Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

Who conducted the meta-analysis of cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 1

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg.

Question 2

Outline van Ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s procedure.

Answer 2

The researchers located 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used to investigate the proportion of babies with different attachment types. These were conducted in eight countries as 15 were in the US.

Question 3

Outline the findings of Cultural variations in attachment.

Answer 3

There was a wide variation between attachment types in different studies.

In all studies the secure attachment type was the most common however the proportion varied from 75% in Britain to 50% in China.
In individualist countries the rates of insecure-resistant attachments were similar to Ainsworths original sample though this was not true for collectivist samples as there were more insecure-resistant children.

Question 4

Which attachment type was the most common across all studies?

Answer 4

Secure

Question 5

Which country had the highest number of insecure-resistant attachment?

Answer 5

Israel

Question 6

Which country had the highest number of insecure-avoidant attachment?

Answer 6

Germany

Question 7

What is an individualist culture?

Answer 7

Value independence while working towards individual goals.

Question 8

Example of individualist culture.

Answer 8

USA
UK

Question 9

Example of collectivist culture

Answer 9

Israel
China
Japan

Question 10

What is a collectivist culture?

Answer 10

Israel
China
Japan

Question 11

Outline and dicuss the findings of Grossman and Grossman’s study into attachment in germany.

Answer 11

They replicated the strange situation with a sample of 49 German infants and mothers.

It was more common for German infants to be classified as insecure-avoidant than it was in the UK.

Question 12

Why were German infants were more likely to be classified as insecure-avoidant in Grossman and Grossman’s study?

Answer 12

childbearing practices are different in Germany for example parents may bring up their children to be independent.

Question 13

Outline and dicuss the findings of Takahashi’s study into attachment in Japan.

Answer 13

Replicated the strange situation with a sample of 69 middle class Japanese infants and mothers.

There were distinct difference in the proportions of attachment types compared to Ainsworth.
0% were classified as insecure-avoidant.
32% were insecure resistant.
68% were secure.

Question 14

Why were Japanese infants more likely to be insecre resistant in Takahasi’s study?

Answer 14

Japanese children are raised with minimal separation from caregivers.

Question 15

Give a strength of research into cultural variations in attachment. (indigenous psychologists)

Answer 15

Most studies were conducted by indigenous psychologists. Indigenous psychologists are from the same cultural background as the participants. For example, van IJenzendoorn and Kroonenberg included research by Grossman who was German and Takahasi who was Japanese. This kind of research means that the potential problems of cross-culture research can be avoided such as language barriers and bias. This means that there is an excellent chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully which enhances the validity of the data collected.

Question 16

Give a limitation of research into cultural variations in attachment (confounding variables).

Answer 16

A limitation of research into cultural variations is the impact of confounding variables on findings. Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in reviews. Characteristics such as poverty and social class can confound results. Also environmental variables may also differ between studies for example the side of the room and the amount of toys in the room. For example, in a room with less toys the child may not proximity seek as much which may put them down as avoidant but in reality there are not as many toys as in the other experiments.
This is a limitation of the research evidence provided.

Question 17

Give a limitation of research into cultural variations in attachment (not globally representative)

Answer 17

The findings are not actually globally representative. For example, Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg did not include data from less Western-orientated cultures such as Africa, South America etc. Also, a disproportionally high number of the studies reviewed were conducted in America 18/32 so the overall findings would have been distorted by these. This means that the overall findings may not accurately reflect how much attachment types vary between cultures.