Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

What was Van Ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s methodology?

Answer 1

They carried out a meta-analysis of 32 studies of the strange-situation in different countries and analysed to find any overall patterns

Question 2

What was the issue with the countries used by Van Ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg?

Answer 2

They did not use every single country so universal conclusions can’t be drawn about attachment types

Question 3

What were the results of Van Ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?

Answer 3

Percentages of secure and insecure children were similar across all of the countries tested
Intra-cultural differences in attachment were greater than inter-cultural
Securely attached was the most common type of attachment

Question 4

In V,J and K, what was the most dominant type of attachment in Western cultures?

Answer 4

Avoidant

Question 5

In V, J and K, what was the most dominant type of attachment in non-western cultures?

Answer 5

Resistant

Question 6

Why might the strange situation not be the most suitable method of studying attachment types cross-culturally?

Answer 6

Children are brought up differently in different cultures, resulting in different attachment types in different cultures

Question 7

What might using a different method of study have showed?

Answer 7

Different patterns of attachment

Different types of attachments

Question 8

What does the study assume different countries are the same as?

Answer 8

Different cultures

Question 9

What is imposed etic?

Answer 9

Researchers use techniques that are only relevant to one culture to study and draw conclusions about another

Question 10

What are 4 important findings from the strange situation research?

Answer 10

• Some cultural differences are found
• The causes of different attachment types are debatable eg. may be down to inborn temperament
• The strange situation experiment doesn’t show a characteristic of the child
• attachment type may influence later behaviours

Question 11

What was the methodology for McMahon-true, Pisani and Oumar’s research into the Dogon people?

Answer 11

• 42 mothers and infant pairs from rural Dogon villages used as participants
• infants ranged from 10 months to 12.5 months at first assessment
• strange situation was used
• results compared to 4 north americium samples with a total pf 306 mother-infant pairs tested

Question 12

What were the results of the Dogon people study?

Answer 12

• Majority in both the Dogon cultures and North America were found to be Type B
• A type D was found
• Positive correlations found between maternal sensitivity and infant security ratings
• Positive correlations found between the quality of mother-infant communications and infant security ratings

Question 13

Why is the fact there was no Type A attachments in the Dogon villages a surprise?

Answer 13

There is a high mortality rate of around 45% of infants dying before the age of 5 and the high rates of social and economic stressors

Question 14

For the Dogon people, what is required?

Answer 14

A comparison study for infants naturally parented in Western cultures

Question 15

What is the issue with using the Strange situation with the Dogon people?

Answer 15

it has situations which are unfamiliar, eg, leaving infant with stranger as parents left children with grandparents during the day