Cultural Variations In Attachment

Question 1

Who studied cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 1

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

Question 2

Study outline

Answer 2

• They located 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used to investigate different types of attachment.
• Meta-analysed the data for these studies.
• Yielded results for a total of 1990 babies.

Question 3

What did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg find?

Answer 3

• Secure attachment was the most common classification in all countries.
• Insecure-resistant was higher in collectivist countries (above 25%) and lowest in individualist countries (less than 14%).
• Insecure-avoidant was higher in individualist countries and lower in collectivist countries.
• There was greater variation within countries than between them.

Question 4

Countries with highest and lowest secure attachment

Answer 4

• Highest in Britain and Sweden
• Lowest in China.

Question 5

Countries with highest and lowest insecure resistant attachment

Answer 5

• Highest in Israel
• Lowest in Great Britain

Question 6

Countries with highest and lowest insecure avoidant attachment

Answer 6

• Highest in Germany
• Lowest in Japan