Disruption of attachment

Bowlby says.... write down a sentence explaining what Bowlby says the consequences will be if an attachment is not formed or is seriously disrupted.

Learning Objectives To know the effects of short term and long term separation. To describe and evaluate the Rutter key study ‘Romanian Orphans’ To be able to describe the effects of institutionalisation

Challenging thought! Why may physical separation from a caregiver be unavoidable in modern society? Are you able to distinguish between separation, deprivation and privation?

The effects of short term separation Separations were studied in the 1930s and 40s and the children involved were often profoundly disturbed and lagged behind intellectually. The Robertson’s wanted to increase understanding of these effects and how they could be avoided. Read your information sheet

So how did the Robertson’s conduct their research? They conducted observations in a natural environment. So the setting was realistic meaning there was good _________ validity. They used case studies. What are case studies? Certain characteristics of the few individuals studied may mean the findings may not be ____________to other children. So it could be said to lack ________ validity.

Now find some evidence to refute this Use your mask text book to find evidence to support the negative effect of short term separation You have 5 earth minutes !! Now find some evidence to refute this

Long Term Deprivation 40% of marriages in the UK end in divorce Within 2-3 years around 50% of the parent not living with the child have lost contact. Other reasons for LT deprivation include, death and imprisonment. The effects on the children can include behavioural problems, depression, resentment, stress, lower academic performance, issues with emotional well being and physical health.

Not all children are affected equally. Some children form better attachments with parents after divorce as the negative environment of marital conflict is removed. Parents may try to build better relationships with their children afterwards. In America some states require divorcing parents to attend course to learn strategies for supporting their children through the impact of divorce.

Institutionalisation The effects of living in an institutional setting. Institution refers to the place like a hospital or orphanage where children live for a long, continuous period of time. There is often little emotional care provided

Effects of institutionalisation In 1989 Romanian Orphanages came to the attention of the world

History Romania’s orphan problem began under the communist rule of Nicolae Ceausescu who in order to boost the population in the 1960’s banned abortion and denied access to contraception. This was the case even at a time of severe food and energy shortages. Many Romanians were forced to abandon their new born children, leaving 100 thousand to suffer at 600 under-funded, state-run orphanages.

Psychological consequences of neglect Inability to form positive relationships with others, inability to form attachments, inability to learn, poor language acquisition, stunted growth, lower IQ.

A Longitudinal study of Romanian Orphans Rutter et al 1998 –ongoing A Longitudinal study of Romanian Orphans

Institutionalised Children Rutter et al ‘ERA’ study (1998) Followed the physical, cognitive and emotional progress of 165 Romanian orphans. All of whom had spent the first part of their lives in deprived orphanage with very little physical or emotional contact. 111 were adopted before the age of 2, and 54 by the age of 4. The children were assessed at 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old. Rutter wanted to know if good care could make up for poor early experience in institutions. Institutionalised Children ERA – English and Romanian Adoptees What facilities would be available in a good orphanage? What do you think would be missing in the Romanian orphanages?

½ of the orphans showed mental retardation when they came to the UK ½ of the orphans showed mental retardation when they came to the UK. At age 11 recovery rates were related to their age at adoption. < 6 months = mean IQ of 102 6 months -2 years = mean IQ of 86 > 2 years -=mean IQ of 77

Many of the adopted children were also malnourished and smaller than children in the English control group HOWEVER by the time the children were examined again at 4 years old many had caught up with their British counterparts. Especially those adopted before the age of 6 months.

Support For Negative Effects of Institutionalisation Nevertheless , many of the orphans who were adopted later than 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment Disinhibited attachment: This is where children don’t discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures. They will treat strangers with overfriendliness and may be attention seeking. These findings support the view that there is a sensitive period in the development of attachments - failure to form an attachment at 6 months appears to have long lasting effects. Although with good care and loving support the consequences of deprivation were not as severe as previously believed.

Some of the findings regarding the presence of disinhibited attachment at age 6   No disinhibition Mild disinhibition Marked disinhibition UK adoptees 21 (40.4%) 29 (55.8%) 2 (3.8%) Romanian adopted < 6 months 24 (53.3%) 17 (37.8%) 4 (8.9%) Romanian adopted 6 – 24 months 26 (29.5%) 39 (44.3%) 23 (26.1%)

Rutter found that at age 11 the disinhibited behaviour pattern persisted in many of the adoptees, 54% of the Romanian children displaying mild or marked disinhibited attachment at age 6 continued to show this behaviour five years later. This does indicate a sizeable drop in the number of children with this attachment type, which suggests that the effects of institutionalisation can, to some extent, be reversed. Can you suggest a reason why some children continued to show this behaviour while others did not?

Creating Revision Cards The following 2 slides provides an example of how I convert written description into a visual representation. Finding images helps me make sense of the material, and I get the added bonus of revision cards 

52 British children adopted at the same time were the control group A natural experiment - this included 3 natural conditions + a control group 58 Romanian babies were adopted before they were 6 weeks old (tiny babies) 52 British children adopted at the same time were the control group 59 infants were adopted between 6 months to 2 years old (toddlers) 48 children were adopted at an older age 2-4 years old ‘Disinhibited attachment’ found in the late adopted group –more than in other groups or the British controls. IQ was also affected = ‘mental retardation’ Follow up studies at 4,6, 11 & 15 years old 1/2 of the children were under nourished at the time of adoption  Looked at the babies attitudes to strangers, the researcher & peer relations using observation and interviews with teachers and parents

Evaluation Triangulation of data. Observation Semi structured interviews Teacher reports Parent reports Support comes from Zeanah et al Using the strange situation to measure attachment of children in care they found 65% had disorganised attachment Big BUT..can we generalise from Romanian Orphanages? They were especially bad! Application: If children are adopted before 6 months old (when they attach) damage to their intellectual and emotional development is avoided Application: Children who remain in care now a days have one KEY worker to whom they can form an attachment 

Revision Task - Choose one of the Key Studies or Theories for attachment Look at the tutor2U revision card Then make your own Make yours better Add pictures