Hodges & Tizard (1989)
Procedure
- Longitudinal natural study.
- 65 children placed in institution when less than 4 months old.
- Policy against caregivers forming attachments - children experienced early privation.
- At 4, 24 children were adopted & 15 had returned to natural homes. Rest remained in institute.
- Assessment at 8 and 16. Interviews with children, parents, teachers and peers.
- Data compared to a control group of 'normal' peers.
Findings
- Adopted children had close attachments to parents and family.
- Restored children did not have good family attachments.
- Adopted and restored children both struggled with peer relations and more likely to seek adult attention.
Evaluation
+ High ecological validity because the variables were naturally occurring.
+ Change in behaviours could be seen over a long period of time.
- Self-report methods cause social desirability bias.
- Low population validity because small sample size - even smaller when split into groups.
- No interference from the investigator over the variables - no control.
- Attrition.
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Rutter (2007)
Procedure
- 100 Romanian orphans assessed at 4, 6 and 11.
- Children spent early months in extreme emotional privation in Romania.
- Taken to UK to be adopted.
Findings
- Half of babies showed severe delays in psychological development compared to UK children their age.
- Babies adopted before 6 months showed normal emotional development.
- Orphans adopted after 6 months disinhibited attachments and problems with peers.
- Long-term consequences are less severe is children form attachments before 6 months.
Evaluation
+ Range of methods - more detailed.
+ High ecological validity because variables occur naturally.
- Low population validity due to babies only being Romanian and a small sample size.
- Participant attrition.
- Difficult to obtain information about quality of care in Romanian institutions.
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