Failure to form an attachment Institutionalisation As psychology

Longitudinal study of ex-institution children.

Aim: investigate effects into early privation on social and emotional development and test the maternal deprivation hypothesis

Procedure: 65 Romanian children who ere put in an institution before 4 months
Carers were not allowed to form an attachment
They all suffered from early privation
-24 had been adopted
-15 returned home
The rest stayed in institution

The children who were adopted and the ones who returned home were assessed at ages of 8 and 16 -they were interviewed and so were their parents and peers
***data was collected from 'normal' peers as a control

Findings: adopted children generally formed close allachment
-restored parents not good attachment-resentment problems didn't go away
*** however both groups had similar behaviour outside family environment- they tended to seek adult attention and approval and were less successful in peer relationships :(

Conclusion: There is evidence from this study that proves MDH right because privation had an effect on their social development
There also is evidence to suggest MDH is wrong because the two groups differ within their family relationships

EVALUATION
:D a strength of Hodges and Tizards study is that it is a longitudinal study
This is good because it demonstrated the possible long term effects of privation

D: being a longitudinal study could ask be a weakness because longitudinal studies suffer from drop-outs and those who remain could be a bias sample.
Adopted children who continued in the study have been shown better adjustment at 4 years
While those who returned hoes has poorer adjustment at 4 years old

• this is a weakness because drop outs distorted the differences between the groups

Rutter 2007:
-longitudinal study
Romanian orphans
Assessing them at 4 6 and 11
Spent early ears in conditions of extreme privation

FINDINGS:
Children adopted by British families before age of 6 months showed normal levels on development
However children adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment and problems with their peers
Both when compared to UK children adopted at the same time

CONCLUSION: privation has had an effect if the child is adopted after 6 months old

JOHNSON 2006
Reported a survey showing that a large number of children in institutions are at risk of harm such as attachment disorders , delays in physical growth- if not moved from privation to a family base care by the age of 6 months.