What happens to children who grow up in orphanages? Do they develop like other children, or does the neglect have lasting effects that continue into adulthood? These are some of the questions researchers of the Romanian Orphan Studies asked themselves. They studied the effects of institutionalisation and deprivation on the development of Romanian orphans who were then placed with families.
- Let's begin by exploring Romanian orphan studies: Psychology.
- Then, let's review example research that investigated Romanian orphan studies' effects of institutionalisation.
- After, we will delve into the procedure, findings and conclusions of Rutter's Romanian orphan study.
- Finally, we will look at the Romanian orphan study psychology evaluation points, including the strengths and criticism of the Romanian orphans' study.
Romanian Orphans Studies: Psychology
First, let's start with the basics: what is institutionalisation, and how is it related to deprivation? The following definitions will help us better understand the study.
Institutionalisation is the term used to describe residence in an institution such as an orphanage or children's home. Deprivation is when the child's bond with their mother or other caregiver is significantly disrupted because they are separated from their parents.
A child is taken from their primary caregiver and placed in state custody because the caregiver mistreated them. As a result, the child may be deprived of attachment to the primary caregiver during this time.
Depending on how long the child is removed from care, the child-caregiver bond can be seriously damaged or even destroyed.
For separation to turn into deprivation, the period must be long enough to damage the child and caregiver bond seriously. Severe deprivation may destroy the attachment, resulting in permanent or long-term social and emotional damage to the child. But what do institutionalisation and deprivation have to do with Romania?
Romanian Orphans Rutter: Attachments
A quick overview of the Rutter et al. (1998) study is it recruited 11 orphans who were adopted before the age of two. And the study found that the sooner children were adopted, the quicker the developmental progress. Those who were adopted later showed slower developmental progress, amongst other issues.
Romanian Orphans Studies: Background
In 1989, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ciupercă was ousted, and the plight of children in impoverished Romanian orphanages was discovered. Due to the poor conditions in these Romanian orphanages, Romanian orphan studies have been conducted to examine the effects of early institutionalisation and maternal deprivation on child development. Orphans in Romanian orphanages had a poor quality of life, including:
- Little to no intellectual stimulation, e.g. they had a schedule of being fed, changed, and bathed but apart from that were in their cribs the whole day.
- No 'assigned' caregiver for each child.
- Poor living conditions.
We will look at Romanian orphan studies and learn about the impact of institutionalisation and maternal deprivation on development.
Fig. 1. Children in Romanian orphanages were found to be living in impoverished conditions and had several developmental issues.
Romanian Orphan Studies: Effects of Institutionalisation
Rutter (2011) aimed to investigate the effects of early institutional care and deprivation on later life development. In particular, he wanted to find out whether later good care would compensate for poor care and treatment in early life.
To do this, Rutter studied 165 Romanian infants who had been placed in orphanages. They were only a few weeks old and had extremely little contact with adults. Rutter studied these orphans at different stages of their lives through a longitudinal study and a natural experiment.
A natural experiment means that the researcher simply observes variables rather than manipulating them. This is important as it would be difficult to measure and verify hypotheses of such sensitive topics without raising ethical issues.
British families adopted the orphans after growing up in poor conditions in Romanian orphanages:
- Fifty-eight babies were adopted before the age of 6 months.
- Fifty-nine babies were adopted between the ages of 6 months and one year.
- Forty-eight babies were adopted between the ages of 2-4 years.
Rutter assessed the children's physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development at ages 4, 6, 11, and 15.
Rutter included a control group of 52 English children adopted around the same time to compare the results.
Romanian Orphans: Rutter's Findings
The results of Rutter's study are as follows:
- Fifty-eight children adopted before six months of age showed 'normal' development and had an average IQ of 102.
- Fifty-nine children adopted after six months of age exhibited high levels of disinhibited attachment and had an average IQ of 86.
- The forty-eight children adopted after the age of two years exhibited high levels of disinhibited attachment and had an average IQ score of 77.
Disinhibited attachment means children have not formed close bonds with specific attachment figures.
For those with disinhibited attachment, the children showed indiscriminate and equal attention and comfort from familiar and unfamiliar people. The attachment style is characterised by a child who treats strangers with high friendliness and attention-seeking behaviours such as clinginess.
Rutter found significant problems in some children adopted after six months of age.
One-third of the children had problems that required the intervention of educational, psychological, and psychiatric professionals. They had characteristics reminiscent of autism, could not form proper attachments or function properly socially, and generally had a poor mental performance. And these difficulties were not seen in the control group.
At age 15, the adopted children generally showed signs of deprivation-specific problems such as emotional, behavioural, and relationship problems with peers.
Conclusions of Rutter's Romanian Orphan Study
The study concluded that institutionalisation and deprivation have long-term, severe effects on emotional, social, cognitive and even intellectual development.
The earlier adoption occurs, the less severe the long-term effects of institutionalisation and deprivation, as children have the opportunity to form attachments.
There is a crucial period in life when attachments develop, most likely before and up to six months of age. If attachments do not form, the consequences are likely to be severe.
This concept is known as Bowlby's critical period.
Romanian Orphan Studies: Zeanah et al. (2005)
The researchers investigated the attachment styles of children who had spent most of their lives in an institution. The participants were compared to those who had grown up in normal homes and families.
The researchers studied the attachment styles of 95 children between 12 and 31 months. The children had spent most of their lives in institutions in Bucharest, Romania. Half of the children were placed in foster homes, and half stayed in institutions.
They compared the results with a control group of 50 children who had never experienced institutionalisation and had grown up in a 'normal' family environment. They conducted all assessments of attachment styles using Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure.
They found that:
| Characteristic found | Percentage (%) |
| Disorganised attachment style | 65.3% |
| Secure attachment style | 18.9% |
| Little attachment behaviours (difficult to classify) | 12.6% |
| Secure attachment in the control group | 74% |
The research also found that participants who experienced institutionalisation were more likely to develop disinhibited attachments.
A disorganised attachment style is a classification found in Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure.
Disorganised attachment describes a child who shows inconsistent and disorganised behaviour toward their caregivers and has no strategy for coping with separation. The infant may sometimes show strong attachment and other times be indifferent or avoidant towards the caregiver.
From the research, it can be concluded that institutionalisation can cause confusion and lead to the individual developing disorganised attachment styles with others later in life.
The findings support the conclusions of Rutter's Romanian orphan study.
Romanian Orphan Study: Psychology Evaluation
Let's now examine the strengths and criticisms of the Romanian ophan studies research.
Strengths of Romanian Orphan Studies
Research on institutional care has significantly improved our understanding of the impact of institutionalisation.
Langton (2006) notes that the findings of this research have changed the way institutions operate, namely by improving the quality of care and providing a limited number of caregivers for a child so that they can form attachments.
Most of the children examined in these studies were placed in institutions from birth, which means they have not suffered from abuse, neglect or other trauma. This makes it easier to study the effects of institutionalisation in isolation because there are fewer confounding variables. There were no significant ethical issues in Romanian orphan studies.
Criticism of Romanian Orphans Study
There were exceptional circumstances in the Romanian orphanages, including poor care quality and low intellectual stimulation levels. It is thus difficult to generalise the results of the studies in Romanian orphanages to other situations of deprivation.
The studies only followed children's development up to 15, making it difficult to determine and compare the long-term to short-term effects of institutionalisation and deprivation.
The study doesn't consider there may still be adverse effects for those children (now adults) adopted before six months.
Romanian Orphan Studies - Key takeaways
- The Romanian orphan studies effects of institutionalisation study deprivation and its impact on later development.
- Rutter (2011) used a longitudinal study and natural experiment to investigate the effects of institutionalisation in Romania.
- Rutter found that institutionalisation and deprivation can have long-term, severe effects on development.
- Using the Strange Situation Procedure, Zeanah et al. (2005) compared the attachment styles of institutionalised children to those not. The findings support the conclusions of Rutter's Romanian orphan study.
- Strengths of the studies on Romanian orphans include useful, practical applications, fewer confounding variables, and no significant ethical issues. A criticism of the Romanian orphan's study is that it lacks generalisability and knowledge about long-term effects beyond young adulthood.
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