Romanian Orphan Studies: Effects of Institutionalisation
- During the 1990s, horrific images flooded the news of children in poor conditions in Romanian orphanages
- The former Romanian president, Nicolai Ceausescu, had required Romanian women to have 5 children
- However, many of the parents could not afford to keep their children and so many children ended up in large orphanages, where they were kept in poor conditions and received little in the way of emotional care
- After the Romanian Revolution of 1989 many of these children were adopted, some by British families
- This situation gave a tragic opportunity to study the effects of maternal deprivation when a child is in institutional care
- Institutionalisation:
- The term relates to living in an institutional setting, like a hospital or an orphanage
- People can live in an institution for long, continuous periods of time and there is very little emotional care
Rutter et al. (2011)
Procedure
- Rutter et al. (2011) conducted a longitudinal study on 165 Romanian orphans adopted by British parents
- Children were split into 4 groups;
- Group 1: 58 children under the age of 6 months
- Group 2: 59 children between the ages of 6 and 24 months
- Group 3: 48 children over 48 months
- Group 4: 52 British adoptees who were the control group
- Each group was assessed at the ages of 4, 6, 11 and 15
- At the start of the observations, over half of the Romanian children were suffering from severe malnutrition and a low IQ, showing delayed intellectual development, compared to the control group
Findings
- Age 6: those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (overly friendly behaviour towards unknown adults)
- Age 11: 54% of those children who were adopted after 6 months, that had shown disinhibited behaviour, still showed disinhibited attachment
- Symptoms of disinhibited attachment include attention-seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults, whether familiar or unfamiliar
- Age of adoption was also a key factor in attachment type:
- Those adopted before 6 months, showed signs of a secure 'normal' attachment
- Those older than 6 months displayed disinhibited attachment
- At age 11 there was a significant difference between children adopted before 6 months and those adopted later in terms of attachment style and IQ
- The mean IQ scores were:
- for those adopted before 6 months = 102
- for those children adopted between 6 months and 2 years = 86
- for those adopted after the age of 2 = 77
Conclusions
- Adoption after the first 6 months of life, means the child will have longer-term effects of institutionalisation
- However, recovery is possible if children are able to form attachments
- They may have slower development rather than irreversible damage
- This finding challenges Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation as Rutter shows recovery is possible
- It has been found that children as old as 9 or 10 made a good recovery if they were adopted by sensitive, loving parents
Exam Tip
Studies on institutionalisation are referring to privation but you must make a link to an institution in your response i.e. an orphanage or children's home.
Rutter is named on the specification and so you can be asked about his work. Therefore, you need to know at least one study from Rutter and other studies related to him which can serve as an evaluation.
Bowlby's 44 Thieves is never to be used in a question on institutionalization or privation.
- There is a common misconception that in the 44 Thieves, the children lived in an institution and suffered from privation.
- 44 Thieves is a study of Deprivation and MDH but is not relevant here.
The same goes for case studies like Genie - also not relevant and best avoided.
