Cultural Variations in Attachment Flashcards
Who did a meta- analysis combining the findings of 32 other studies of the Strange Situation from a variety of countries with over 2000 children?
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988).
What conclusions can be made from Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s research?
Great Britain has the highest percentage of type B children. Israel, Japan and China had the highest levels of type C, in every country secure was always the highest, it misses a huge chunk of countries so not representative, china is very big but only has 1 case while Netherlands has 4 and is small (unbalanced).
What is an explanation of Israeli cross- cultural differences found by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg?
They were reared in a Kibbutz so used to being separated from their mother. They did not show anxiety when separated from their mother but were distressed when left with a stranger. Explains high % of resistant.
What is an explanation for Japanese cross cultural differences found by Von Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg?
Japanese children are very rarely left without their mother which i why the distress was so extreme when she left. It was due more to shock than insecure attachment. The distress when with a stranger is also more likely to be because the mother has left.
Positive evaluation points for Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg?
- The use of a meta analysis is ethically sound because no new data has been collected so no new children have been put through the potentially traumatic ‘strange situation’ procedure.
- This study has significant applications to psychology. The conclusions significantly developed our understanding on not just child rearing in different cultures but how this also affects attachment type.
Negative evaluation points for Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg?
- The use of the strange situation in every study is problematic. The strange situation may be argued to be ethnocentric (based on American norms) so may only be useful for studying western children. Could be inappropriate as it ignores culturally specific elements.
- May not be truly representative. Some countries only had a small amount of studies e.g. China- 1.
Name two other studies into Cultural Variations.
Simonella (2014) and Jin (2012)
Simonella= An Italian Study
Jin= A Korean Study
What was Simonella (2014) trying to see when studying Italian babies?
To see if the proportion of babies in different attachment types still matched those in previous research.
What was the procedure and conclusion of Simonella’s (2014) study?
Assessed 76 12 month olds using the Strange Situation. Found 50% were secure and 36 insecure- avoidant. This is a lower number than other studies which may be explained by number of mothers working more and using professional childcare. Suggests cultural differences can have a large impact on attachment type.
Why did Jin (2012) conduct a study?
To compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea to other studies.
What was the procedure of Jin’s (2012) study?
Used the Strange Situation to assess 87 children. The overall proportions were similar to most of the other studies with infants being mainly secure. However, most of those classified as insecurely attached were resistant and only one was avoidant.
How do the studies into cultural variation support Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment?
Shows secure attachment seems to be the norm in many cultures which supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and a universal norm. However the research also shows that cultural practices do have an influence on attachment type.
