Institutionalisation

• Effects of institutionalisation:

  
  

  Hodges and Tizard (1989)

  • Procedure - Followed a group of 65 British children from early life to adolescence. The children had been placed in an institution when they were less than 4 months (yet to form secure attachments). There was a rule forbidding the caretakers to form attachments with the children. An early study of the children found that 70% were described as not able to 'deeply care' about anyone. We can conclude that most of the children experienced early emotional privation.
• Effects of institutionalisation:

  
  

  Hodges and Trizard (1989)

  • Findings - Children were assessed at regular intervals up to the age of 16. Some children remained in the institution but most had left. The 'restored' children were less likely to have formed attachments with their mothers, but adopted children were closely attached to parents. They were less likely to have a special friend. They were also more quarrelsome and more likely to be bullies. They always wanted attention from adults (disinhibited attachment).
• Strengths of institutionalisation:

  • Supporting studies - Hodges and Trizard (1989) findings suggest early privation had negative effects on ability to form relationships even when given good emotional care. This supports Bowlby's view (failure to form attachment = irreversible emotional development effect).
• Roman orphans study:

  • Rutter (2007) studied 165 Romanian orphans and assessed them at 4, 6 and 11 years old (psychological, emotional and physical development). Results were compared to 50 children adopted in Britain at the same time (control). Findings showed majority of orphans were malnourished. The mean IQ was dependent on age of which they were adopted (before 6 months = IQ 25 points higher then those adopted after 2 years (Goldman). Adopted after 6 months = signs of disinhibited attachment - characterised by attention seeking due to multiple carers within the critical period.
• Rutter demonstrated the importance and effects of adopting at different ages (which was directly related to recovery). A full recovery could be made if adoption was before 6 months. These conclusions were supported by the Bucharest Early Intervention project by Zeanah et al (2005) - 65% of their sample of 95 orphans had signs of disorganised attachments compared to only 20% of healthy non-deprived control group.
• Strengths of Romanian orphans study:

  • Removed confounding and extraneous variables of PTSD and trauma as he studied the effects in isolation. This increases validity and confidence that he had drawn reliable conclusions about the effects of institutionalisation and the different rates of recovery.
• Limitations of Roman orphan study:

  • Methodological issue - Focus was on short-term recovery rather then long-term. For example, just because a child adopted at 3 doesn't exhibit the normal intellectual development at 4 doesn't mean they have a mental decline. Therefore, to increase validity of conclusions, it would have been better to carry out a more longitudinal study.
• Limitations of Roman orphans study:

  • Low ecological validity - Conditions of the orphanages were poor. They did not provide any intellectual stimulation for the children which may have has a larger impact on their intellectual development compared to maternal deprivation as a single cause. Cases of abuse were also frequent. Since the average orphanage would have better conditions, these findings can not be generalised beyond the research setting they were found.
• Attachment disorder - A series of emotional and behavioural problems that occur when a child is unable to form a secure attachment.

  Symptoms include having no preferred attachment figure, an inability to interact and relate to others (evident before the age of 5) and experience sever neglect or frequent change of carers.
• Types of attachment disorders:

  1. Reactive / inhibited - Shy and withdrawn, unable to cope with most social situations.
  2. Disinhibited attachment - Overly friendly and attention seeking.