Attachment : Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

Who conducted the meta analysis of the 32 studies investigating the types of attachment across a range of cultures?

Answer 1

Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg

Question 2

Describe the procedure of the research conducted by Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg

Answer 2

Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies which took place in 8 countries, all investigating the patterns of attachment across a variety of cultures

Question 3

Briefly outline the findings of Van Izjendoorn’s and Kronenberg’s meta-analysis

Answer 3

• secure attachment was the most common in all countries - the highest proportion being 75% in the UK
• proportions of insecure-resistant attachment were much lower in individualist cultures like the UK, Holland and Germany than in collectivist cultures like China and Japan

Question 4

Outline one other study into cultural variations in attachment

Answer 4

Italy:
- Simonella assessed 76 babies using the strange situation and found that the proportion of securely attached children in Italy was only 50%, which was very low compared to what would have been expected and compared to other cultures
- researchers suggested these changes may be because more mothers working and using professional childcare, decreasing the likeliness of their children forming a secure attachment with them as a consistent primary caregiver

Question 5

Define culture

Answer 5

Culture refers to the norms and values that exist within any group of people

Question 6

What is a strength of studies researching cultural variations?

Answer 6

Strength: Most of the studies involved in Van Izjendoorn’s and Kroonenberg’s meta-analysis were conducted by indigenous researchers from the same cultural background as the P.s
- eg Simonella - italian study, Jin et al - korean study
- This means that any potential issues in cross-cultural researchers can be avoided eg researchers not being able to understand language used by P.s and not being able to communicate with them effectively, bias due to cultural stereotypes
- This means that researchers were able to communicate with the P.s clearly, increasing the validity of the data collected

Question 7

What are two limitations of research into cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 7

1. The strange situation may be culturally biased as the original study took place using American children only
   - This means that the findings are unlikely to be generalised to other cultures, especially collectivist cultures
   - This is an example of imposed etic as Ainsworth assumed that certain behaviours would indicate a certain type of attachment in all cultures, however this is not always true as different cultures have different ways of raising children and behaviours can differ in meaning eg in Western cultures, babies tend to be raised to be more independent so them exploring freely could just be evidence of this, instead of indicating an insecure-avoidant attachment
2. The studies used in Kroonenberg and Van Izjendoorn’s meta analysis would not have been matched for methodology
   - This means that there are both sample characteristics (poverty, social class) and environmental variables (size of room, availability of interesting toys) may have confounded the results
   - This factors were not considered by Kroonenberg and Van Izjendoorn
   - This means that the findings may lack internal validity as they could just be showing differences in culture as opposed to differences in attachment