Attachment- Cultural variations in attachment Flashcards
Define culture
-Refers to the norms and values that exist within any group of people
What are cultural variations?
-Differences in norms and values that exist between people in different groups
Give some traits of collectivist cultures
-Social rules focus on promoting selflessness
-Working as a group
-Doing what is best for society
-Families and communities have a central role
Give some traits of individualistic cultures
-Uniqueness
-Autonomy
-Independence
-Self sufficiency
Who carried out a study to find out more about cultural variations in attachment?
-Van Ijzendorrn and Kroonenberg
When was this study carried out?
-1988
What were the aims of the study?
-To investigate whether they could find evidence that intercultural differences exist
-To investigate whether they could find intra-cultural differences exist
-To look at proportions of secure,insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of countries
What do cultural differences mean
Differences between countries/cultures
What do intra-culture differences mean
Differences within cultures
What is a meta-analysis?
When a researcher looks at the findings from several different studies and produces a statistic to represent the overall effect
What was the procedure?
-Conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies of attachment
-Using the strange situation they looked at the proportion of the 3 attachment types in 8 different countries
-18 of these studies were in the US
-A total of 1990 children and their mothers were involved in the studies
What were the findings for Germany?
-Low percentage of securely attached children
-35% were insecure avoidant
-57% were securely attached (in comparison to 65% in the US)
Why may this be (Germany)?
-German culture involves keeping some interpersonal space between adults and children
-Infants do not engage in proximity-seeking behaviour which makes them appear insecurely attached
What were the findings in Israel?
-People in Israel live in kibbutzim (communal living)
-Typically brought up my a non family member although they do see their family daily
-They became very upest
-1/2 were classified as anxious/resistant
-64% appeared to be securely attached
What was the aim of Simonella’s (2014) Italian study?
-To see if the proportions of secure and insecure attachments were still the same as previous results
What was the procedure of Simonellas’s study?
-76 12-month-olds were assessed using the SS
What were the results of Simonella’s study?
-50% were secure
-36% were insecure avoidant
Why was there a lower rate of secure attachments in 2014?
-Mothers of young children had long working hours and used professional childcare
What was the aim of Jin et al study in 2012?
-To compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea
What was the procedure of the Jin et al study in 2012?
-87 infants using SS
What were the results of the Jin et al study in 2012?
-Overall proportion of secure: insecure were similar to other countries
-More resistant than avoidant
-Have similar child-rearing styles to japan
How many studies did germany have?
3
How many studies did UK have?
1
How many studies did Netherlands have?
4
How many studies did Sweedon have?
1
How many studies did Israel have?
2
How many studies did Japan have?
2
How many studies did China have?
1
How many studies did US have?
18
What were the resulst for Germany?
S- 57%
IA-35
IR-8
What were the resulst for UK?
S-75
IA-22
IR-3
What were the resulst for Netherlands?
S-67
IA-26
IE-7
What were the resulst for Sweeden?
S-74
IA-22
IR-4
What were the resulst for Israel?
S-64
IA-7
IR-29
What were the resulst for Japan?
S-58
IA-5
IR-27
What were the resulst for China?
S-50
IA-25
IR-25
What were the resulst for US?
S-65
IA-21
IR-14
What were the overall averages
S-65
IA-21
IR-14
Why are the resulst for china significant?
-Very low amount of secure attachments (lower than avergae)
-Higher than average insecure attachments
What is imposed etic?
-Used to describe the use of a technique designed in one cultural but imposed on another
Give a strenth of this study
-Based on the strange situation
-As long as all the researcher used the ss as it was initially used they should all have controlled variables
-Different researchers findings can be compared
-Reliable
Give a limitation of this study
-Not globally representitive
-Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg recognised that data from less Western-oriented cultures were required to establish a more global perspective attachment classifications
- Africa, South America, and Eastern European socialist countries were not represented
-Although they did include collectivist and individualistic cultures were compared so the aim of the study was achieved
-Overall it is underepresentitve
Give a limitation of this study
-Overall findings are misleading
- As a disproportionately high number of the studies reviewed were conducted in the USA (18/32), the overall findings would have been distorted by these.
-This means that the apparent consistency between cultures might not genuinely reflect how much attachment types vary between cultures.
Give a limitation of this study
-Applying Strange Situation procedures and behavioural categories is ethnocentric
-Cross-cultural research using the Strange Situation judges and categorises infant behaviour according to behavioural categories that were developed following observations of middle-class American infants.
- This means that when researchers interpret non-American infant behaviour, it is being judged against an American standard. Eg. an infant exploring the playroom by themselves would be classed as avoidant based on American standards but is valued as reflecting independence in Germany
