asked about unusual social behaviour and sign of disinhibited attachment
• The Bucharest Early Intervention Project findings


  74% of control group came out as securely attached but only 19% of institutional group were with 65% classified with disorganised attachment
• Description of disinhibited attachment

  Description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutionalised group opposed to less than 20% of the control
• Effects of institutionalisation (DA)

  Disinhibited attachment was a typical effect of spending time in an institution. Children were equally friendly towards people they know and strangers. Highly unusual behaviour as most children show stranger anxiety in their 2nd year
• Rutter's theory on disinhibited attachment


  Disinhibited attachment is an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during sensitive period. Romanian orphans may have had 50 carers none of whom they saw enough to form a secure attachment
• Effects of institutionalisation (Mental retardation)


  Most children showed signs of retardation when arrived in Britain. most of those adopted before 6 months caught up with the control group by the age of 4
• Intellectual development


  Like emotional development, intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered provided adoption takes place before 6 months -age at which attachment forms according to Schaffer's stages of attachment