ROMANIAN ORPHAN STUDIES

• WHO DID ROMANIAN ORPHAN STUDIES?

  Rutter and Zeanah
• RUTTER KEY POINTS?

  • longitudinal, natural experiment
  • 165 Romanian orphans
• FINDINGS OF RUTTER'S STUDY?

  • IQ negatively correlated with age of adoption
  • age of adoption and disinhibited attachment positively correlated
  • 26% at 6 years, 9% at 6 months, 4% UK adoptees had disinhibited attachment
  • 6 years made good recoveries, 11 years made full (but still had disinhibited attachment)
• KEY POINTS OF ZEANAH'S STUDY?

  • natural + field experiment
  • 95 Romanians who spent life institutional care
  • control group of 50
  • strange situation
• FINDINGS OF ZEANAH'S STUDY?

  • 20% of institutionalised group, 75% control group had secure attachment
  • 44% institutionalised group, 20% control group had disinhibited attachment
  • 80% of institutionalised group had reactive attachment disorder
• EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONALISATION?

  • adopting institution norms
  • disinhibited attachment
  • disorganised attachment
  • delayed physical development
  • delayed language development
  • impaired adult relationships
  • poor intellectual development
  • quasi-autism
  • reactive attachment disorder
• EVALUATION OF ROMANIAN ORPHAN STUDIES?

  • real world application
  • generalisability
  • confounding variables
  • ethics
• REAL WORLD APPLICATION ARGUMENT?

  • key workers
  • adoption procedures
• GENERALISABILITY ARGUMENT?

  • Rutter
  • large sample size
  • different reasons for abandonment
  • but particularly poor care standards
• CONFOUNDING VARIABLES ARGUMENT?

  • Rutter
  • no random assortment
  • more sociable selected for adoption
  • no cause and effect
  • institution could be a confounding variable not cause
• ETHICS?

  • mostly ethical
  • Zeanah's not ethical
  • random allocation to foster homes or stay in institutions