institutionalisation

• Definition of institutionalisation

  Institutionalisation concerns the effects upon attachments of care provided by orphanages and residential children's homes. Typically in the past institutional care was 'a type of residential care characterised by depersonalisation, rigid routines, closed doors, and a lack of any warmth, love or affection
• Effect of institutionalisation

  Institutional care does not adequately provide the level of positive individual attention and emotional care from consistent caregivers, which is essential for the success of emotional, physical, mental and social development of children. This is profoundly relevant for children under 3 years of age for whom institutional care has been shown to be especially damaging. Institutional care involved distinct patterns of attachment behaviour and often involves a mix of privation and deprivation.
• Rutter (2011) aim

  He conducted a study to assess whether loving and nurturing care could reverse the effects of privation the children had suffered in Romanian orphanages.
• Rutter (1998) Sample

  165 Romanian orphans
• Rutter (1998) Type of Study

  It was a longitudinal study, incorporating a quasi-experiment.
• IV

  The iv was the age of adoption with three conditions.

  - Condition 1 : children adopted before the age of 6 months.

  - Condition 2 : children adopted between 6 months and two years.

  - Condition 3 : children adopted after two years but before 42 months.
• DV

  The children's level of cognitive functioning
• How they were assessed

  The orphans were initially assessed for height, head circumference and cognitive functioning on arrival to Britain. All children were then assessed at age 4, using a combination of parental reports, direct observations, and psychometric assessments.
• control group

  A control group of 52 non-institutionalised British children adopted before 6 months were also assessed (to ascertain whether negative effects were due to separation from carers or the institutional conditions in Romanian orphanages).
• Finding 1

  ~50% of the Romanian orphans were retarded in cognitive functioning at initial assessment and most were underweight. The control group did not show these deficits.
• Finding 2

  The catch-up in both physical growth and cognitive level appeared nearly complete at 4 years for those children who came to the UK before 6 months - they were doing as well as the British adopted children. The developmental catch-up was also impressive, but not complete, in those placed after 6 months of age.
• Rutter et al (2001)

  He followed up the same children at age 6, finding quasi-autism, disinhibited attachment, inattention/overactivity, and cognitive impairment to be associated with institutionalisation, especially children enduring long periods of institutionalisation (ie adopted after 6 months), though 20% of such children showed normal functioning.
• Rutter et al (2007)

  He followed up the same children at age 11, finding that many showed normal levels of functioning, but about 50% of those showing disinhibited attachments and poor peer relationships at age 6 were still doing so and this was more pronounced among those adopted after 6 months.
• P: A methodological strength of the research is that it was longitudinal (follow up at 4,6,11 and 15 years).

  E: Following children's lives over a prolonged period of time reduces the possibility of premature conclusions being made ie that the effects of institutionalisation are irreversible. Ex-institutional children may need more time to mature sufficiently. In Rutter's study, it was found that the last assessment (age 11), a lower number of children had disinhibited attachments.

  
  

  C: If the study had not been longitudinal, Rutter may have wrongly concluded that disinhibited attachments were permanent, even if exposed to good quality emotional care.
• P: Rutter's research has real-word applications.

  E: A strength of this research is that studying the Romanian orphans has enhanced psychologists' understanding of the effects of institutionalisation. Such knowledge developed through this research has changed the way children in institutions are cared for. For example, orphanages and children's homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child and instead ensure that a much smaller number of people play a central role in caring for the child.

  
  

  C: This is a strength because having a key worker means that children have the chance to develop normal attachments and helps to avoid disinhibited attachment types. This shows that research into institutionalisation has been valuable in practical terms.
• P: However, Rutter's research suffers from a lack of control.

  E: Extraneous variables eg 'good' temperament of the child or a child with seemingly less problems, may be adopted sooner. Furthermore, some of the children may have received special attention at the institution, perhaps because they smiled more and so this would mean that they did have some early attachment experiences. This may explain improvements in the child's physical, cognitive and social functioning.

  
  

  C: Ultimately, some children are not as strongly affected as others by institutionalisation ie there are individual differences which were not accounted for by Rutter.
• P: As the children in Rutter's study were not studied while in the Romanian orphanages, it remains difficult to identify which aspects of institutionalisation had the greatest effect.

  E: The Romanian orphans were faced with much more than emotional deprivation. The physical conditions were appalling, which impacted their health. The lack of cognitive stimulation would have also effected their development.

  
  

  C: There are multiple risk factors and it may have been the lack of stimulation rather than the absence of maternal care that led to retarded development.