Cross-cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

study on cross cultural variation

Answer 1

• psychs conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies into attachment to see if attachment occurs in the same across all cultures
• studies used the strange situation to measure attachment
• looked at the relationship between mothers and babies under 24 months
• 8 countries = individualist + collectivist cultures
• individualist cultures: USA, UK, Germany
• collectivist cultures: China, Israel, Japan

Question 2

findings of study

Answer 2

• secure attachment = most common attachment style in all 8 countries
• insecure-avoidance = 2nd most common attachment style, EXCEPT Israel + Japan = resistant was common
• lowest %age of secure = China
• highest %age of secure = Great Britain
• highest %age of insecure-avoidant = West Germany
• overall variations WITHIN cultures = 1.5x greater than variations between cultures

Question 3

ad of cross-cultural variations in attachement

Answer 3

• study is meta-analysis = large sample
  = increases the validity of the findings

Question 4

disads of study cross-cultural variation in attachment

Answer 4

• cultural bias
• Israel
• comparing countries
• mothers, not fathers

Question 5

cultural bias - disads of study cross-cultural variation in attachment

Answer 5

• strange situation methodology was developed in the US
  = may not be valid in other cultures
  e.g. Ainsworth assumed that a willingness to explore means a child is securely attached but this may not be the case in other cultures
  = methodology is culturally biased

Question 6

Israel - disads of study cross-cultural variation in attachment

Answer 6

• the infants from Israel lived in Kibbutz (closed community)
• they didn’t come into contact w/ strangers
  = could be the reason why these children showed severe distress when confronted w/ strangers + so classed as resistant

Question 7

comparing countries - disads of study cross-cultural variation in attachment

Answer 7

• study wasn’t actually comparing cultures but countries
• e.g. compared USA w/ Japan
• both of these countries have many different sub-cultures that have different child-rearing practices
• one study of attachment in Tokyo found similar attachment style distributions to the USA
• whereas studies in more rural areas of Japan found many more insecure-resistant infants

Question 8

mothers, not fathers - disads of study cross-cultural variation in attachment

Answer 8

• all of the studies used in this meta-analysis looked at infants’ attachments to their mothers
• children may be insecurely attached to their mothers but securely attached to their fathers
  = the strange situation is not measuring a child’s attachment style, bu their attachment to one individual
  = children behave differently depending on which parent they are with