romanian orphan studies

• what is institutionalisation?


  the effect of institutional care. the term can be applied widely to the effects of an institution but our concern focuses specifically on how time spent in an institution such as an orphanage can affect the development of children. the possible effects include social, mental and physical underdevelopment. some of these effects may be irreversible
• what is deprivation dwarfism?

  children in institutional care are usually physically small; research has shown (e.g. gardner, 1972) that lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause
• what is intellectual under functioning?

  cognitive development is also affected by emotional development (skodak and skeels)
• what is disinhibited attachment?


  a form of insecure attachment where children do not discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures. such children will treat near-strangers with inappropriate familiarity (overfriendliness) and may be attention seeking
• what is poor parenting?

  harlow showed that monkeys raised with a surrogate mother went on to become poor parents. this is supported in a study by quinton et al (1984) who compared a group of 50 women who had been reared in institutions (children’s homes) with a control group of 50 women reared at home. when the women were in their 20s it was found that the ex-institutional women were experiencing extreme difficulties acting as parents. more example, more of the ex-institutional women had children who had spent time in care
• who conducted the era study?

  rutter and sonuga-barke (2010)
• what is the era study?

  a longitudinal study that has been ongoing since the early 1990s
• what did the era study do?

  they studied 165 romanian orphans at 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old. all the children had spent their early life in institutions. 111 were adopted before the age of 2 years. the remaining 54 were adopted before the age of 4 years. they were assessed in relation to physical development, cognitive develop and social development. the romanian children were compared with a control group of 52 uk children who had been adopted before the age of 6 months
• what did the era study find?

  on arrival, half of adoptees showed signs of mental retardation and were undernourished. by 11 years, performance was related to the age of adoption. before six months had rapid development and caught up with british peers. after 6 months had signs of disinhibited attachment. after 2 years had 54% of those displaying disinhibited attachment at 6 still doing so at 11. many were receiving help from either special educational or mental health services
• what did mare and audet (2006) do?

  reported the findings from a longitudinal study of 36 romanian orphans adopted to families in canada. the dependent variables in this study have been physical growth and health. the adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched control group at age four and a half years, but this difference had disappeared by ten and a half years. the same was true for physical health. this suggests that recovery is possible from the effects of institutionalisation on physical development
• what did zeanah et al (2005) do?

  compared 136 romanian children who had, on average, spent 90% of their lives in an institution, to a control group of romanian children who had never been in an institution. the children were aged 12-31 months and were assessed in the strange situation. the institutionalised children showed signs of disinhibited attachment
• what is the support of institutionalisation?

  romanian orphan studies are less affected by confounding variables than previous research
• what is the counter of institutionalisation?


  individual differences / generalisability (rutter)
• what does rutter suggest?

  there may have been differences in the attention received in institutions, e.g. smiley children received more attention. therefore, limiting how far this theory can be generalised
• what is the alternative of institutionalisation?


  effects are not necessarily irreversible, it may just be slow development
• what is the practicality of institutionalisation?


  work has been used to shape care arrangements
• what are the issues and debates of institutionalisation?

  reductionism - emotional deprivation is just one factor