cultural variations in attachment Flashcards
what is a meta analysis?
the examination of data from a number of independent studies of the same topic, in order to determine overall trends
what are cultural variations?
‘culture’ refers to the norms and values that exist within any group of people. cultural variations then are the differences in norms and values that exist between people in different groups. in attachment research they are concerned with the differences in the proportion of children of different attachment types
who is the main study regarding the cultural variations in attachment conducted by?
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg
What were the procedures of VI and K’s study?
•the researchers located 32 studies of attachment where the SST had been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types
•these 32 studies were conducted in 8 countries, 15 of which were in the USA
•overall the 32 studies yielded results for 1,900 children
•they completed a meta- analysis, the results become combined and weighted for sample size
how many different studies did Van Ijzendorn and Kroonenberg examine?
32
how many children did Van Ijzendorn and Kroonenberg review in total?
1900
what countries did Van Ijzendorn and Kroonenberg review data from?
15 from the USA and others from Great Britain, Sweden, Japan, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, China
what was found to be the most common attachment type across all countries?
secure attachment
what were the results of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?
•secure attachment was the most common
•in western cultures, insecure avoidant attachment is more common than insecure resistant attachments. However in pleases like Japan, Israel and China the opposite pattern is found
•there was 1.5x (150%) more difference within countries than between countries, there was also no variation between urban and rural areas
what was the percentage difference within countries compared to between countries?
1.5x more difference within countries than between countries
who conducted the Italian study?
Simonella
procedure of the Italian study
Simonella conducted a study in Italy to see whether the proportions of babies of different attachment types still matches those found in previous studies. The researchers assessed 76 12-month olds using the SST.
how many babies did Simonella assess and of what age?
76
12 months
what were the findings and conclusions of Simonella’s study?
they found 50% were secure, with 36% insecure avoidant. this is a lower rate of secure attachments than what had previously been found in many studies. the researchers suggest this is because increasing numbers of mothers of very young children work long hours and use professional childcare.
These findings suggest that cultural changes can make a dramatic difference to patterns of secure and insecure attachment.
general conclusions about cultural variations in attachment
secure attachment seems to be the norm in a wide range of cultures, supporting Bowlby’s idea that the attachment is innate and universal and this type is the universal norm:
However, the research also clearly shows that the cultural practices have an influence on attachment type
