Effects of Institutionalisation

Question 1

Institution

Answer 1

refers to a place like a hospital or an orphanage outside of the family home where children may live for a long continuous period of time.

Question 2

Staying in institutions for a long duration can lead to…

Answer 2

disruption of attachment. It can also result in the child adopting the rules and norms of the institution, which impairs later functioning.

Question 3

What are the two effects of institutionalisation:

Answer 3

• Disinhibited attachment
• Mental retardation

Question 4

Disinhibited attachment

Answer 4

As a result of being cared by multiple carers during the sensitive period, the children are as affectionate towards strangers as they are with familiar people.
Behaviours include: attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour towards all adults.

Question 5

Behaviours of Disinhibited attachment include:

Answer 5

Attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour towards all adults.

Question 6

Mental retardation

Answer 6

Rutter showed that most of the children from a Romanian orphanage showed signs of mental retardation when they arrived to Britain catagorised by abnormally low IQ due to the result of being cared by multiple carers during the sensitive period.
This demonstrates that being rased without adequate care during the sensitive period can lead to intellectual deficits. (e.g abnormally low IQ)

Question 7

What is Mental retardation catagorised by:

Answer 7

Abnormally low IQ

Question 8

Who did the English and Romanian adoptee study?

Answer 8

Rutter

Question 9

What was the procedure of Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee study:

Answer 9

Rutter et al (2011) have followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test the extent to which good emotional care can make up for poor early experiences in institutions. Three different groups of orphans were compared (1) adopted before the age of 6 months (2) adopted between 6 months and 2 years of age (3) adopted after the age of 2 years. They were compared to children from British institutions that were also adopted at around the same age (control group). Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed in these children at the age of 4, 6, 11, and 15 years.

Question 10

Group 1:

Answer 10

adopted before the age of 6 months

Question 11

Group 2:

Answer 11

adopted between 6 months and 2 years of age

Question 12

Group 3:

Answer 12

adopted after the age of 2 years.

Question 13

What ages were the children assessed?

Answer 13

4, 6, 11, and 15 years.

Question 14

What were Rutter’s findings?

Answer 14

1. When the orphans first arrived in the uk, half the adoptees showed signs of mental retardation
2. Half were severely malnourished
3. The mean IQ of children adopted before the age of 6 months was 102, compared to the IQ of 86 for those adopted between 6 months - 2 years and 77 for those adopted after two years.
4. These differences remained till the age of 16

Question 15

What was the mean IQ of children adopted before the age of 6 months?

Answer 15

102

Question 16

What was the mean IQ of children adopted between 6 months - 2 years?

Answer 16

86

Question 17

What was the mean IQ of children adopted after 2 years?

Answer 17

77

Question 18

What were Rutter’s conclusions?

Answer 18

1) A key effect of institutionalisation is mental retardation which is significantly lowered IQ.
2) However, this effect appears to be far less significant if the infant is removed from the institution and adopted before the age of 6 months.

Question 19

Who conducted the Bucharest Early Intervention Project:

Answer 19

Zeanah et al (2005)

Question 20

What were the findings of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project:

Answer 20

44% of the institution group had disinhibited attachment compared to less than 20% for the control group.

Question 20

What was the procedure of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project:

Answer 20

Zeanah et al (2005) assessed attachment in institutionalised children. Their attachments were measured using Strange Situation, and were then compared with infants who were not institutionalised with the same attachment types.

Question 20

What was Zeanah et al’s conclusion of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project:

Answer 20

Shows that institutionalisation increases the risk of children developing disinhibited attachment type due to being cared for by multiple carers during the sensitive period.

Question 21

A strength of Rutter’s study is that it is longitudinal.

Answer 21

Rutter assessed the children at the ages of 4,6,11 and 15 which shows that they were studied for a long period of time.
SB: provides rich data on how institutionalisation affects intellectual development over time, as you are able to track the development of the same children at different points of time, which is not possible with studies that are not longitudinal and only provide us with a ‘one-off snapshot’ observation. Moreover, it has helped us see the long-term negative effects of institutionalisation on development, which showed that early adoption is important as it prevents long-term damage to intellectual development. This increases the validity of the research.

Question 22

A strength of the research is that it has practical applications.

Answer 22

For example, orphanages and children’s homes try to minimise staff turnover and ensure that each carer has a small group to look after. Carers in such situations are known as the key carers, and having a key carer means that children have a chance to develop normal attachments and avoid disinhibited attachment.
SB: such studies led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions and and therefore less likely to develop disinhibited attachments. This research on institutionalisation improves lives, so increases utility.

Question 23

A weakness of the research is that the effects into adulthood are unclear.

Answer 23

For example, Rutter’s study has followed up the fostered and adopted orphans into their mid-teens and found some lasting effects of living in institutions, especially for those adopted late. However, this may not be long enough to fully understand the effects of institutionalisation.
WB: It could be that children who spend longer in institutions just currently lag behind in the ability to form healthy attachments and catch up in adulthood. It could be the case that early adopted children initially show no issues, but later in life develop emotional and intellectual problems. Thus, Rutter’s study does not last a long enough time to conclude on the life-time effects of institutionalisation which decreases the validity of the findings.

Question 24

A weakness of research into institutionalisation is that it lacks generalisability.

Answer 24

For example, the Romanian orphanage studied by Rutter had such poor standards of care, especially when it came to forming relationships and they also had extremely low levels of intellectual stimulation.
WB: the exceptionally bad conditions in Romanian orphan studies may mean findings from these chilren cannot be applied to understand the impact of institutions on orphans here in the UK, which have arguably better standards of care. Due to the lack of generability of the research, the studies lack validity.

Question 25

A weakness of Rutter’s research into effects of institutionalisation is that there are methodological issues.

Answer 25

While Rutter assumes he was investigating the effect of institutionalisation on children’s cognitive and emotional development, he failed to account for the desirability of the adoptees. This is an issue because it might be that the children that were adopted early were naturally more appealing to the potential adopting parents, and as a result adopted early due to their desirability. As a result, the children who were adopted late may have been the ones who were left due to natural early signs of intellectual deficits, making them less desirable. Therefore, the intellectual deficits may have occurred naturally and may have existed regardless of the age they were adopted at. The study fails to take this extraneous variable into account undermining its validity.