Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

Describe Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg’s procedure

Answer 1

they studies both inter and intra-cultural variations of attachment

meta analysis of 32 studies of attachment (8 countries) where the strange situation had been used

Question 2

Describe the different between inter and intra cultural

Answer 2

intercultural- taking place between cultures

intracultural- taking place within a single culture

Question 3

Describe Ijzendoorn’s findings

Answer 3

• secure attachment was the most common- however large variations
• individualistic cultures (GB, sweden) had similar rates of insecure-resistant to Ainsworth original study
• collectivist cultures (China, Japan) had higher rates of insecure resistant and lower rates of insecure-avoidant

Question 4

Describe Simonelli’s study

Answer 4

Italian study
assessed 76 babies aged 12 months using Strange Situation

50% secure
36% insecure-avoidant
maybe because of increased working mums

Question 5

Descibe Mi Kyoung Jin’s Korean study

Answer 5

87 babies using strange situation

found similar pattern of secure + insecure attachment to other cultures
vast majority were resistant rather than avoidant

Question 6

Conclusions from cultural variations of the study

Answer 6

secure attachment is the ‘norm’

supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and universal -> nature

however culture does impace the proportion of secure+insecure-> nurture