ao1

• context

  former romanian predident required romanian women in the 1990s to have 5 children, abortion and contraception were illegal

  many romanian parents couldn't afford to keep their children and the children ended up in huge orphanages in very poor conditions

  after the 1989 romanian revolution may of the children were adopted some by British parents. rutter looked into the effects of institutional care and consequent institutionalisation
• rutter et al procedure

  followed a group of 165 romanian orphans for many years as part of the English and romanian adoptee project

  the orphans had been adopted by families in the UK. The aim of the ERA has been to investigate the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions

  physical cognitive and emotional development has been assed at ages 4,6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years. a group of 52 children from the UK adopted around the same time have served as a control group.
• rutter ERA findings

  when they first arrived in the UK Half showed signs of delayed intellectual development and most were severely undernourished

  iq depended on age of adoption

  under 6 months - 102

  6 months to 2 years - 86

  after 2 years - 77

  remained like this at 16
• more findings disinhibited attachment

  there appeared to be a difference in outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after 6 months there appeared to be a difference in outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after 6 months

  after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment

  symptoms include attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults both familiar and unfamiliar

  those before 6 months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment
• bucharest early intervention (BEI) project Zenah et al findings

  assed attachment in 95 romantic children ages 12-31 months who had spent most their lives in institutional care (90%) on average

  compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution

  attachment type was measured using the Strange Situation

  carers were asked about unusual social behaviour including clingy, attention-seeking behaviour directed inappropriately at ask adults ( a measure of disinhibited attachment)