Romanian Orphan Studies

• Orphan studies

  - These concern children placed in care because their parents cannot look after them.

  - An orphan is a child whose parents have either died or have abandoned them permanently.
• Institutionalisation

  The effects of growing up in an institution, such as a children's home or orphanage

  
• Rutter et al's research procedure

  - Followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans for many years.

  - The orphans had been adopted by families in the UK.

  - Physical, cognitive and emotional development were assessed at 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22/25.
• Rutter et al's research findings

  - When first arrived in UK, half showed signs of delayed intellectual development and were severely malnourished.

  - When 11 years old, mean IQ of children adopted before 6 months was 102, compared with 86 for those adopted after 6 months.

  - These differences remained at age 16.

  - In terms of attachment, children adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment.
• Disinhibited attachment

  - Involves indiscriminate friendliness, lack of appropriate wariness of strangers, and difficulty participating in real, reciprocal social interactions.
• Zeanah et al's procedure

  - Assessed attachment in 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care.

  - Attachment type measured using Strange Situation.
• Zeanah et al's findings

  - 74% of the control group were securely attached.

  - 19% of the institutionalized group were securely attached.

  - 44% of the institutionalized group had disinhibited attachment.
• Rutter (2006) disinhibited attachment


  It is an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period.
• Intellectual disability


  A condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound
• Strengths of the Romanian orphan studies

  Real-world application

  - The research has improved psychologists' understanding of the effects of early institutional care and how to prevent the worst effects.

  - This can help improve institute conditions- key workers and less desirable option.

  - Children are able to develop normal attachments.

  
  

  Fewer confounding variables

  - Romanian children were put in care due to the parents' financial issues- which means they experienced no trauma before care.

  - This results in less confounding variables which could affect their development and the study.
• Limitations of the Romanian orphan studies

  Lack of adult data

  - It will take a long time to gather this data because of the longitudinal design of the study.