A 14/16 response to the question 'Discuss the effects of institutionalisation. Refer to the studies of Romanian orphans in your answer.'
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Discuss the effects of institutionalisation. Refer to the studies of Romanian orphans in your
answer. [16 marks]
Rutter et al wanted to investigate the effects of institutionalisation on children’s emotional and
intellectual development. His procedure involved studying 165 romanian orphans adopted in
Britain at the ages of 4,6, 11 and 15. These orphans had been living in poor conditions, in an
overcrowded orphanage with low hygiene levels and insubstantial diets. A group of 52 adopted
British children served as a control group. He gathered data of their IQs at each of these ages
and aligned this data with the time they were adopted. Those adopted before the ages of 6
months had a mean IQ of 102, those adopted between the ages of 6 months and 2 years had a
mean IQ of 87 and those adopted after two years had a mean IQ of 76. Rutter also noted that the
children were extremely malnourished, a physical detriment of institutionalisation. Rutter also
assessed their attachment types. He found that many of the children displayed disinhibited
attachment, characterised by clinginess, indiscriminate and inappropriate attachments to
strangers and attention seeking. This was also linked to the age the child was adopted as the
highest number of children who displayed disinhibited attachment were adopted after two years.
Any deficiencies found in the children could be caught up to with good aftercare but the later they
were adopted the longer the progress was.
The results from this study have allowed us to understand how best to care for children in
institutions. This has led to more key workers being placed in care homes and better quality of
care to be established in countries all over the world. Children in institutions are now better taken
care of to ensure that they do not fall victim to the detrimental effects that institutionalisation can
cause due to the results of studies into the effects of institutionalisation. Not only is this morally
better, but it can also have positive implications on the economy. Children who are better taken
care of are more likely to have an education of a good standard, and therefore go on to live
healthy working lives.
However, the results from this study cannot really be generalised to other children. The children
in this study were not typical and the conditions they were living in are very rarely found in
institutions. The children had to defecate in their living and eating space, they barely had enough
food between them, they had no space due to the overcrowding, and the staff to children ratio
was wildly disproportionate to what it should have been. Typical orphanages are not as
traumatising as the ones found in this study, and so results from average orphanages may come
up very differently. The reduces the generalisability of this study, slightly reducing its applicability
to normal circumstances.
Furthermore, although this study has been credited for its use of longitudinal design, the long-
term effects of institutionalisation are not known. The children were only studied up to the age of
15 and so due to the major changes that occur between the age of 15 and adulthood, we can’t
really be sure how much the children generally improved into their adulthood. There may be long
term effects into adulthood that may be worth mentioning, but we do not know them due to the
lack of research in this area.
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