attachment - romanian orphan studies - institutionalisation Flashcards
describe and explain the effects of institutionalisation ? (2)
- disinhibited attachment: children are equally friendly towards adults they do and dont know + clingy and attention seeking
- mental retardation - unusally low IQ
name the research and the reasearcher who conducted research into romanion orphan studies (2)
- Rutter - Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee study
- Zeanah - The bucharest early invention study
Rutter’s ERA aim (1)
investigate extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institution
Rutter’s ERA procedure (5)
- 165 romanian orphans
- experienced very poor conditions before being adopted in Britain
- physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at 4,6,11 and 15
- longitudinal study
- control group: 52 britih children adopted around same time
RUtter’s ERA findings (7)
- when children first arrived in UK half the adoptees showed signs of signs of delayed intellectual development and majority were severely undermalnorished
- at age 11 recovery rates were related to age of adoption:
- adopted before 6 months: mean IQ 102 (same as british control group) - most had caught up w IQ of control group by age 4
- adopted between between 6 month and 2 years - mean IQ 86
- adopted after 2 years - mean IQ 77
- disinhibited attachment displayed in children adopted after 6 months
- Disinhibited attachment was rare in children adopted before 6 months
rutters ERA conclusion (4)
- longer child spent in institutionalisatuon the greater the emotional, cognitive, physical and dvelopmental difficulties
- there is a sensitive period in development of attachments
- failure to form attachment before 6 months has long lasting effects
- however if adopted into good care before age of 6 months then this can make up for poor early experiences in institutions
Zeanah’s research procedure (4)
- assesed attachment type in 95 romanian children aged 12-31 months who spent most their lives in institutional care
- used strange situation
- compared to control group - 50 children who never experiences institutional care
- carer’s asked about unusual social behaviors eg clinginess, attention seeking displayed to all adults
Zeanah’s research - findings (2)
- 19% institutionalised group securely attached compared to 74% in control group
- 65% of institutionalised group - disorganised attachment type compared to less that 20% in control group
Zeanah’s research conclusion (1)
children in institutionalisation less likely to form secure attachments to caregivers
describe Rutter’s explanation to children who have been instituionalised commonly showing disorganised attachment (2)
- adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during sensitive period for attachment formation
- dont spend enough time with any of the caregivers to form secure attachments
Ruter’s ERA AO3 (3)
❌ generalisability issues
- all children studies are children who experiences institutionalisation in romania
- in romania institution conditions are excetionally poor compared to oher parts of the world
- not representative of the effects of institutions all over the world
✅ highly useful in care systems
- understand importance of children haveing a primary CG
- many institutions now provide child with one main carer dso they can fo0rm that s[ecial bond and prevent disinhibited attachment
✅ longitudinal study (FOR EVALUATING RUTTERS STUDY)
- vercomes issue of case studies
- doesnt rely on retrosepctive data
- unlikely any anomolous or cofounding variables will last this long
❌ Zeanah - uses strange situation - imposed etic
- developed in USA - collectivist
- romania = individualistic
- based on collectivist cultures idea of good attachment
- beliefs not necesarily shared on worldwide scale
- not an accurate or valid method of assessment
