Cultural Varitaions In Attchment

Question 1

Who did the study

Answer 1

Vanljzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Question 2

Aim of the study

Answer 2

To look at the promotion of secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant across different countries to assess cultural variation

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

• 32 studies here the strange situation had been used to investigate attachment types
• Conducted in 8 countries (12 were USA)
• Overall studies yielded data for 1990 children
• Data was meta-analyzed

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

• In all countries secure attachment was the most common classification (varies from 75% in Britain to 50% in china)
  
  • Individualistic culture rates of insecure-resistant were similar to Ainsworth original sample (under 14%)
  • collectivist cultures like from china, Japan and Israel had rates of insecure-resistant above 25%.

Question 5

Explain findings

Answer 5

• These results are probably because child-rearing styles vary in different cultures; in individualistic cultures children are probably left alone more and raised to be by themselves which results in higher rates of secure and low rates of insecure-resistant.
• Whereas collectivist cultures raise their kids by focusing on family and never leaving them alone, which leads to the higher rates of insecure-resistant

Question 6

Conclusion

Answer 6

• In all countries secure attachment was the most common, however across different cultures the rates of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant varied (avoidant seen more in individualistic, resistant more in collectivist)
• Supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and universal
• However provides evidence for cultural practices having an influence of attachment type

Question 7

What did Grossman and Takahashi find?

Answer 7

• Takahashi - babies displayed very high levels of separation anxiety so more were classified as insecure-resistant. Suggested that this type of attachment was not due to the high rates of attachment insecurity but to the unusual nature of the experience in Japan where the mother-baby separation is rare.
  
  • Grossman - found that German infants tended to be classified as insecurely-attached rather than securely attached; different child rearing practices. The culture = interpersonal difference between mother and child so they don’t engage in proximity seeking behaviour.