the English and Romanian Adoptees project

• sample:

  • 165 Romanian children who had previously lived in institutions: 111 were adopted before the age of 2 and 54 were adopted by age 4.
  • these were compared to a control group of 52 british children adopted by 6 months
• procedure:

  children were assessed for physical, social, and cognitive development at ages 4, 6, 11, and 15.
• Findings:

  time of adoption: british were above romanian in every aspect

  adopted before 6 months: by age 4, most of them had caught up to the british control group.

  adopted after 6 months: continued to show significant developmental problems.
• findings:

  • mean iq of adopted before 6 months at age 11: 122
  • mean iq of adopted after 6 months - 2 years at age 11: 77
• disinhibited attachment:

  children adopted after 6 months shows this
• disinhibited attachment:

  • indiscriminate friendliness
  • attention seeking
  • clinginess
  • lack of discrimination between attachment figures
• Disinhibited attachment is thought to happen when someone has too many attachment figures, preventing the formation of a secure attachment
• other effects:

  problems with peer relationships, quasi autism, and impaired language and social skills were also observed
• conclusion:

  emphasised importance of early adoption

  challeneged bowlby's strict critical period, suggesting a more loose one in which damage can be rectified