Romanian Orphan Studies

• An institution is a place dedicated to a particular task:

  • Looking after children waiting adoption
  • Caring for the mentally ill
• Institutions used to have strict regimes and offered little emotional care
• Romania's leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, banned abortion and contraceptive which led to an increase in the number of children being born
• Many Romanians abandoned their newborn children, leaving thousands to suffer at under-funded, state-run orphanages
• After the 1989 revolution, many of the orphans were adopted, some by british families
• Bowlby's internal working model (which is deterministic) may say that these children will have trouble forming healthy relationships as they expect neglect
• Rutter et al (2011)- English and Romanian Adoptee (era) study
• Rutter et al aimed to examine whether negative early experiences can be made up with good aftercare
• Rutter et al (2011) procedure:

  • 165 Romanian orphans
  • Adoptees were tested at regular intervals- age 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25
  • Assessed their physical, cognitive and social development
  • Information was gathered from parents and teachers
  • Progress was compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted before 6 months
• Rutter et al found that

  • Romanian orphans lacked physical, cognitive and social development
  • The majority were severely malnourished
  • Age 11, the mean IQ for those adopted before 6 months was 102, between 6 months and two years was 86, and those adopted at 2 years old had an IQ of 77
  • Children adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment
• Disinhibited attachment- child doesn't seem to prefer their parents over other people, even strangers. The child seeks comfort and attention from virtually anyone, without distinction
• Rutter et al concluded that the age of adoption impacts IQ, but this can be minimised if the child is adopted before 6 months. Also concluded that emotional care is vital for physical, cognitive and social development
• Zeanah's et al- The Bucharest Early intervention project
• Zeanah et al aimed to investigate the attachment type of institutionalised children
• Zeanah et al procedure

  • 95 children between 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in care
  • Control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution
  • Assessed using the Strange Situation
  • Carers were asked about unusual behaviour (clingy, attention seeking directed inappropriately at all adults)
• Zeanah et al found

  • 74% of the control group were securely attached
  • 19% of the institutional group were securely attached
  • 44% of the institutional group displayed disinhibited compared to 20% of the control group
• Zeanah et al concluded that institutionalised children are less likely to develop secure attachments- which will impact them in the future
• Rutter (2006) explained that disinhibited attachment occurs because the child has lived with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation. Therefore, they have not had the opportunity to form a secure attachment
• Intellectual under-functioning: cognitive impairment is due to emotional deprivation
• Rutter found that most children who were adopted before 6 months caught up with the control group by the age of 4
• Intellectual development can be recovered providing adoption takes place before 6 months
• Physical underdevelopment- most children in institutional care are physically small and malnourished
• STRENGTH

  • Real world application- children's homes now ensure there are only one or two people to play a central role in each child's life to try and form secure attachments
  • Longitudinal studies- Assess the development over the course of a person's life, understand long-term effects
• LIMITATIONS

  • Romanian orphanages were not typical- particularly poor standards of care, low levels of intellectual stimulation, lacks generalisability
  • Socially sensitive research- may cause parents or teachers to lower their expectations and treat the children differently