Cultural variations in attachment. Flashcards
Van IJzendooron and Kroonnenberg (1988)
Procedure
Van IJzendooron and Krooneneberg conducted a meta-analysis of the findings from 32 studies of attachment behaviour. This involved over 2000 strange situation classification in 8 different countries.
Van IJzendooron and Kroonnenberg (1988)
Findings
They found differences were small, with secure attachment the most common classification in every country. Insecure-avoidant attachment was the next most common except in Isralse and Japan, where insecure-resistant attachment was the next most common. Variation within cultures was 1.5 times greater than variation between cultures.
- The conclusions was that the global pattern across cultues appears to be similar to that found in the US, i.e secure attachment is the ‘norm’
- The presence of these cultural similaries supports the idea that secure attachment is ‘best’ for healthy social and emotional development.
Cultural similarities
Tronick et al. (1992)
Studies an African tribe. the Efe, who live in extended family groups. Despire differences in childrearing practices the infants, at 6 months still showed one primary attachment
Cultural differences
Grossman and Grossmannn (1991)
Found higher levels of insecure attachment amongst german infants than in other cultures.
- German cultures involves keeping some interpersonal distance between parents and children. This means infants do not engafe in proximity-seeking behaviours in the strange situation and so appear to be insecurly attached.
Cultural differences
Takahashi (1990). Findings
Found similar rates of secure attachment in japanese infants to those found by ainsworth et al. However, the japanese infants showed no evidence of insecure-avoidant attachment and high rates of insecure-resistant attachments
- In japan, infants rarely experience separation from their mothers, which would explain why they were more distressed in the strange situation than their american counterparts.
One strength of cross cultural research is the development of universal principles of attachment
E: Posda and Jacobs (2011) note that there is a lot of evidence that supports the idea of underlying principles of attachment.
E: For example, china, colombia and germany all support the idea that maternal sensitivity leads to secure attachment.
L; So even though the expression of maternal sensitivity and behaviours found in securely attached children may vary across culture, the core concepts are the same
An issue with Van lJzendoorn and kroonenberg’s research is that they were studying differenes in countries rather than cultures
(Van lJzendoorn and Sagi, 2001).
E: For example, a japanese study found a similar distribution of attachment types to western studies in tokyo, but an increase-resistant individuals in a rural sample (van lJzendoorn and sagi, 2001).
E: These result demonstrate that ‘country’ and ‘culture; are not the same thing, and provide support to the claim that there is more variation within than between cultures.
L: This suggests that cultural variations may not be comparing cultures after all, and that the term ‘cultural variations’ should be used with caution.
A critcism of cross-culutral research is that the research ‘tools’ lack valdity
E: The strange situation has assumptions that are specific to its country of origin (USA). It assumes ‘willngness to explore’ is a sign of secure attachment. However, in Japan dependence rather than indepence is a sign of this (van lJzendoorn and Sagi, 2001)
E: This means that research using strange situation may lack validity in cultures other than the US and could result in the misclassification of attachment types.
Another issue with cross cultural research is the cultural bias of attachment theory
Rothbaum et al (2000)
E: Rothbaum et al (2000) claims that the attachment theory is rooted in american culture
E: Furthermore, Rothbauman found that japanese hildren demonstrate an inhibtion of emotional expression and preference to group rather than self-orientated behaviour
E: This suggests that the high levels of insecure-resistant attachment found in japanese children, may be the result of a cultural bias in attachment theory.
What was the most common attachment in every country?
Secure attachment
What was the next common attachment?
Insecure-avoidant in every country execpt Israel and Japan which are 2 collectivist cultures
What did the results suggests?
That the global pattern of attachment is similar to the US and that secure attachment is the best for healthy social and emotional development
What AO3 are you using for Cultural variations?
may not be innatley determined.
they were studying differenes in countries rather than cultures
the research ‘tools’ lack valdity
Insecure-avoidant
A type of attachment which describes those children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others.
Insecure-resistant
A type of attachment in which describes those infants who both seek and reject initmacy and social interaction.
