Romanian Orphan studies- institutionalisation

• privation

  = lack of any attachment bond in early childhood.
• institutionalisation

  = effects of living in an institutional setting, people live for long, continuous periods of time- little emotional care provided.

  • orphan studies= effects of deprivation on emotional care and development. In Romania many couldn't afford to keep their children and ended up in huge orphanages in poor conditions.
• Rutters's research

  -followed a group of Romanian orphans adopted by families in the uk.

  -investigated the extent at which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions.

  -control group= children from uk adopted at the same time.
• Rutter research findings

  • when arrived in the uk, 1/2 showed signs of delayed intellectual development and severely undernourished.
  • mean IQ of adopted children before age 6 months= 102, those adopted between age of 6 months and 2 years= 86, and after 2 years= 77
  • there differences remained until they were 16.
  • so there is a difference in outcome if adopted before or after 6 months
  • those adopted after 6 months= disinhibited attachment (attention seeking, clinginess, antisocial behaviour)
• Zeanah's research

  -conducted Bucharest early intervention project assessing attachment in Romanian children aged 12-31 months in institutional care.

  -compared to control group= never in an institutional care.

  -attachment type measured using the strange situation

  -carers asked about any unusual social behaviour.

  • 74% of control group= securely attached
  • 19% of institutional group= securely attached
  • 44% of institutional group= disinhibited attachment.
• Effects

  -disinhibited attachment= too much time in institution- friendly and affectionate to familiar people.

  Rutter- Explanation= adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during sensitive period- poor quality institution child doesn't spend enough time with i carer.

  -intellectual disability= if adopted by 6 months they caught up intelligently with control group by age 4.

  So damage to emotional and intellectual development can be recovered, provided adoption takes place before age of 6 months.
• Evaluation- real world application

  -improve conditions for children growing up outside family home.

  -by studying Romanian orphanage it improves understanding of effects of early institutional care and how to prevent it.

  -children's homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child- 1 or 2 key workers play central role in their emotional care.

  -institutional care now seen as undesirable option- effort made for fostering.

  -so children in care have chance to form a normal attachment.
• Evaluation- lack of adult data

  -latest data from ERA study looked at children in early 20s.

  -so don't currently have data to answer questions about long-term effects of early institutional care.

  -questions include= lifetime prevalence of mental health problems, participants success in forming and maintaining adult romantic and parental relationships.

  -would take a long time, longitudinal design would be a long time before effects are known.
• Evaluation- fewer confounding variables

  -many children in orphanage studies had experienced varying degrees of trauma- difficult to disentangle effects of neglect, physical abuse and bereavement.

  -but children in Romanian orphanages had been handed over by loving parents- less likely to be confounding by early negative experiences.
• Evaluation- counterpoint

  -may introduce confounding variables- if quality of care was poor, children received little intellectual stimulation or comfort.

  -so harmful effects in Romanian orphans may represent effects of poor institutional care rather than institutional care.