| What were the results for the orphans adopted after 6 months in Rutter and Sonuga? | Continued to show significant deficits in all areas
More likley to experience difficulties with making or/and maintaining peer relationships and often categorised with disinhibited attachment disorder. |
| What is disinhibited attachment disorder? | A behaviour pattern shown by some children who have been raised in institutions. Key features include:
-Attention-seeking behaviours towards all adults, even strangers
-Inappropriate physical contact with adults |
| What is an institution? | A place that is dedicated to a particular task, this can be where people live for a period of time, rather than a day care or outpatient |
| What does instituionalisation mean? | Describes the result of instituional care. In the past such instituions had fairly strict regimes and offered little emotional care. Many institutions try to avoid this, especially with children |
| What are the effect of instituionalisation? | 1. Disorganised attachment
2. Disinhibited attachment
3. Low IQ
4. Poor social and emotional development
5. Inability to develop an internah working model
6. Physical development - rocking, growth problems, medical issues |
| What was Rutter and Sonuga's aim? | Wanted to see the extent to which good replacement care could make up for early institutionalisation |
| What was the type of study and sample for Rutter and Sonuga-Barke? | Longitudinal study, tracking the progress of 165 Romanian orphans against the control group of 52 British children adopted at the same time
111 Romanian orpahns were adopted before the age of 2
54 were adopted by the age of 4 |
| How were the children assessed in Rutter and Sonuga-Barke? | Assessed on physical, intellectual, emotional and social development at the ages of 4,5,11 and 15
Interviews, observations to collect data - interviews with adoptive parents and teachers |
| What were the results of the orphans at the point of adoption in Rutter and Sonuga-Barke? | Showed delayed development on all elements: social, cognitive and physical
Physically smaller, weighed less and avage and many were classed as mentally retarded. |
| What were the results of the orphans adopted before 6 months in Rutter and Sonuga? | They caught up with the measures of development compared to the British control group by the time they were 4 |
| What were the results for the orphans adopted after 6 months in Rutter and Sonuga? | Continued to show significant deficits in all areas
More likley to experience difficulties with making or/and maintaining peer relationships and often categorised with disinhibited attachment disorder. |
| What was the mean IQ at the age of 11 for orphans adopted at 6 months in Rutter and Sonuga? | Mean IQ 102 |
| What ws the mean IQ at the age of 11 for orphans adopted between 6 months and 2 years in Rutter and Sonuga? | Mean IQ of 86 |
| What was the mean IQ at the age of 11 for orphans adopted after 2 years in Rutter and Sonuga? | Mean IQ 77 |
| What is the conclusion of Rutter and Sonuga's study? | Shows the importance of attachment in the early stages of child's life
It can lead to better attachment and how deprivation can have lasting impacts on the child: especially with IQ and later relationships. |
| What is the aim of Zeenah's study? | To investigate attachment type of childen who had spent most of their life in institutional care |
| The sample of the children in Zeenah's study? | 95 children, 12-31 months - spent most of their lives in instituional care
90% spent most of their lives in a orphanage compared to control group of 50 who had never lived in a institution before. |
| What was the method for Zeenah's study? | Attachment type is measured using the strange situation and carer asked about asepct of the children's behaviour including unusual social behaviour: clingly, attention-seeking and beahviour that was inappropriatley directed at all adults. |
| The results of the control group in Zeenah? | 74% were classified as securely attached |
| The results of the instituional group in Zeenah? | 19% was classified as securely attached
65% were classified as disorganised attached |
| The results of disinhibited attachment in Zeenah? | 44% had disinhibited attachment of institutionalised children
20% had disinhibited attachment of control group |
| What was the conclusion in Zeenah's study? | This shows that children growing up without care and severe deprivation can lead to having disinhibited attachment and as disorganised attachment type. |
| A strength of institutionalisation stuides? | -Romanian orphanage studies has an application to their application to everyday life to improvae conditions for children living in orphanages
-EG: the studying of Romanian orphanages has improved psychologists' understaddning of the effects of early insitutional care and how to prevent it (Langton).Led to improvment of conditions in care, like they now avoid having a large number of caregivers for each child. Key workers have been introduced and play a central role in emotional care
-Also institutional care is now seen as an undesirable option for childen - considerable effort is made to help such children in foster care or to have them adopted.
-Means that children in instituional care have a chance to develop strong and secure attachments, minimising the risk of developing disinhibted attaachment disorder, demonstrating the benefit of institutionalisation reserach to help improve children's lives. |
| A strength of instituionalisation studies? | -Rutter and Sonuga-Barke's instituionalisation reserach is longitudinal in nature
-Research took place over many years which allowed them to access both the short-term and long-term effects of institutionalisation and the effects of adoption. The results appear to be a valid representation of the effects of being place in instituionalised care as well as the results of receving quality follow-on emotional caregiving.
-However, a drawback of this reserach is the limited evidence we have on adult development for example, in this adoptee's ability to develop and maintain romantic or parental relationships.
-Means that the reserach will needd to continue to sppan a lifestime so we can truly understand the complete long-term effects for the Romanian orphans |
| A weakness of institutionalisation studies? | -Studying children from Romanian orphanages might have introduced confounding variables
-Eg: the quality of the care in these institutions was remarkably poor, with children receving very little intellectual stimulation or comfort.
-This means that the harmful effects seen in the studies of Romanian oprhans may represent the effects of poor institutional care rather than institutional care and therefore it is hard to apply these results to wide variety of countires and all institutions.
-Lack of external validity is a result of the unusual situational variables due to the harsh political regimes in Romania at the time and so the conditions of care cannot be considered typical. |
| A weakness of institutionalisation studies? | -Romanian orphan studies are socially sensitive as the results show that the late-adopted children typically have poorer developmental outcomes.
-These results have been published while the children have been growing up, meaning that the teachers, parents and anyone who knew them may have loweered their expections and treated them differently. This might have even created a self-fulfilling prophecy
-On the other hand, much has been learned from the Romanian orphan studies that might benefit future institutionalised and potentially institutionalised children.
-Though some may argue the publishing the results has done harm, it has done more good than harmm as it has allowed for institutions to progress and as well as psychologists to understands the effects of deprivation with early development. However due to the lack of external validity, it has to be applied with caution. |
