10. Institutionalisation Flashcards
What is institutionalisation?
The effects of living in an institutional setting- e.g. hospital or orphanage- where children are for long, continuous periods of time
What are institutionalisation studies interested in?
Effects of institutional care on children’s attachment and subsequent development
Why are institutionalisation studies natural experiments?
Unethical to manipulate variables as Bowlby predicted that institutional care has irreversible effect on child’s well-being
Describe the context of the Romanian Orphan studies
- Communist-ruled Romania required women to have many children to boost population
- Many abandoned children at state-run underfunded orphanages
- Regime collapsed in 1989 and children adopted mainly by western families
What do the Romanian Orphan studies study?
Effects of privation (not deprivation)- infant denied attachment opportunity
What is the aim of the Romanian Orphan studies?
Seeing if effects of adoption could be reversed after adoption
What type of studies were the Romanian orphan studies?
Longitudinal
Who did the Romanian Orphan studies involve?
165 Romanian orphans (111 under 2, 54 under 4) and control group of 52 British children (adopted under 6 months)
When and how were orphans assessed?
- At age 4, 6, 11 and 15
- Parent and teacher interviews & researcher personally assessing physical and congestive development
How did the Romanian orphans’ development compare with British adoptees initially?
Romanian orphans behind in all areas
Which Rohan’s were most likely to catch up with British counterparts by age four?
6 months (almost all from this group did)
How did the orphans’ time in institution correlate with their IQ?
IQ decreased with time in institution
What is disinhibited attachment?
Children are equally friendly towards familiar and unfamiliar (don’t show stranger anxiety)
Which orphans were most most likely to display disinhibited attachment?
More common in Romanian orphans and increased with time in institution
When did signs of disinhibited attachment in orphans reduce by?
Age 11
Why can the effects of institutionalisation be recovered if adoption occurs within 6 months?
These infants are still in asocial stage so do not yet distinguish between people or form attachments
What did Rutter suggest was the reason for disinhibited attachment in institutionalised children?
Adaptation to living multiple caregivers in sensitive period so they never have one secure attachment
What did Rutter suggest about delayed intellectual development in the Romanian orphans?
Could catch up by age of 4 if adopted before age of 6 months
What happened to physical development of children of Romanian orphans?
Physically small (due to lack of emotional care, not malnourishment)
What improvements did Langston (2006) find in institutions after the Romanian orphan studies?
Key workers so that a child has one constant person to attach to and avoid disinhibited attachment
What confounding variable did previous institutionalisation studies have?
Other children had previous trauma, Romanian orphans didn’t
How were the Romanian orphans studies better than previous studies?
Confounding variable of trauma eradicated so increased internal validity
Why may the Romanian orphan studies not be generalisable?
Conditions particularly (poor relationships and intellectual stimulation) so many situational variables
How may there be a confounding variable in the Romanian orphan studies?
Not randomly assigned to variables (unethical to manipulate) so, for example, children adopted early on may have naturally been more sociable
