Institutionalisation Flashcards
what is an institution?
a place where people love for a long time
eg orphanages and childrens homes
what is privation?
when children have never formed an attachment
what was Rutter’s ERA?
165 Romanian institutionalised children
111 adopted before age 2
54 adopted by age 4
compared to 52 british children adopted by 6 months
children tested for physical social and cognitive development at age 4, 6, 11 and 15 using strange situation
what did Rutters ERA find?
the Romanian children were behind the british children in all 3 aspects
by 4, most of the romanian children adopted before 6 months caught up with british children
many children adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment
what is disinhibited attachment?
the child seeks comfort from anyone without distinction
what conclusions were drawn from Rutters study?
if adopted…
before 6 months = IQ of 102
6 months-2 years = IQ of 86
after 2 years = IQ of 77
the more privation experienced/time spent in an institution, the lower the IQ
what was the Bucharest Early Intervention Project?
Zeanah et al (2005) assessed the attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who spent an average of 90% of their life in an institution, compared to a control group who grew up in a ‘normal family’
measured using the strange situation
what did Zeanah et al (2005) find?
74% of the control group was securely attached compared to 19% of the institutionalised group
65% of the institutionalised group had disorganised attachment
what did LeMare and Audet (2006) study?
longitudinal study on physical health and growth of 36 Romanian orphanages adopted by Canadian families, compared to children in normal canadian families
data collected for each child at 11 months after adoption, 4.5 years old and 10.5 years old
what did LeMare and Audet find?
adoptees were behind the control group, but by 10.5 years there was no difference
strengths of romanian orphan studies?
real life application - led to advancements in the way kids are cared for
few extraneous variables
limitations of romanian orphan studies?
romanian orphanages we’re not typical- conditions were so bad it may not be generalisable
ethical issues - for Rutter’s ERA project children were not randomly assigned to conditions. The researchers did not interfere with the adoption process, which means that those children adopted early may have been the more
social ones, a confounding variable.
To control for such variables, another major investigation of fostering versus
institutional care, did use random allocation. In the Bucharest Early Intervention project, Romanian orphans were randomly allocated to institutional care or fostering. This is methodologically better because it removes the confounding variable of which children are chosen by parents but it does raise ethical issues.
