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

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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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