Romanian orphan studies Flashcards
(5 cards)
AO1
Rutter followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans over 15 years. He compared Romanian orphans who were adopted by British families with UK born adoptees (Romanian orphanages were notoriously poor quality).
Rutter had 3 conditions: Romanian orphans adopted by UK families before 6 months of age, Romanian orphans adopted between 6 and 24 months of age, and Romanian orphans adopted between 2-4 years old. There was also a control group of 52 UK adoptees who were initially raised in UK institutions.
The children were assessed at the ages of 4,6 and 11 years for physical, cognitive and emotional development.
When first adopted, the majority of Romanian Orphans were assessed as being severely physically underdeveloped and undernourished. Whereas children raised in UK institutions, where care was significantly better, were reported as having no serious physical or mental problems.
When assessed at age 6, Rutter reported that the Romanian children who were adopted before 6 months of age had caught up with the UK control group and showed ‘normal emotional development’. However, the children who were adopted between 6 and 24 months showed characteristics of disinhibited attachment disorder.
This is an insecure attachment type in which children are not attached to a particular person and show over-friendly behaviour. They have no fear and may be prone to emotional and behavioural disturbance.
When followed up at age 11, the majority of the Romanian orphans who showed signs of disinhibited attachments at age 6 were still showing the same signs, and those children who were adopted by British families before 6 months continued to show normal emotional development.
A second effect of institutionalisation is poor intellectual development. Rutter found that the majority of children who came to the UK from Romania showed signs of this. The mean IQ of children adopted before the age of 6 months was 102 (similar to the control group), compared with 86 for those adopted between 6-24 months, and 77 for those adopted between 2-4 years.
Therefore shows that institutionalisation has long-term effects.
AO3 - similar research
Researchers found similar results with a group of Romanian orphans adopted by Canadian adoptive parents. Therefore, Rutter’s research into the effects of institutionalisation is reliable, and we can conclude that living in an institution at a young age will have severe long-terms effects on forming attachments and emotional development.
AO3 - small sample
There are issues with the methodology of Rutter’s study. This is due to the small sample size of only 165 Romanian orphans that therefore make it difficult to generalise the results to a wider population.
However, the use of a control group allows the results to be compared, so that it can be determined that the negative long-term effects experienced were due to institutionalisation and not other factors.
AO3 - low ecological validity, orphanage conditions especially poor
Rutter’s study may have low ecological validity. This is because the conditions of the Romanian orphanages used in the study were especially poor. E.g. The orphanages did not provide any intellectual stimulation for the orphans, which may have had a larger impact on their intellectual development than maternal deprivation as a single cause. Since the average orphanage would have considerably better conditions, it suggests that the findings cannot be generalised beyond the research setting in which they were found.
AO3 - real life application
The effects of institutionalisation has real life application. This is because of the establishment of key workers in institutions. In nursery, each child has a key worker who will look after their emotional needs in order to prevent the effects of institutionalisation.
