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Attachment summary pt.3 (Romanian Orphan studies: Effects of…
Attachment summary pt.3
Romanian Orphan studies: Effects of Institutionalisation
Description
Key study: Rutter et al. (ERA) -165 Romanian orphans, physical, cognitive and social development tested at regular intervals
Findings - at age 11 those children adopted before 6 months showed good recovery, older adoptions associated to disinhibited attachment
Canadian study (Le Mare and Audet) - Romanian orphans physically smaller at adoption but recovered at 10 and a half.
Romanian study (Zeanah et al.) - institutionalised Romanian orphans compared to control group more likely to display disinhibited attachment
Effects of institutionalisation - physical underdevelopment (deprivation dwarfism, Gardner), intellectual under functioning (Skodak and Skeels), disinhibited attachment, poor parenting (Quiton et al.).
Evaluation
Individual differences - some children appear to recover despite no apparent attachments within sensitive period
Real-life application - adoption should be as early as possible and then infants securely attached (Singer et al.).
Longitudinal studies - show that some changes take a while to become apparent, current studies show some recovery possible.
Further Evaluation
Deprivation is only one factor - most institutionalised children experience multiple 'risks', thus maternal deprivation should not be over-exaggerated.
Institutionalisation may be slow development - the fact that children do appear to recover in time suggests that the effects simply slow down development.
The influence of early attachment
Description
Internal working model - model of self and attachment partner based on their joint attachment history which generates expectations about current and future relationships.
Key study: Hazan and Shaver - placed 'Love Quiz' in newspaper and analysed 620 responses.
Findings: positive relationship between attachment type (childhood and current one) and love experiences/attitudes (internal working model).
Behaviours influenced by internal working model - childhood friendships (Minnesota child-parent study), poor parenting (Quiton et al.), romantic relationships (Hazan and Shaver) and mental health (attachment disorder).
Evaluation
Correlational research - internal working model may not cause later relationship experiences, temperament may be intervening variable.
Retrospective classification - childhood attachment type based on memory of childhood which may be inaccurate, through support from longitudinal study (Simpson et al.).
Overly determinist - peer attachment experiences do not always determine the course of future relationships
Further Evaluation
Low correlations - a meta-analysis of studies suggest correlations between early attachments and later relationships may be as low as 10.
Alternative explanation - adult relationships guided by self-verification