ATTACHMENT- Romanian orphan studies

Question 1

What is an institution?

Answer 1

-A place dedicated to a particular task, such as looking after children awaiting adoption, the mentally ill or a hospital
-Places where people live for a long time
-In the past institutions used to offer strict regimes and little emotional care

Question 2

Define institulisation?

Answer 2

-The effects of institutionalised care
-Concerned about how time spent in an institution such as an orphanage can affect the development of children

Question 3

What was happening in Romania between 1966 and 1989?

Answer 3

-Romania had a communist government was ruled by the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu
-He tried to boost the population by banning abortions and many types of contraception so that large families could be formed
-It was an impoverished country at the time so they thought that when these children grew up it would produce more workers and therefore boost the economy
-In 1989 the regime collapsed as the government was overthrown after a violent revolution and the rest of the world became aware of the fate of these orphans

Question 4

What were the conditions like in the institutions?

Answer 4

-Dark
-Dingy
-smelly
-unhygienic
-damp
-filthy
-hugely understaffed
-gruel to eat (no nutritional value)
-Tied to their beds so less supervision was needed

Question 5

What was the care given to the orphans like?

Answer 5

Lacked:
-care
-supervision
-education
-support
-hygiene
-stimulation
-maternal/paternal care
-nutrition

Question 6

How did many orphans cope after being adopted?

Answer 6

-Missed the institutions as that was the only thing they knew
-Found it difficult to get used to family life
-Difficult to manage their emotions

Question 7

What was a behaviour that the children displayed

Answer 7

-Rocking back and forth due to being understimulated

Question 8

Who carried out The English and Romanian adoptees study (ERA)?

Answer 8

-Rutter and Songua-Barke

Question 9

What was the sample?

Answer 9

-165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in Romanian institutions and suffered the effects of institutionalisation

Question 10

Who was part of the control group?

Answer 10

52 British children adopted in the UK before the age of 6 months

Question 11

When were they tested?

Answer 11

Ages:
-4
-6
-11
-15

Question 12

What were they tested for?

Answer 12

-Assessed for their physical, cognitive and social development
-Information was also gathered in interviews with parents and teachers

Question 13

What were the findings?

Answer 13

-At the time of adoption the Romanian orphans lagged behind the British control group in cognitive, social and physical development
-BY age 4 some of the Romanian orphans had caught up with the control group (this was true for most of the Romanian orphans adopted before 6 months)
-Many of the orphans adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachments and had problems forming proper relationships

Question 14

In conclusion, what did the study find?

Answer 14

-The long-term effects may be less severe if the children have the opportunity to form attachments
-However, if the children do not form attachments the consequences will be more severe

Question 15

What were the 4 effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 15

-Physical underdevelopment
-Intellectual under-functioning (low IQ)
-Disinhibited attachment
-Poor parenting as adults

Question 16

What was physical underdevelopment?

Answer 16

-Children in institutionalised care were physically small

Question 17

What did Gardner (1972) suggest?

Answer 17

-That lack of emotional acre rather than malnutrition was the cause of their deprivation dwarfism

Question 18

What is intellectual under-functioning?

Answer 18

-Low IQ
-Cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation

Question 19

What was disinhibited attachment?

Answer 19

-A form of insecure attachment
-Children do not discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures
-These children will treat strangers with inappropriate familiarity and maybe attention-seeking

Question 20

Which peices of evidence support that these children will be poor parents?

Answer 20

-Harlow- showed that monkeys raised by a surrogate mother went on to be poor parents
-Supported by a study by Quin et al (1984) who compared a group of 50 women from institutions and 50 women that were raised at home
-The study found that when they (institutionalised women) were in their 20s they found it extremely difficult to act as parents

Question 21

What was the benefit of the ERA study being longitudinal?

Answer 21

-Can study the long-term effects/ consequences

Question 22

What was the Bucharest early intervention project?

Answer 22

-Zeanah et al (2005) assessed the attachment in 95 children aged between 12 and 31 months who had spent an average of 90% of their time in institutions
-They were compared to a control group who spent their life in a regular family
-The attachment type was measured using the strange situation

Question 23

What were the findings of the Bucharest early intervention project?

Answer 23

-74% of the control group was found to be securely attached but od 19% of the institutional group
-The institutional group showed signs of disinhibited attachment

Question 24

What was LeMare and Audet’s study in 2006?

Answer 24

-They carried out a longitudinal study on the physical growth and health of 36 Romanian orphans adopted by Canadian families
-They were compared to a normal group of children raised in Canadian families
-Data was collected for each child at 3 time points:11 months(after adoption), 4.5 years of age and 10.5 years of ge

Question 25

What were the findings of the LeMare and Audet’s study?

Answer 25

-The first 2 sets of results showed that the adoptees were behind the non-instituionalised group however by 10.5 years there was no difference (the Romanians had caught up)