Attachment: Romanian Orphans

Romanian Orphanages

Institutionalisation (the effects of living in an institution for a period of time) was a major problem in Romania in the 1990s, due to Nicolai Ceauçescu requiring women to have 5 children in an attempt to improve economic growth. However, it had the opposite effect and poverty rose meaning many infants were abandoned in institutions, causing maternal deprivation, and this left both physical and mental effects.

Effects of Institutionalisation

Disinhibited attachment – a typical effect of living in an institution, infants with this rare style of attachment show indifference towards their care-givers and strangers, as they are friendly and affectionate towards both. Rutter (2006) state that this was partly because of the fact that infants living in institutions had multiple care-givers during the sensitive period, as the Romanian orphanages especially had no consistency of care. If they didn’t see a specific care-giver enough, a secure attachment would not be formed.

Mental retardation – most children affected by institutionalisation show signs of retardation, most commonly a lower IQ. However, Rutter’s study showed that those adopted before the age of 6 months could catch up to the control group by the age of 4. This shows the effects can be reversed, but adoption has to occur before 6 months, as this is when attachments are formed.

Studies of Institutionalisation

Michael Rutter et al. – 2011 – many Romanian orphans were adopted by British parents, so Rutter and his colleagues aimed to find out if the good care they received in Britain has any reversal on the effects of their institutionalisation. They found 165 Romanian orphans and tested them at the ages of 4, 6, 11 and 15, examining physical, emotional and cognitive development. The control group consisted of 52 British orphans adopted around the same age.

When they first arrived in the UK, their intellectual development was below average and they were extremely malnourished. In the 11 year olds tested, there was a correlation between the rate of recovery and the age of adoption. The earlier their adoption, the higher their mean IQ, and the same differences were shown at 16 years old (Beckett et al.). They also identified a difference between those who were adopted before 6 months and those after. If adopted after 6 months, signs of disinhibited attachment were observed. This is a rare style of attachment where the infant is as friendly and open to strangers as they are to their caregivers.

Zeanah et al. – 2005 – using 95 children who were 12-31 months, attachment was assessed on children who spent most of their lives (90% on average) in an institution. The control group consisted of 50 children who had never lived in an institution. The Strange Situation was used on these children, as well as the carers being asked if the child had any unusual behaviours.

74% of the control group were securely attached, which matches the norm of most societies, whereas only 19% of the institutional group were in this category. Furthermore, 65% of this group were classed as having a disinhibited attachment.

Evaluation

Research has enabled us to get a better understanding of institutions and given us an idea of improvements that can be made e.g. the caregiver : infant ratio has been reduced

The research has shown that privation is reversible, suggesting that Bowlby exaggerated his effects of maternal deprivation.
Romanian orphanages were extremely unique situations as the conditions were so bad, meaning the studies into them lack generalizability and cannot be applied to other cultures.
Rutter’s study was longitudinal, which gives a better insight into long term effects and has high internal validity, due to the lack of confounding evidence.
The studies were both fairly recent, so some long terms effects may not be apparent yet.
Quinton – 1984 – found that women raised in institutions were more likely to have parenting difficulties (the cycle of privation), which supports Bowlby’s internal working model.
Schaffer and Emerson – support Rutter’s findings of privation and improvements made if adopted before 6 months, through their stages of attachment where they say an attachment forms at 7 months.