3 Attachment- Institutionalisation

Question 1

what is institutionalisation?

Answer 1

children live in care facilities as oppose to a family home environment for long, continuous periods of time
e.g. orphanages or children’s homes

Question 2

what historic events give us opportunities to study the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 2

Romanian orphanages

Question 3

what are 4 effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 3

-disinhibited attachment
-low IQ/ intellectual issues
-lack of IWM
-quasi-autism

Question 4

what is disinhibited attachment?

Answer 4

insecure attachment where children are equally friendly and affectionate towards anyone, including strangers
-clingy and always seek attention

Question 5

how can institutionalisation effect IQ and intellectually?

Answer 5

children develop below average intelligence and reduced mental ability with a lack of skills necessary for day-to-day living

Question 6

how can institutionalisation effect IWM?

Answer 6

child develops difficulties interacting with peers and forming close relationships due to a lack of consistency

Question 7

what is quasi-autism?

Answer 7

when children demonstrate behaviours similar to characteristics associated with autism due to institutionalisation
-such as finding it hard to understand the meaning of different social contexts due to limited social interaction, lack of emotional needs met etc

Question 8

describe the study carried out by Rutter into institutionalisation

Answer 8

he carried out a longitudinal, natural experiment looking into the effects of Romanian Orphans and institutionalisation
-165 orphans were assessed at ages 4,6 and 11 years old for psychological, emotional and physical development

Question 9

what was the control group in Rutter’s study?

Answer 9

52 British children were adopted at roughly the same time to see the effects

Question 10

what was the aim of Rutter’s study?

Answer 10

to investigate the effects of institutionalisation in a group of 165 Romanian Orphans

Question 11

what were the findings of Rutter’s study?

Answer 11

he found signs of delayed intellectual development and delayed cognitive functioning
orphans adopted:
before 6 months = 102 mean IQ
between 6 months- 2 years = 86 mean IQ
after 2 years = 77 mean IQ

Question 12

what did children adopted after 6 months show signs of?

Answer 12

disinhibited attachment
-behaviours include attention seeking, clinginess, indiscriminate attachment and behaviour towards all

Question 13

what conclusions were made from Rutter’s study?

Answer 13

-institutionalisation can lead to negative effects on cognitive development such as mental retardation and IQ levels
-institutionalisation can lead to negative effects on social-emotional development such as disinhibited attachment

however, these effects can be mediated if child is adopted before 6 months of age, the damage can be significantly recovered.

Question 14

A03 Rutter’s study into institutionalisation
validity

Answer 14

Rutter’s study was a natural experiment, meaning no random allocation occurred to reduce participant variables
-researchers had no interference in the adoption process
-control variables may have affected the data as children who showed favourable characteristics and aspects will likely have been chosen first and adopted first.

Question 15

A03 Rutter’s study into institutionalisation
generalisability

Answer 15

LOW
-he used the natural study of Romanian orphanages which had severely poor and intense conditions, which are unlikely in most orphanages now e.g. low standards of care and hygiene, low intellectual stimulation etc
-findings are hard to generalise to alternative environments which children have likely experienced (unique demographic group)
-therefore, Rutter’s findings only tell us the effects of institutionalisation on Romanian Orphans, not as a whole