effects of institutionalisation

Question 1

what is institutionalisation

Answer 1

a term that refers to the effects of living in an institutional setting (outside the family home) eg. hospital, orphanage, where children live for long periods of time often with very little emotional care

Question 2

what are the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 2

• physical underdevelopment
• low IQ
• poor parenting
• quasi-autism

Question 3

Rutter et al. English and Romanian Adoptee study - procedure

Answer 3

followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test to what extent good care could make up for the poor early experiences in the orphanage

IV - age of adoption
- adopted before 6 months
- adopted between 6 months and 2 years
- adopted after age of 2

DV:
- physical development
- IQ
- Attachment type

Romanian orphans were followed up at age 4,6,11,15

Question 4

Romanian ophan study results

Answer 4

those adopted before 6 months - mean IQ of 102
those adopted after 6 months
- mean IQ of 86
Those adopted after 2 years
- mean IQ of 77

Question 5

difference between development of children adopted before and after 6 months

Answer 5

children adopted before 6 months showed normal emotional development. Children adopted after 6 months showed signs of a particular attachment type called disinhibited attachment.

Question 6

symptoms of disinhibited attachment

Answer 6

attention seeking, overly friendly to strangers.

Question 7

weakness of study (longitudinal)

Answer 7

the study is longitudinal and ongoing so it may be too soom to say whether children suffered long term effects

Question 8

weakness of study (not randomly assigned)

Answer 8

The children were not randomly assigned the conditions (age of adoption) and so it is possible that the more sociable and intelligent orphans were adopted earlier (in the before 6 months category)

Question 9

strength of study (real life application)

Answer 9

studying the romanian orphans has enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation. These results led to the improvement of the way children are cared for in institutions. For example, orphanages now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child and ensure a smaller number of people, maybe one or two, are caring for each child - a key worker. Having a key worker means the child is more likely to develop normal attachments and avoids disinhibited attachment.

Question 10

The Bucharist Early Intervention project - Zeanah et al. study procedure

Answer 10

Assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who spent most of their lives in institutional care. Compared to a control group of 50 children who had never been in an institution. Their attachment type was measured using the strange situation

Question 11

The bucharist early intervention project - Zeanah et al study results

Answer 11

74% of control group were securely attached in SS
However, only 19% of institutional group were securely attached, with 65% being classified with disorganised attachment

Question 12

what are the two effects of institutionalisation

Answer 12

disinhibited attachment
mental retardation

Question 13

what is disinhibited attachment

Answer 13

a typical effect of spending time in an institution. Attention seeking, overly friendly to strangers - this is unusual as most children show stranger anxiety in their second year