Romanian orphan studies

    Cards (16)

    • Romanian orphan studies: Institutionalisation (KEY TERM)

      Institutionalisation is the effects of living in an institutional setting. In this case, an orphange. In such placed, there is often very little emotional care. Attachment research is interested in the effects of institutionalisation on attachment and development.
    • Orphan studies (KEY TERM)

      Orphan studies involve children placed in care because their parents cannot look after them because they have either died or abandoned them permanently
    • A way of testing if Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is correct is to conduct studies where children have been deprived (a bit like the thieves study) - more updated studies are those on Romanian orphans
    • Rutter's ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study (2011) procedure
      Followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test if good care could make up for the poor experiences in the orphanages. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been tested at 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old. A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time have been used as a control group.
    • Rutter's ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study (2011) findings
      When they first arrived in the UK, half the adoptees showed signs of mental retardation and the majoritity were severly undernourished. At age 11, the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. The mean IQ of those children adopted BEFORE the age of 6 months old was 102, compared to 86 for those adopted between 6 months and two years and 77 for those adopted AFTER two years. The IQ differences remained the same at age 16.
    • Rutter's ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study (2011) findings


      In terms of attachment, age of adoption was a factor. Children adopted AFTER 6 months old, showed disinhibited attachment. This includes attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed to any adult, familiar and unfamiliar. Those adopted before the age of 6 months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment
    • The Bucharest Early Intervention Project - Zeanah et al (2005) procedure
      Assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months old who had spent most of their live in an institution. Compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an instution. Attachment type measured using the strange situation. Carers were also asked about their unusal social behaviour including clingy, attention seeking behaviours directed inappropriately to all adults.
    • The Bucharest Early Intervention Project - Zeanah et al (2005) - findings
      74% of control group were securely attached. 19% of the institutional group were securely attached. 65% of the institutional group were classified as disorganised attachment. 44% if the institutional group showed disinhibited attachment and 20% of the control group.
    • Effects of institutionalisation: disinhibited attachment
      A typical effect of spending time in an institution. Equally friendly towards people they know well or to strangers. Highly unusual as most children show stranger anxiety. Rutter explained this behaviour as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period. In poor quality institutions a child might have 50 carers none of whom they see enough to form a secure attachment.
    • Effects of institutionalisation: mental retardation
      In Rutter's study most children showed signs of retardation when they arrived. Most of these adopted before 6 months caught up with the control group by age 4. It therefore seems that damage to intellectual development can be recovered providing adoption take place before the age of 6 months - the age around when attachments form
    • Evaluation: STRENGTH- real life application
      Enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation - lead to improvements in care in institutions. Orphanages and care homes now avoid large numbers of carers per child - key workers. This helps attachments and avoids disinhibited attachments. Very valuable practical application
    • Evaluation: STRENGTH- cofounding variables 


      Previous studies on orphans involved children who had experienced loss or trauma before going into the institution (e.g., war orphans - Goldfarb). This makes it hard to study the effects of institutionalisation in isolation as the children were dealing with the loss or trauma as well as being in an institution - cofounding participant variables. Romanian orphans - no cofounding variables so increased internal validity
    • Evaluation: LIMITATION- not a typical orphanage
      The conditions in the Romanian orphanages were extremely poor quality - so it is difficult to generalise the findings of these studies to any institution where a child suffers deprivation, as the standards are probably not as bad. Because of these situational variables - lacks generalisability
    • Evaluation: LIMITATION - ethical issues
      In Rutter's study, the children were not randomly assigned to conditions - they didn't interfere with the adoption process. So, the early adopted children may have been more sociable (which is why they were adopted earlier) and therefore formed better attachments because of this, not because they were adopted early - this is a confounding variable.
    • Evaluation: LIMITATION - ethical issues


      However, in the BEI study, they used random allocation - institution or fostering (never lived in an institution)- methodologically better as the parents aren't choosing a child (no cofounding variables) but it does have ethical issues - BECAUSE they still randomly allocate, indirectly knowing that it will impact the child's development
    • Evaluation: LIMITATION - long term effects
      It is too soon to say if the children will suffer long term effects on intellectual and emotional development. The late adoptees may still catch up as adults. Also, early adoptees that appear to be fine now may suffer problems in adulthood