A Qualitative Study Examining the Longitudinal Impact of Residing in Romanian Orphanages as Infants and Later Psychosocial Development in Adulthood

The overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989 uncovered extreme and disturbing environmental deprivation that took place in Romanian orphanages from 1965 to 1989, due to Decree 770, a public policy implemented to increase birth rates and human capital. This historical tragedy provides a rare window into the development of children who experienced profound deprivation during a critical period of attachment formation. An examination of existing research on Romanian orphans’ past physiological functioning, attachment, language development, and attention and learning informs the research questions of the present study. Qualitative methodology will be utilized to explore former Romanian orphans’ psychosocial development of intimacy and generativity across early and middle adulthood. A semi-structured interview is proposed here with four distinct sections: inquiring about platonic and romantic intimacy, as well as kin and non-kin generativity. Each interview question was crafted to reflect and capture Erikson’s (1950) central crises during adulthood. Between twenty to thirty former Romanian orphans will be interviewed, or until saturation of themes is reached. A thematic analysis approach will be applied, where common patterns or ideas will be identified, analyzed, and interpreted.