A03 Romanian Orphan Studies: Effects Of Institutionalisation

• Real-life application


  Studying Romanian orphans enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation. Led to improvements in the wat kids are cared for in institutions according to Langton
• Reforms in care facilities


  Orphanages/children's homes avoid large number of people (1 or 2) play central role for child. Key worker gives chance to have the development of normal attachments and help avoid disinhibited attachment. Research has been valuable in practical terms
• Fewer extraneous variables than other orphan studies


  Other studies of orphans often involved children who experienced loss/trauma before they were institutionalised: neglect, abuse and bereavement. Therefore, it was hard to observe the effects of institutionalisation in isolation as the children were dealing with confounding participant variables
• Lack of confounding variables


  The Romanian Orphan study made it possible to investigate institutionalisation without these variables meaning findings have high internal validity
• The Romanian Orphanages were not typical


  Conditions were so bad that the results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of better institutional care or any situation where children experienced deprivation
• Example regarding orphanages


  E.g: orphanages had poor standards of care especially when it came to forming any relationship with children and low levels of intellectual stimulation. Unusual situational variables meant study lacked generalisability
• Ethical issues (Rutter)


  Methodological issue where children were not randomly assigned in Rutter's study. This means the children adopted early may have been the more social ones - confounding variable
• Ethical issues (Bucharest)


  Bucharest study did use random allocation to fostering or institutional care. Raised ethical issues though as children were harmed
• The long-term effects are not yet clear


  Studies have been followed up fostered/adopted orphans into their mid teens and found some lasting effect of early experiences - particularly those adopted late
• Lack of clarity in adult life


  However, it is unclear. Those adopted late currently lagging behind in intellectual development could 'catch up' in adult life and those adopted early could experience emotional problems equally as adults