Romanian Orphan Studies Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is Institutionalisation?
It is a term for the effects of living in an institutional setting which refers to a hospital or an orphanage where children live for long, continuous periods of time.
What are Orphan studies?
these concern children placed in care because their parents cannot look after them. An orphan is a child whose parents have
either died or abandoned them permanently.
What is Disinhibited attachment?
It is children who show equally friendly and
affectionate behaviour towards people they don’t know well or who are strangers that they have just met.
What is Mental retardation (intellectual disability)?
It is significantly sub average intellectual functioning, for example extremely low IQ and low functioning with communication etc.
How can we link maternal deprivation to
orphans?
Prolonged separation from mother/substitute figure.
Lack of emotional care.
Lack of consistent and quality interaction
Impact on emotional, mental and intellectual development.
Impact on physical development.
What was the procedure for Key Study 1: Rutter’s ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study.
Michael Rutter and colleagues (2011) have followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test whether good care could make up for poor early experiences in= institutions.
Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 years.
A group of 25 British children adopted around the same time have served as a control group.
What were the findings for Key Study 1: Rutter’s ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study.
Half of the orphans showed mental retardation when they came to the UK. At age 11 recovery
rates were related to their age of adoption.
Those adopted before 6 months had a mean IQ of 102.
Those adopted between 6 months and 2 years had a mean IQ of 86.
Those adopted after 2 years had a mean IQ of 77.
What was the conclusion for Key Study 1: Rutter’s ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study.
Frequency of disinhibited attachment related to the age of adoption.
Apparent in children adopted after 6 months old was: clinginess, attention seeking and indiscriminate affection towards strangers.
Rare in children adopted before the age of 6 months.
These findings support the view that there is a sensitive period in the development of attachments, failure to form an attachment before the age of 6 months appears to have long lasting effects.
What are the effects foe Effects of Institutionalisation
Disinhibited attachment: this attachment style is a typical effect of pending time in an institution due to the high amount of carers, none of whom they see enough to form an attachment. This means that the children are equally friendly and affectionate towards people they know ell or who are strangers that they have just met.
Mental retardation: in Rutter’s study most children showed signs of retardation when they arrived in Britain. This means that they had damage to their intellectual development, but this can be recovered if adoption takes place before the age of 6 months (at this stage they are able to form a specific attachment)
What does the Brain Scan Evidence from the Romanian orphans show?
Chugani et al. (2001) administered PET scans to a sample of 10 children adopted from Romanian orphanages and compared them with 17 normal adults and a group of 7 children.
Assessments showed mild neurocognitive impairment, impulsivity, and attention and social deficits. Specifically, the = Romanian orphans showed significantly decreased activity in the orbital frontal gyrus, parts of the prefrontal cortex/hippocampus, the amygdala and the brain stem.
Chugani concluded that the dysfunction in these brain regions may have resulted from the stress of early deprivation and might be linked to the long-term cognitive and behavioural deficits. This evidence supports the damaging effects that de/privation can have on specific brain structures.
What is a strength of rutters findings?
P: One strength of Rutter’s findings is their real-world application to social services.
E: Their study has helped change the way that children are looked after, especially when it comes to the adoption process. Historically, mothers were encouraged to keep their babies until the critical period had passed. Nowadays, infants are adopted as early one week old where they can securely attach to their adoptive mothers.
C: This demonstrates the benefit of institutionalisation research to help improve the lives of children.
What is a strength of the type of study used by rutter?
P: Another strength is that key research is longitudinal.
E: This allows researchers to assess both the short and long term effects of institutionalisation and the benefits from adoption.
C: Therefore, the results appear to be a valid representation of the effects of being placed in institutional
care.
What is a limitation of Rutters findings?
P: A criticism of Romanian orphan research is that deprivation is only one factor in development.
E: The orphans experienced very little or no mental stimulation and were often malnourished.
C: Suggesting that there are multiple factors involved in determining the effects of institutional care. Therefore, deprivation may not be the sole effect on these children.
