Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

Describe cultural variations of attachment

Answer 1

• There are similarities between different cultures as each culture had the highest proportion of the secure attachment type.
• there is also a significant difference between the percentage of secure children - as in China it was 50, whilst in Great Britain it was 75
• HOWEVER THERE ARE ALSO SOME DIFFERENCES - as the percentage of AVOIDANT children in west Germany was 35 whereas in Japan it was only 5 children.
• the percentage of RESISTANT children in ISRAEL was 29 whilst in Great Britain it was only 3

Question 2

A study in to cross-cultural variations in attachment

Answer 2

VAN IJZENDOORN & KROONENBERG

Question 3

What was the aim of the study:

Answer 3

They aimed to investigate cross-cultural variations in attachment styles through a meta-analysis

Question 4

What were the procedures of the study

Answer 4

A meta-analysis (combinig data from several studies) was conducted that compared the findings of 32 studies that had used the strange situation to measure attachment.

• research from eight different nations was compared, so that western culture (Germany, Great Britain & USA) and non-western culture (Japan, China and Israel) could be compared.

Question 5

FINDINGS:

Answer 5

• secure attachment was the most common across all eight nations
• however significant differences were found in the distribution of insecure attachments
• e.g. in western cultures the dominant INSECURE attachment type is ‘insecure avoidant’ whereas in non-western cultures the dominant; insecure attachment type is insecure-resistant.
• there is 1 and a half times greater variation WITHIN cultures than BETWEEN cultures

Question 6

CONCLUSIONS

Answer 6

• The greater variation found WITHIN cultures suggests that sub-cultural comparison studies may be more valid than cross-cultural comparisons.

Question 7

LIMITATION OF RESEARCH IN TO CROSS-CULTURAL VARIATIONS OF ATTACHMENT

Answer 7

• Despite the large number of studies combined in the meta-analysis over half (18 of the 32) were still US - only 5 of the 32 were carried out in collectivist cultures, therefore the analysis was low in internal validity as it truly only considered individualistic cultures.

Question 8

LIMITATION OF RESEARCH IN TO CROSS-CULTURAL VARIATIONS OF ATTACHMENT

Answer 8

• There is also the issue of imposed etic. (Implying something about one culture on another)
• The strange situation was designed by an American, using american children for use on other Americans.
• therefore we can begin to question whether it is actually suitable for testing the children of other cultures.
• ainsworth assumed that separation anxiety was an indicator of a secure attachment style and this may be the case for western cultures such as America and Great Britain; however separation anxiety in other cultures may represent other factors.
• the strange situation therefore may not be a suitable measure of attachment as it could be culturally specific.