romanian orphan studies Flashcards
Why did studying romanian orphans come about?
Former president required Romanian women to have 5 children - with many not being able to afford to look after them - many ended up in orphanages
After 1989 revolution many were adopted by British familie
Aim of rutter’s era study
to test the extend good care could make up for poorly early experiences in institutions
Procedure of Rutter’s ERA study
- followed 165 romanian orphans in britain
- physical / cognitive / emotional development assesed at 4,6,11,15
- compared to a control group of 52 british children adopted at the same time
findings of rutters era study
- When first arrived in UK showed signs of delayed intellectual development /under nourished
- At 11 showed different rates of recovery if adopted before 6 mths caught up and had a higher IQ
- If adopted after 6mths shows sign of disinhibited attachment
Conclusion of Rutter’s ERA study
The findings suggest that long-term consequences may be less severe than once thought if children have the opportunity to form attachments
- shows that if children have the opportinity to form, attachments the effects of institutionalisation may be less than previously thought
Zeneah studied aim
Compared 136 romanian orphans who spent 90% of lives ina n institution in comparison to control group
Using the strange situation found the following signs of disinhibited attachment
What two signs did Zeneah find?
- Physical underdevelopment – deprivation dwarfism
- Intellectual under functioning – cog development is affected by emotional
deprivation.
What is disinhibited attachment?
- a form of secure attachment, but children do not discriminate between those they choose as attachment figures.
- Overfriendly and sometimes attention seeking with strangers.
What does rutter suggest about disinhibited attachment ?
describes disinhibited attachment as an adaptation for living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation. - see many carers so unable to form secure attachment
What is mental retardation?
- Most of those adopted before 6 months caught up with control group by 4
- Damage to intellectual development / emotional can be recovered provided adoption takes place before 6mths when attachment forms
Strengths
- Real life application
Enhanced understanding of effects of institutions
Lead to improvements
LANGTON - orphanages have to avoid having large number of caregivers for infants but now key workers
- children have chance to from an attachment
Research immensely valuable in practical terms
- Fewer extraneous variables
Many orphans able to be studied before romanian orphans but these often suffered neglect or abuse so were traumatised
Romanian orphans able studies without these confounding participant variables of trauma - increasing internal validity - Longitudinal study
Enables better conclusions to be drawn as
If not tracked overtime and compared it would come to wrong conclusions
Takes a lot of planning but is able
Without these studies difficult to prove whether the effects are long term or short term si they are valuable in decoding this
Limitations
- Individual differences
Some argue if not attachment in sensitive period unable to recover
Not true of all - Rutter suggested it might be because some experience special attention in institution → so got this attachment
Not all unable to develop an attachment
- Deprivation is only one factor
They were not only faces with emotional deprivation but also appaling living conditions and lack of cognitive stimulation affecting intellectual and physical health
Multiple risk factors increase chance of damage
Unable to generalise - Long term effects not clear
Studies followed orphans into mid teens - found some long lasting effects
But too soon to say whether those who spent longer in institutions may still catch it as adults.
Or those early adopted who appear to have no emotional issues now might later in adulthood
