Institutionalisation

• Institutionalisation

  > Institutionalisation refers to children spending a long period of time living outside of the family home within an institution, for example, an orphanage

  > This can result in a loss of personal identity and the child adopting the rules and norms of the institution that can impair cognitive functioning
• Effects of institutionalisation - Reactive attachment disorder

  > An extreme lack of sensitive responsiveness from a parent in early life can lead to a child growing up unable to trust or love others

  > They become isolated and very selfish and unable to understand the needs of others

  > They can become very sociopathic without a conscience and have a lack of remorse
• Effects of institutionalisation - Disinhibited attachment

  > Children select attachment figures indiscriminately and behave in an overly friendly fashion with complete strangers

  > Children may adapt to having multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation

  > Attention seeking
• Effects of institutionalisation - Cognitive impairment

  > A delay in intellectual development

  > Low IQ and problems with concentration (Rutter)

  > Difficulty learning new concepts and behaviours
• Rutters Romanian orphans study - Part 1

  > Aim - To investigate whether loving and nurturing care could overturn the effects of institutionalisation the children had suffered in Romanian orphanages.

  > Longitudinal study

  > Physical, emotional and cognitive development were assessed at ages 4, 6 ,11 and 15.

  > IV - Age of adoption

  DV - Childs development

  > 111 Romanian orphans who were adopted into British families
• Rutters Romanian orphan study - Part 2

  > Studied 3 groups

  1. Adopted before the age of 6 months
  2. Adopted between 6 months and 2 years
  3. Adopted after the age of 2

  > The Romanian orphans were compared to a control group of 52 British adopted children

  Findings -

  > Initial assessment - 50% of the Romanian children showed signs of cognitive impairment and were severely undernourished

  > By the age of 4 years the children who were adopted later had a much higher level of disinhibited attachment. Those adopted early were doing as well as the British adopted children
• Rutters romanian orphans - Part 3

  > By the age of 11 the mean IQ of those adopted later was lower (77) than those adopted later, showing cognitive impairment

  > Those adopted before the age of 6 months had a normal IQ level (102)

  Conclusion

  > Some negative effects of institutionalisation can be overcome by sensitive, nurturing care, more so if the adoption takes place earlier
• Institutionalisation AO3

  :) Practical applications

  > The principles of the theory that institutionalisation has led to psychological problems such as reactive attachment disorder

  > Led to improvements for children living outside their family home - such as a reduced number of caregivers

  > Therefore, institutionalisation research is an important part of applied psychology.
• Institutionalisation AO3

  :) Rutters research has high control over extraneous variables

  > In other research some children had experienced trauma

  > But in Rutters study they were handed over by loving parents who could not afford them, making it possible to study institutionalisation effects without these confounding variables

  > Therefore, increasing the internal validity of the research into the effects of institutionalisation
• Institutionalisation AO3

  :( However, studying children from Romanian orphanages might have introduced different confounding variables

  > The quality of care in these institutions was extremely poor, with children receiving very little intellectual stimulation or comfort

  > Harmful effects may have been from poor institutional care rather then institutional care itself