IB Psychology 1. Concepts Questionbank

Hodges and Tizard investigated the long-term effects of early institutional care on later social and family relationships. They followed a group of children who had been placed in residential nurseries in the first months of life, where staff turnover was high and close attachments were discouraged. By the age of four, some of these children had been adopted, some had returned to their birth families, and some remained in institutions. The researchers assessed the children again at ages eight and sixteen, using interviews and questionnaires with the young people, their parents, and their teachers. By adolescence, many of the adopted children had formed close attachments to their adoptive parents, often more successfully than children who had returned to their birth families. However, both previously institutionalised groups were, on average, more likely than a comparison group to have difficulties with peers, to seek adult attention, and to be less selective in their friendships. The researchers concluded that early institutional experience was associated with later social difficulties, although a good later environment could support recovery in some respects.

References: Hodges, J. and Tizard, B., 1989. 'Social and family relationships of ex-institutional adolescents.' Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30(1), pp. 77 to 97. source adapted.