Institutional care

Question 1

insitutional care

Answer 1

• is when a child’s living arrangements are outside the family
• children raised in instituitions can adopt th erules + norms of the instiution
  = impairs functioning
  = leads to a loss of personal identity (deindividuation)

Question 2

procedure - study of Romanian Orphans

Answer 2

• study involved 165 romanian children who spend their early loives in romanian orphanages
• before being adopted
• suffered the effects of institutionalisation
• the adoptees were tested at regular intervals to assess their physical, cognitive, social development
• their progress was compared to a control group of 52 british children
  = adopted before the age of 6 months

Question 3

findings - study of Romanian Orphans

Answer 3

• at the time of adoption, romanian orphans lagged behind their british counterparts
• on physical, cognitive + social development
• by the age of 4, the romanian children adopted before the age of 6 months
  = caught up
• however those that weren’t adopted before 6 months
  = still had significant deficit at age 4

Question 4

conclusion - study of Romanian Orphans

Answer 4

• sutdy suggests that the long-term consequences of institutionalisation may be less severe than was once thought
  = if children are adopted before 6 months + recieve sensitive parenting
• if they’re not adopted before 6 months, the effects will be severe

Question 5

effects of institutionalisation

Answer 5

• delayed intellectual development
• lack of internal working model
• delayed physical development
• quasi-autism
• emotional development
• disinhibited attachment

Question 6

delayed intellectual development - effects of institutionalisation

Answer 6

• can have low IQ + concentration phases
• means they may struggle at school
  = cus they can’t learn new behaviours + concepts as quickly
• can also have delayed language development

Question 7

lack of internal working model - effects of institutionalisation

Answer 7

• may have difficulty interacting w/ peers + forming close relationships
• as adults they will have impaired adult relationships
• can struggle to parent their own children

Question 8

delayed physical development - effects of institutionalisation

Answer 8

• they’re usually physically small
• research has shown that a lack of emotional care, rather than poor nourishment
  = deprivation dwarfism

Question 9

Quasi- Autism - effects of institutionalisation

Answer 9

• they struggle to understand the meaning of social contexts
• can have obsessional behaviours
• they can have lower frequency of pretend play + reduced empathy

Question 10

emotional development - effects of institutionalisation

Answer 10

• children raised in institutions can have difficulty managing their anger
• e.g. have more temper tantrums compared to other children

Question 11

disinhibited attachment - effects of institutionalisation

Answer 11

• children raised in institutions may not know what appropriate behaviour towards strangers is
• they can be overly affectionate + attention seeking

Question 12

ads

Answer 12

• key workers
• nursing

Question 13

disads

Answer 13

• multiple risk factors
• sensitive parenting
• lacks validity

Question 14

key workers - ads

Answer 14

• studies that have investigated the effects of institutionalisation have enhanced our understanding of the potential -ve consequences of institutional care
• led to the establishment of key workers in institutions = to provide emotional care for children

Question 15

nursing - ads

Answer 15

• led to changes in the adoption process
• in the past mothers were encouraged to nurse their children for as long as possible before giving them up for adoption
• today, most babies are adopted within their first week of life (deffo before 6 weeks)

Question 16

multiple risk factors - disads

Answer 16

• there are problems when generalising findings of studies of Romanian orphans
• standards of care were particularly poor in Romanian orphanages
• the Romanian orphans were faced w/ much more than emotional deprivation
• the physical conditions were appalling
• there was a lack of cognitive stimulation
• likely that the long term damage from institutional care only occurs when there are multiple risk factors

Question 17

sensitive parenting - disads

Answer 17

• it’s possible that the negative effects of insitutional care can be reduced by sensitive parenting
• two psychs conducted a longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada
• the adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched group at age 4
• but this difference had disappeared by 10
• same for psychological health

Question 18

lacks validity - disads

Answer 18

• adoption + control groups were not randomly allocated to conditions in studies of Romanian orphans
• means that part variables between children could influence the findings
• the adopted children might have been adopted because of personal characteristics
• e.g. resilience or being more sociable
• these characteristics might explain why they were less affected by instituional care
  = lowers the validity of the rsearch