Institutionalisation

Question 1

Define institutionalisation

Answer 1

The social, mental and physical effects of living in an institutional setting

Question 2

Name two orphan studies

Answer 2

1 - Rutter’s ERA study (2011)
2 - The Bucharest Early Intervention project (Zeanah et al., 2005)

Question 3

The four effects of institutionalisation

Answer 3

• mental retardation
• disinhibited attachment
• physical underdevelopment
• poor parenting

Question 4

Rutter’s ERA study (2011) - procedure

Answer 4

• longitudinal, natural experiment
• followed group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain
• physical, cognitive and emotional development were assessed at 4, 6, 11 and 15
• group of 52 British children adopted at similar times = control group

Question 5

What were the findings on IQ for Rutter’s ERA study?

Answer 5

• adopted before 6 months = 102
• adopted between 6 months and 2 years = 86
• adopted after 2 years = 77

Question 6

What were the findings for attachment type for Rutter’s ERA study?

Answer 6

• adopted after 6 months = disinhibited attachment

Question 7

The Bucharest Early Intervention Project (Zeneah et al. 2005) - procedure

Answer 7

• 95 children aged between 12 and 31 months who had spent most of their early lives in institutional care
• control - 50 children who never experienced institutional care
• Strange situation tested and carers asked for behavioural characteristics

Question 8

What were the findings of The Bucharest Early Intervention Project?

Answer 8

• 74% of control group were securely attached
• 65% of institutional group had disorganised attachment
• 44% of institutional group had disinhibited attachment

Question 9

Strength - key workers

Answer 9

• less number of caregivers for each child
  means less disinhibited attachment
• improves the lives of children in institutions
• real life application

Question 10

Strength - longitudinal studies

Answer 10

• follow the same people over a long period of time
• without longitudinal studies, may mistakenly conclude that there are major effects of institutionalisation
• but some studies show effects disappear

Question 11

Limitation - low population validity

Answer 11

• Romanian orphanages were not typical
• conditions were bad compared to the UK
• results may be different so cannot generalise to other populations

Question 12

Limitation - lacks internal validity

Answer 12

• there could be confounding participant variables
• like neglect, abuse or trauma from a past event
  c: in the case of the Romanians, they had been institutionalised from birth