Cultural Variations in Attachment

Question 1

who are the researchers involved in the meta analysis?

Answer 1

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Question 2

what did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg do?

Answer 2

• meta analysis of 32 strange situation studies
• studies were conducted in 8 countries
• around 1990 children in total

Question 3

what were the findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg?

Answer 3

• most common attachment type: secure
• UK had the highest number of secure attachment: 75%
• Germany had the highest number of insecure avoidant: 35%
• Israel had the highest number of insecure resistant: 29%
• securely attached was the most common = 75% in UK and 50% in China

Question 4

how many times greater was variation within cultures than variation between cultures?

Answer 4

1.5 times greater
- for example USA one study found 46% securely attached compared to another that found 90%

Question 5

who are the other researchers involved in cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 5

• Alessandra Simonelli et al (Italian Study)
• Jin et al (Korean study)

Question 6

what was the aim of Simonelli et al?

Answer 6

• conducted a study in Italy
• to see whether the proportions of babies of different attachment types still match those found in previous studies

Question 7

what did Simonelli et al do?

Answer 7

• assessed 76 babies aged 12 months using the strange situation
• 50% were secure
• 36% were insecure-avoidant
• this is a lower rate of secure attachment and a higher rate of insecure-avoidant

Question 8

what does Simonelli et al’s study suggest?

Answer 8

the changes in rates of type of attachment is due to increasing numbers of mothers of very young children working long hours and using professional childcare
- patterns of attachment types are not static but vary in line with cultural change

Question 9

what was the aim of Jin et al’s study?

Answer 9

conducted a study to compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea to other studies

Question 10

what did Jin et al do?

Answer 10

• used strangest situation to assess 87 babies
• overall proportions of insecure and secure babies were similar to those in most countries, with most babies being secure
• most of those classified as insecurely attached were resistant and only one baby was avoidant
• similar to distribution of attachment types in Japan

Question 11

why were the attachment types the way they were in Japan and Korea?

Answer 11

• they have quite similar child-rearing styles

Question 12

what is the conclusion of studies in cultural variations?

Answer 12

• secure attachment seems to be normal in a wide range of cultures, which supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and universal, this type is a universal norm
• cultural practices have an influence on attachment type

Question 13

what is a strength of the cultural variations into attachment?

Answer 13

• the research was conducted by indigenous researchers
• for example Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg included research from German team(Grossman et al) and Takahashi conducted research in Japan
• this reduces any problems such as misunderstandings due to language barrier and less bias

Question 14

what is a weakness of the cultural variations into attachment?

Answer 14

• there may be some confounding variables
• for example, the methodology is not matched when data is not being meta analysed or reviewed, so factors like poverty, social class and age may confound results
• also the size of room and availability of toys, less visible proximity seeking due to room size being too small

Question 15

what is another weakness of cultural variations into attachment?

Answer 15

• imposed etic
• for example the babies reunion response in the strange situation, Britain and US lack of affection on reunion is avoidant attachment
• in Germany this is seen as independence rather than insecurity so may not work