How can you research privation ? Maternal privation is when a child has never had an attachment to their mother or another prominent caregiver. PRIVATION 7.1.4 Research into privation and whether the negative effects can be reversed. How can you research privation ?

Lesson objectives Understand what is meant by privation. Reference the two types of study that inform us on privation and evaluate the methods. -Case Studies – Curtis (1977) and Koluchva (1976) -Natural Experiment – Tizard & Hodges (1984)

Privation Maternal privation is when a child has never had an attachment to their mother or another prominent caregiver. Privation = never having been able to satisfy a need. Koluchova (1976) – The case of the Czech twins. Twin boys whose mother died soon after they were born. They were brought up in care for 18 months before returning home. The father remarried and their step mom had treated them cruelly. They were often kept locked in a cellar, had no toys and were beaten. Found at the age of 7 they had developed rickets (bone disease due to lack of vitamin D), and very little social or intellectual development. Later adopted they made fine progress, developed into 2 intelligent young men with good social relationships. Curtis 1977 – The case of Genie This girl suffered extreme cruelty from her parents. Her father believed that she was retarded, strapped to a high chair with a potty in the seat for most of her childhood. She was deprived from the chance to play with toys, interact with other children and beaten if she had made a sound. She was finally discovered at the age of 13. She was physically under-developed and could only speak with animal like sounds. After a lot of help she learned some language but never social or intellectual skills.

Privation Limitations We cannot conclude it is maternal privation that caused the effects (emotional & physical privation as well as abuse and maltreatment). Retrospective accounts – limitations in accuracy Case studies show mixed results for how children can recover from privation in early life. Results differ in terms of: Length of privation. Experiences during privation. Quality of care after isolation. Individual differences and ability to recover. Evidence suggests that recovery from privation is possible. However, because of a lack of control over what had happened to them, we can’t be sure what they experienced, e.g. whether they had ever had even a brief attachment. It is difficult to say whether the twins had recovered more than Genie. More controlled scientific evidence is needed, but in terms of ethics it is wrong to put kids through such a trauma to see what might happen. How else might children experience privation?

Privation: InstitutionalisationHodges & Tizard 1989 Aim To find out if privation has long-term effects on children’s development. Findings At 4: the children did not have any deep relationships, More indiscriminate in their relationships than non-institutionalised children. At 8: Most of the ex-institutionalised children had formed close relationships with parents or adopted parents. However, teachers reported that they were still attention seeking. Also seemed to be unpopular, but cognitive development seemed fine. At 16: Adopted children seemed closely attached to parents, but ‘restored’ children were much less closely attached. Ex-institutionalised children were less socially able, were quarrelsome and likely to be bullies. Procedure A longitudinal study of 65 children who had been placed in one institution when they were less than 4 months old. Staff were discouraged from forming attachments to the children (this led to a high turnover of staff). By the age of 2 children had on average 24 different carers and by 4 around 50! Good physical care and intellectual stimulation. Disinhibited attachment behaviour displayed. At the age of 4, 33 had been adopted, 24 had returned to their natural homes, 7 continued in care. They were tested again at 8 (at which time the sample was reduced to 51 children). They were finally assessed at 16 (by then the researchers could only locate 21 of the adopted children, 13 of the ‘restored children, and 5 who remained in the institution). At each assessment the children, their parents and teachers were asked to fill out a questionnaire. There was also a control group raised in a normal home environment. Conclusion Early privation has a negative affect on the ability to form relationships in later life.

The effects of Privation – Tizard and Hodges (1984 and 1989) 1) What is a natural experiment? 2) What is the independent variable in this study? 3) What is the dependent variable in this study? 4) What methods did this natural experiment use to gather their data? 5) What were their conclusions? 6) Why might the adoptees been closer to their parents than the restored group? 7)What do you notice about the numbers in the table? What is this problem called? 8) Why might the participants drop-out half way through the study? 9)What is wrong with a natural experiment? 10) Define informed consent

Summary - Privation Genie/Koluchova – case studies Ethics –Informed consent - ‘objects’ of psychological research Methodology – difficult to pinpoint effects of maternal privation -retrospective Tizard and Hodges (1989) – natural experiment Independent variable – main caregiver at four years Dependent variable – attachment behaviour Tizard’s overall conclusion was that experiencing privation in early years was a risk factor in developing later behaviour problems, but that early adoption into a good home could go some considerable way to mitigate these risks.

Long-term effects of institutionalisation: two contemporary studies

Methods for investigating institutional care (1) True experiment A true experiment involves randomly allocating participants to conditions. This might mean for example that half the children in the sample would be randomly selected to remain in institutional care and half to be fostered or adopted.

Methods for investigating institutional care (2) Natural experiment A natural experiment involves comparing naturally occurring groups. This might involve comparing children who naturally ended up being fostered with those who remained in institutional care.

Comparing the methods (1) Validity Results of a true experiment have better validity because the two groups are better matched. In a natural experiment on institutionalisation children who end up fostered or adopted might differ from others.

Comparing the methods (2) Ethics True experiments raise more serious ethical issues because researchers are intervening in deciding which children will remain in institutional care.

A true experiment: Nelson et al. (2007) General aim: to investigate the effects of institutionalisation on children's intellectual development. Specific aims: to compare the intellectual development of children raised in institutions with those raised by their biological families. To compare the intellectual development of children randomly allocated to be fostered with those allocated to remain in institutional care.

Nelson et al. (2007): method The first phase of the study was a standard natural experiment. The intellectual development of children in institutional care was compared to that of children who had always lived with their biological families The second phase was a true experiment. Children in institutional care were randomly allocated to either remain in the institution or to be fostered Intellectual development was compared in children who had been fostered and those who had remained in institutional care

Nelson et al. (2007): results and conclusion Children who lived with their biological families showed better intellectual development than those who lived in institutions. Children who were fostered showed better intellectual development than those who remained in institutional care. It was concluded that institutional care has harmful effects on intellectual development but that this can be reduced by fostering.

When communist dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu was toppled in 1989, the state of the country's orphanages was exposed in shocking television pictures broadcast worldwide. The resulting wave of pity sparked a remarkable aid operation in which dozens of individuals joined established charities running aid convoys to ease the children's plight. The scale of the problem was immense: 300,000 orphans were confined in state orphanages across the country, where they lived cut off from the outside world. Beds were packed into huge dormitories, children were neglected, given few if any toys, and the little schooling on offer was conducted within orphanage walls.

Lacramioara, who is 19, is one of the success stories the British charity Fara points to as a sign of how the situation has changed. "She came to us from a state orphanage six or seven years ago," said chairwoman Jane Nicholson. "She has a great talent which she would not have been able to pursue in a state orphanage.

In Romania under 40 years of Ceausescu dictatorship, children with severe disabilities were considered to be worth less than animals and were put in orphanages and left in the hope that they would die.

A natural experiment: Rutter et al. (2009) General aim: to investigate the effects of early institutionalisation on psychological development. Specific aim: to compare the emotional and intellectual development of a group of Romanian orphans adopted in Britain in the early 1990s with that of a matched group of British children who had been adopted but never lived in an institution

Rutter et al. (2009): method A group of Romanian orphans were adopted in Britain after having lived in Romanian institutions A matched group of British children were adopted in Britain after never having lived in an institution Each group was followed up to the age of 15 years Children were assessed for emotional and intellectual development using interviews, questionnaires and psychometric tests

Rutter et al. (2009): results and conclusion Romanian adoptees initially made rapid progress. Children who left institutional care before 6 months showed no significant differences with the control group who had never lived in an institution. However, 40–50% of children who had lived in an institution for more than 6 months had problems. It was concluded that the main factor affecting children's development was the time spent in an institution.

Points to consider What can you conclude about the effects of institutionalisation from these two studies? What ethical issues do studies of early institutionalisation raise? Identify one strength and one weakness of each of the studies reviewed here.

Are the effects of privation reversible? Study Procedure Findings Conclusions Reversible? Criticism Curtiss (1969) Genie Case Locked in a room by herself from before the age of 2 until she was 13, Genie suffered the most extreme form of neglect imaginable. She had practically no social contact with other people and had never even eaten solid food. When found could not walk properly, rarely made a sound and was not toilet trained. Although her motor skills improved, Genie never really developed language (an attempt was even made to teach her sign language). Genie’s case supports the idea of a critical period for language development (Lenneberg, 1967) in that it is impossible to acquire grammar if the child is not exposed to language before puberty. Genie showed some emotional responses and there was evidence that she formed attachments to her carers, but she was never able to learn to look after herself and remains to this day in an institution. Only a limited recovery from privation is possible, especially if its duration is prolonged. The first is that it proved impossible to establish with any certainty whether Genie suffered from learning difficulties before she was isolated. Secondly, the case study lacked scientific rigour. Assessments of Genie’s progress were not made in a systematic way and few results were published. In fact, as a result of the withdrawal of funding and other legal complications, the research project was abandoned after only a few years. Koluchova (1972, 1991) The Czech Twins Case study Found at the age of 7 they had developed rickets (bone disease due to lack of vitamin D), and very little social or intellectual development. Children who have suffered extreme privation can make up the deficit later. Yes –challenged Bowlby Twin study – they had each other. they had been raised in a normal home until they were eighteen months old (Koluchova, 1976), so they may have had opportunities to form attachments and this would make this a case of deprivation rather than privation. If they had formed an attachment to their mother and lost her, this may be less damaging than having never formed the attachment in the first place. Hodges and Tizard (1989) High turnover residential nursery Natural Experiment Children’s development will suffer if they experience the kind of privation found in understaffed orphanages where they are given little opportunity to form attachments. However adoption, especially if this is at a sufficiently early age, can reverse some of the effects Experiencing privation in early years was a risk factor in developing later behaviour problems, but that early adoption into a good home could go some considerable way to mitigate these risks.   Yes/no depending on the quality of care after the privation Participant attrition Rutter et al (1998) Adoption of Romanian orphans Natural experiment According to Rutter (1981), privation can lead to an initial phase of clinging, dependent behaviour followed by attention-seeking and indiscriminate friendliness. On arrival in Britain the Romanian orphans were developmentally delayed. Half showed signs of mental retardation and they tended to be severely under weight. The older the children were on adoption the less ground they caught up in (physical/intellectual). Disinhibited attachment was most common in the late adopted Romanian group. Also most likely to receive help from special educational and/or mental health services. Yes/no depending on the age when privation finishes