Effects of institutionalisation Flashcards
(7 cards)
AO1: Institutionalisation
Institutionalisation refers to a child spending long periods of time outside their family home in an institution such as an orphanage. This could lead to a loss of personal identity and the child adopting the rules and norms of the institution impairing cognitive functioning.
What are the effects of institutionalisation? (3)
Reactive attachment disorder - caused by an extreme lack of sensitive responsiveness from a parent in early life leading to the child being unable to love and trust others. The child becomes isolated and selfish and unable to understand the needs of others. They can become sociopathic without a conscience, lacking remorse.
Disinhibited attachment -
Child chooses their attachment figure indiscriminately. They behave in a over familiar fashion with strangers which is unusual as young children usually display stranger anxiety. This is caused by long period of time spent in institutions where children adapt to multiple caregivers, who aren’t enough to form a secure attachment, in the sensitive period of attachment formation.
Cognitive impairment -
delay in intellectual development such as an abnormally low IQ and poor levels of concentration. This makes it difficult to learn new concepts and behaviours.
AO1: Romanian Orphan studies
Rutter’s aim was to investigate whether loving and nurturing care can overcome the effects of institutionalisation on children from Romanian orphans. It was a longitudinal study that began in 1998 and the children were assessed on their emotional and cognitive development at the ages of 4,6,11 and 15. The naturally occurring IV was the age the children were adopted and the DV was the children cognitive and emotional development. The sample was 111 Romanian orphans who were adopted by British families. They were split into three groups of being adopted before the age of six months, from six months to two years and after two years. They were compared to a control group of 52 British adopted children.
They found that 50% of the Romanian orphans showed signs of cognitive impairment and were severely undernourished. They also found that those adopted after 2 years had higher levels of disinhibited attachment compared to those who were adopted before 6 months who behaved similarly to the British control group. The found that at 11 years of age those who were adopted after two years had a low IQ showing cognitive impairment compared to those who were adopted before 6 months who had a normal IQ.
In conclusion the negative effects can be overcome by loving and nurturing care, more so if the adoption takes place earlier.
What are the evaluations for institutionalisation?
PEEL
PEEL
Counter argument/discussion
1) Practical applications
2) Higher control over EV
AO3: Practical applications
Research into the effects of institutionalisation can be praised for having practical applications. The principle of the theory that institutionalisation leads to psychological problems such as disinhibited attachment has led to improvements in conditions to children growing up outside of their family homes. For example children’s homes now avoid having a large number of caregivers for each child but have one or two key workers who play a central role in the emotional care of the child to reducing the negative effects of institutionalisation. This is an important part of applied psychology it helps children in the real world, increasing the credibility of Rutter’s research into institutionalisation
AO3: High control over extraneous variables
Rutter’s research into institutionalised care can be praised for having higher control over extraneous variables than previous orphan studies where the children had often experienced neglect, abuse, trauma or bereavement before institutional care. This makes it difficult to be able to tell if long term effects were due to neglect or abuse or being institutionalised. However in Rutter’s research the Romanian orphans were cared for by loving parents who couldn’t afford to keep them so it was possible to measure the effects of institutionalisation without confounding variables, increasing the internal validity of Rutter’s research.
AO3: Representative
A weakness into the research of institutionalisation is that studying children from Romanian orphans may not be representative for all institutions. For example the quality of care in Romanian institutions was extremely poor with the children experiencing very little intellectual stimulation and comfort. The harmful effects seen by Romanian orphans could be due to the effects of poor institutionalisation and unique to Romania orphans. Therefore Rutter’s research can’t be generalised to institutions outside of Romania, lowering the external validity.
