The English and Romanian Adoptee (the ERA) project
Rutter et al 1998
The English and Romanian Adoptee (ERA) project was a longitudinal, multi-method investigation of the development of children adopted into the UK from Romania in the early 1990’s. The vast majority of the adoptees experienced extreme early global privation up to 4 years of age as a consequence of early placement in Romanian institutions. The ERA project was funded by the Department of Health Jacobs Foundation and Nuffield Foundation and was led by Professor Sir Michael Rutter and Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke.
Procedure
This project aimed to investigate the effects of this early deprivation on long-term psychosocial and physical outcomes of the adopted children and was carried out from 2003-2009. The ERA project followed the development of 165 adoptees from Romania who entered the U.K. between 0-4 years of age and a comparison sample of 52 non-deprived children adopted within the U.K. before 6 months of age, as a natural experiment.
Both groups of children were assessed at 4, 6, 11 and 15 years of age. At each time point developmental assessments were carried out with the children and their families, focusing on behavioural/emotional, cognitive, academic, social-relationship and health outcomes.
The parental interviews performed at each time point were concerned with the adoptive parents’ perspectives regarding the children’s development and behaviour, and also information about their own views of the adoption experience.
A third source of information was gained through utilising teacher questionnaires, which provided further data regarding the children’s educational achievements, behaviour at school and peer-relationships.
Findings
The orphans were assessed for height, head circumference and cognitive functioning on arrival in the U.K and assessed again at 4. A control group of 52 British adopted children were also assessed to ascertain whether negative effects were due to separation from carers or the institutional conditions of the Romanian orphanages.
The children’s IQ was tested upon arrival in the UK and the average score for the Romanian orphans was 63. For those adopted when over 6 months old, the average was 45. Physical development was also poor, 51% of them being in the bottom 3% of the population for weight. They were also shorter in height than was normal for their age and had smaller head circumferences.
The Romanian orphans were tested again at the age of 4 and compared to a control group of 52 British-adopted children, all aged 4, who had showed none of the negative effects suffered by the Romanians.
At the age of 4 orphans adopted before 6 months showed no significant differences in either intellectual or physical development with the control group. All the children had improved though with the average IQ of the Romanians increasing from 63 to 107. However for those adopted after 6 months, it had gone from 45 to 90. The older adoptees tended to do less well in terms of physical development too.
In follow up studies when the children were 6 and 11, Rutter (2007) found that many had normal levels of functioning. However 54% of children who displayed disinhibited attachment at 6 years old still displayed disinhibited attachment it at 11 and many of them were receiving help from either special educational and or mental health services.
Disinhibited attachment is characterised by a lack of close, confiding relationships, rather indiscriminate friendliness and clingy, attention-seeking behaviour, a relative lack of differentiation in response to adults (treating them all alike, a tendency to go off with strangers and a lack of checking back with a parent in anxiety-provoking situations.
Task 1 : Key terms that you will need to be about to define. Search online and use the information above to find the definition of each of the following:
1. Attachment -
2. Disinhibited attachment -
3. Privation -
4. Deprivation -
5. Longitudinal research -
6. Natural Experiment -
Task 2: Check your understanding of the ERA study.
1. Where did the Orphans come from?
2. What had the Orphans experienced in the orphanages?
3. Describe the sample used in the ERA
4. Describe how the children were assessed
5. State two ways the development of the Romanian adoptees was different to the UK Adoptees
6. Which children made the most progress after they were adopted?
7. Can you think why the findings are useful in society?
Want to find out more? Here are some articles/ clips you might find interesting:
· Growing up in a Romanian Orphanage http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-35944245/growing-up-in-a-romanian-orphanage
· Romanian Orphans still suffering in adulthood. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39055704
· Ceausescus Children https://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/10/-sp-ceausescus-children