romanian orphan studies

Question 1

rutter et al

Answer 1

ERA project studied 165 romanian orphans adopted in UK later showed low IQ and disinhibited attachment

Question 2

zeanah et al

Answer 2

found secure attachment in 19% of institutional group (74% in control) disinhibited attachment in 44% (20% in control)

Question 3

effects of institutionalisation

Answer 3

disinhibited attachment and delay in intellectual development if institutionalisation continues after sensitive period for attachment

Question 4

romanian - generalisability

Answer 4

Rutter’s research – infants from romanian orphanages – not typical of all institutions – conditions were do bad that findings related to developmental effects of being institutionalised in these orphanages cannot necessarily be applied to all children who are institutionalised

Question 5

romanian - reliability

Answer 5

lack of adult data due to longitudinal design (participants followed over a long period of time) – only followed children up to their early childhood – latest data from their early to mid 20s – no data to answer some interesting research qs about long-term effects – possible they caught up

Question 6

romanian - application

Answer 6

led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions – eg now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child – rather each child has a key-worker who is responsible for their care – institutional care is no undesirable option – foster home or adoption preferable

Question 7

romanian - validity

Answer 7

high internal validity – lack of confounding variables – other orphans experienced varying degrees of trauma – difficult to disentangle the effects of neglect, physical abuse and bereavement from those of institutional care – romanian – handed over by loving parents who couldn’t afford – less likely to be affected by confounding variables

Question 8

romanian - ethics

Answer 8

social sensitivity – results show late-adopted children – poor developmental outcomes – results published while children growing up – people around them may have lowered their expectations and treated them differently – self-fulfilling prophecy – however much has been learned – benefit future institutionalised children