Effects of Institutionalisation

Effects of Institutionalisation

1. Effects

   • Deprivation Dwarfism
     • Children from institutions are usually physically small from a lack of emotional care
     • Gardiner studied an 8 month old girl who was never cuddled. She was physically stunted and withdrawn. With attention from hospital staff she soon return to normal with no change in diet.
     • Emotional disturbances may affect the production of growth hormones
   • Poor emotional development including disinhibited attachment
     • form of insecure attachment
     • Do not discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures and are overly friendly to strangers
   • Intellectually under functioning
     • cognitive development is affected by emotional deprivation
   • Poor parenting
     • Harlow showed that mothers raised by wire monkeys went on to become poor parents
     • Quinton et al: compared 50 women raised in institutions to control and when they were in their 20s those in the institution found it harder to parent

2. Rutter's English and Romanian Adoptee Study

   • Rutter et al studied a group of 165 Romanian Orphans brought over to Britain to be adopted to see if good care could make up for poor early institutional care
   • Physical, emotional and cognitive tests were carried out a 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old
   • A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time acted a control group
   • On arrival in Britain had were severely malnourished and showed signs of mental retardation
   • Intellectual development: At 11 those adopted before 6 months old had mean IQ of 102, between 6 months and 2 years, 86, and after 2 years, 77
   • Social development: many adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment and had problems with peers (rare for those adopted before 6 months)

3. Evaluation

   • Natural study - high in ecological validity and used a range of research methods (interviews, observations, questionnaires) making the research rich in detail
   • Individual differences in outcomes - cannot be sure that some children had already formed attachments e.g. if some received special attention in orphanage. Rutter said he found it hard to find out detail of the quality of care
   • The physical conditions of the Romanian orphanages were so bad - impacts their heath and had a lack of cognitive stimulation. It is therefore unclear what caused the later social intellectual issues. It makes it hard to apply the findings to other institutions
   • Longitudinal studies are often used - see the long term consequences and has allowed psychologists to see that many effects of institutional care disappear with sufficient time and high quality care. This is valuable info for dealing with future cases of privation.