Romanian orphans/institutionalisation

• An institution is a place where people live for a long period of time to be "cared" for, these institutions are generally strict and offer little emotional care. In the 1990s, the former president of Romania required families to have 5 children, many parents could not afford to keep this many children and so many children ended up in huge orphanage institutions, with very poor conditions. These orphans are often studied to look at the effect of institutional care.
• In 2011, Rutter followed 165 of the Romanian orphans who were adopted by British families, to test the impact of good care on their development., would it make up for their poor institutionalised care? Rutter carried out a longitudinal study of these children.
• Procedure of Rutter's Romanian Orphan study:

  • Tested 111 children who had been adopted before they were two, and 54 who had been adopted by four.
  • They tested the children's physical, cognitive and emotional development at the ages of : 4,6,11 and 15 years.
  • They also studied 52 British children who had been adopted around the same time as the Romanian Orphans, the control group
• Rutter found at first, half the adoptees had delayed intellectual development and the majority were undernourished.

  • By 11, the mean IQ of those adopted before 6 months was 102, and those adopted between 6 months and 2 years averaged 86 IQ, those adopted after 2 years had a mean IQ of 77.
  • Attachment differed, children adopted after 6 months showed showed a disinhibited attachment type; they were clingy, and attention seeking to all adults. those adopted before 6 months showed a secure attachment
• Rutter concluded that long-term consequences of deprivation during the critical period may be less severe than thought, if children are given care and the opportunity to form attachments. However, if children are unable to form attachments, the consequences may be severe.
• Le Mare and Audet studied 36 Romanian Orphans who had been adopted in Canada. At aged four, these Orphans were deficit in health and growth, this difference disappeared once the children were aged 10.5, suggesting physical recovery from institutionalisation is possible.
• Effects of Institutionalisation:

  • Physical underdevelopment; lack of emotional care, resulted in a lack of hormones being produced. E.g, growth hormones, this resulted in some orphans developing dwarfism
  • Intellectual development: Cognitive stimulation was low, and institutionalised children often had lower IQ scores than their peers
  • Disinhibited attachment: Children were attention seeking, unable to interact & relate to others and over-friendly to strangers, due to severe neglect they experienced
  • Poor parenting: They grew up to be poor parents due to having no primary care figure
• AO3

  Individual differences

  Not all children affected by institutionalisation are unable to recover, some children are not as affected by deprivation as others. Rutter suggested some children may have experienced extra attention in the institution, due to social releasers such as smiling.

  We cannot conclude all institutionalisation leads to an inability to form attachments - cannot generalise
• AO3

  Real-life application


  Research into institutionalisation has improved the care in adoption systems. It has shown the importance of early adoptions. In the past, mothers who wanted to give up their babies were encouraged to first nurse their children for a few weeks, this meant they potentially formed bonds (which then broke, depriving infants). Now, infants are encouraged to be adopted as soon as possible (within the 1st week), so adopted children form secure bonds with their adoptive parents.

  This has helped improve the lives of adopted children, showing the importance of research.
• AO3

  Value of longitudinal studies


  These studies follow the lives of children for many years.

  Although this is very time consuming, it is very beneficial. These studies show how the affects of institutionalisation can disappear if the child has a long period of consistent, sufficient , quality care.

  Showing how we can't always assume institutionalised care will have negative effects and without longitudinal studies, we would not know this.
• AO3

  Deprivation is only one factor


  There were inevitably confounding variables.

  • The Romanian orphans experienced more than just deprivation, they lived in appalling physical conditions and had a lack of cognitive stimulation, this would effect their development.
  • Also, institutionalised children often had poor subsequent care, living in poverty and parental disharmony.

  The affects of institutionalisation on development are more than just deprivation, other factors must be considered
• AO3

  Effects may just be due to slower development


  The effects of institutionalisation can disappear overtime if children have good quality emotional care.

  • In the Romanian Orphan study, by age 11, less children had disinhibited attachments. Ex-institutionalised children may simply need more time than other children to learn how to cope with relationships.
  • Development does continue for children - it is just slower

  Criticising the idea effects of institutionalisation are permanent, this may not be true, effects are in fact reversible, but children just require longer to develop.