Romanian orphan studies: Effects of institutionalisation

Effects of institutionalisation - disinhibited attachment

A form of insecure attachment where children do not discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures. Such children will treat near-strangers with inappropriate familiarity and may be attention seeking

Rutter and Songua-Barke findings

At the time of adoption the Romanian orphans lagged behind their British counterparts on all measures of physical, cognitive and social developments. They were smaller, weighed less and were classified mentally retarded. By the age of 4 some of the children had caught up with their British counterparts. True for almost all Romanian children adopted before 6 months. Follow ups confirmed that significant deficits remain in a substantial minority of individuals who had experienced institutional care beyond the age of 6 months. Many orphans adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachments and had problems with peer relationships. Suggests that long-term consequences may be less severe than once thought if children have the opportunity to form attachments. However, when children do not form attachments then the consequences are likely to be more severe.

Effects of institutionalisation - physical underdevelopment

Children in institutional care are usually physically small; research has shown (Gardner) that lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of what has been called deprivation dwarfism

Effects of institutionalisation - intellectual underfunctioning

Cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation

What did Zeanah et al find?

Compared 136 Romanian children who had, on average, spent 90% of their lives in an institution, to a control group of Romanian children who had never been in an institution. Children were aged 12-31 months and were assessed in the strange situation. Institutionalised children showed signs of disinhibited attachment

Rutter and Sonuga-Barke (2010) - [Procedure]

ERA - English and Romanian adoptees 165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in Romanian institutions and thus suffer the effects of institutionalisation. Of this group 111 were adopted before the age of 2 and a further 54 by the age of 4. Adoptees tested at regular intervals to assess their physical, sognitive and social development. Information has also been gathered in interviews woth parents and teachers. Their progress has been compared to a control group of 52 Britihs children adopted in the UK before the age of 6 months

Effects of institutionalisation - poor parenting

Harlow showed that monkeys raised with a surrogate mother went on to become poor parents. Supported by a study by Quinton et al who compared a group of 50 women who had been reared in institutions with a control group of 50 women reared at home. When the women were in their 20s it was found that the ex-institutional women were experiencing extreme difficulties acting as parents. For example, more of the ex-institutional women had children who spent time in care

How might the effects of institutionalisation disappear over time?

If the children have a good quality of emotional care. One of the findings from the Romanian study was that at the last assessment, at age 11, a lower number of children had disinhibited attachment. Therefor ex-institutionalised children may simply need more time than normal to learn how to cope with relationships. This is further supported by Le Mare ans Audets findings that physical undevelopment had improved by age 11, thus suggesting that development does continue in these children

What did Le Mare and Audet report?

Longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada. Orphans were physically smaller than a matched group at age four and a half years, but this difference had disappeared by ten and a half years. Same true for physical health. Suggests that recovery is possible from the effects of institutionalisation on physical dveelopment

Singer et al 1985

Most Abbie's are now adopted within the first few weeks of birth and research shows that adoptive mothers and children are just as securely attached as non-adoptive families

Effects of institutionalisation

Physical underdevelopment, intellectual underfunctioning, disinhibited attachment, poor parenting

How do individual differences effect the validity of the Romanian orphanage findings?

Research show that some children are not as strongly affected as others, I.e. there are individual differences. Rutter suggested that it might be that some of the children received special attention in the institution, perhaps because they smiled more, and this might have enabled the, to cope better. Bowlby's study also show individual differences matter

How is there being confounding variables a limitation?

Romanian orphans were faced with much more than emotional deprivation. The physical conditions were appalling, and this impacted their health. The lack of cognitive stimulation would also affect their development. It is also the case that, for any institutionalised children, poor care in infancy is followed by poor subsequent care, such as living in poverty, parental disharmony (Turner ans Lloyd)

How can research into institutionalisation improve the lives of children placed in such care?

The early research by Bowlby and Robertson change drew way that children were looked after in hospital. This points out the importance of early adoption. In the past, mother's who were going to give up a baby for adoption were encouraged to nurse the baby for a significant period of time. By the time the baby was adopted in the sensitive period for attachment may have passed, making it difficult to form secure attachments with a new mother.

Institutionalisation

The effect of institutional care. The term can be applied widely to the effects of an institution but our concern focuses specifically on how time spent in an institution such as an orphanage can affect the development of children. The possible effects include social, mental and physical underdevelopment, some of these effects may be irreversible

What is a strength of them being longitudinal studies?

Without such studies we'd may mistakenly conclude that there are many effects due to early institutional care, whereas some of these studies show that the effects may disappear after sufficient time and with a suitable high-quality care