Romanian Orphan Studies - Institutionalisation Flashcards
What is institutionalisation?
A term for the effects of living in an institutionalised setting
What are the affects of institutionalisation?
- Damage to intellectual development
2. Disinhibited attachment - equal affection to all people
What are the two key studies into institutionalisation?
- Rutter et al. (2011) - Eng. and Rom. adoptee study
2. Zeanah et al. (2005) - Bucharest Early Intervention Project
What was the aim of Rutter et al.’s study?
To test the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions
What was the procedure for Rutter et al.’s study?
165 Romanian adoptees - functioning assessed at 4, 6, 11 and 15 - compared to a control group of British adoptees
What were the findings of Rutter et al.’s study?
IQ score related to age of adoption - earlier = higher
Frequency of disinhibited attachment related to age of adoption - after 6 months = higher
Differences continued in later assessments
What was the aim of Zeanah et al.’s study?
To assess attachment type in institutionalised children using the SS
What was the procedure for Zeanah et al.’s study?
95 children - age 12 - 31 months - been in institutional care most of there lives - assessed using SS - compared to control group of 50 children who’d never experienced institutional care
What were the findings for Zeanah et al.’s study?
19% were securely attached
65% were disorganised attached - no coherent strategy for dealing with stress of separation - shown by no consistent social behaviour
What are the evaluation points for these studies?
- Real-life applications - Rom. orphans - know more about institutions
- Issues with generalisability from Rom. orphans bc institutional care was incomparably bad
- Rutter’s study - children not randomly assigned conditions
- L-term effects of early adoption not yet clear
