Cultural variations in attachment Flashcards
(10 cards)
1
Q
What was the aim of van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg’s study?
A
To look at proportions secure, insecure-avoidant & insecure-resistant attachments across several countries but also differences in variations within countries
2
Q
What were the procedures of van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg’s study?
A
- researcher located 32 studies of attachment where the Strange Situation was used to investigate the proportions of each type of attachment in infants
- studies taken from 8 countries where 15/32 were from the USA
- results collected from 1990 children
- data from these studies were meta-analysed
3
Q
What were the findings of van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg’s study?
A
- secure attachment was most common in all countries but proportions varied e.g. 75% in Britain & 50% in China
- insecure-resistant was the least common but proportions ranged e.g. 3% in Britain & 30% in Israel
- variation between results within countries was 150% greater than between countries
4
Q
What was the Italian study on cultural variations?
A
- Simonella et al. conducted a study to see whether proportions of infants classified into an attachment type matched with those found in previous studies
- researchers assessed 76 12-month olds using the Strange Situation & found that 50% were secure and 36% were insecure-avoidant
- researchers suggest this is because mothers of young children work long hours or use childcare
- these findings suggest that cultural changes make a significant difference to patterns of secure & insecure attachment
5
Q
What was the Korean study on cultural variations?
A
- Jin et al. conducted a study to compare proportions of attachment types in Korea with other countries
- 87 children were assessed using the Strange Situation
- overall proportions of secure & insecure attachments were similar to other countries where secure was most common
- but more children were classified as insecure-resistant & only one avoidant
- this is similar to distribution of attachment types in Japan as Japan & Korea have similar child-rearing styles where the mother is rarely apart from their child
6
Q
What were conclusions made of cultural variations?
A
- secure attachment is the norm in many cultures which supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate & universal
- but research also clearly shows that cultural practices also have an influence on attachment type
7
Q
Evaluation: Large samples
A
- a strength of combining results from attachment studies in many studies is that it results in a very sample
- e.g. in the Ijzendoorn meta-analysis it involved almost 2000 babies & their primary attachment figures
- this is a strength because large samples increases internal validity by reducing effects of anomalous results caused by bad methodology
- this means studies on cultural variations have good validity
8
Q
Evaluation: Samples tend to be unrepresentative of culture
A
- meta-analysis by van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg claimed to study cultural variations but they studied between countries not cultures
- there are many different cultures within a single country with different child-rearing styles
- e.g. one sample may over-represent people living in poverty
- an analysis by van Ijzendoorn & Sagi found that distributions in attachment types in Tokyo was similar to Western studies
- this means that comparisons between countries have little meaning since the specific cultural characteristics of the sample need to be specified
9
Q
Evaluation: Method of assessment is biased
A
- cross cultural psychology includes ideas of etic (cultural universals) and emic (cultural uniqueness)
- the Strange Situation was designed by an American researcher (Ainsworth) using a British theory (Bowlby)
- there is a question on whether Anglo-American theories can be applied to other countries
- imposed etic is trying to apply a theory designed by one culture to another
- e.g. of imposed etic is the idea of lack of separation anxiety associated with insecure-avoidant since this can be seen as being independent in Germany rather than avoidant
10
Q
Evaluation: The Strange Situation lacks validity
A
- there is a basic issue when the Strange Situation as it is considered that it doesn’t measure attachment at all
- e.g. Kagan et al. suggested that attachment type is more related to character than the relationship to the primary attachment figure
- this means the Strange Situation isn’t assessing attachment but anxiety so studies done based off of it may lack validity