Cultural variations in attachment

Question 1

What are cultural variations of attachment?

Answer 1

Child-rearing styles vary across different cultures. Psychologists are interested in studying how these might impact on the proportions of different attachment types in different countries.

Question 2

What is a ‘culture’?

Answer 2

‘Culture’ refers to the norms and values that exist within any group of people.

Question 3

Which two psychologists are most closely associated with the study of cultural variations?

Answer 3

Marinus van Ijzendoorn and Pieter Kroonenberg (1988)

Question 4

What study was conducted by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg?

Answer 4

Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg conducted a study to look at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of countries. They also looked at the differences within the same countries.

Question 5

Why did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg investigate differences in attachment styles within cultures?

Answer 5

They looked at differences within the same countries because they wanted to get an idea of variations within a culture.

Question 6

How many individual studies were conducted by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg?

Answer 6

The researchers located 32 studies of attachment where the Strange Situation had been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types. The data for these 32 studies were meta-analysed (results were combined and weighted for sample size).

Question 7

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg located 32 studies. Across how many countries were these studies conducted?

Answer 7

The 32 studies of attachment were conducted in eight countries, 15 of which were in the USA.

Question 8

How many children were studied across the 32 procedures?

Answer 8

The 32 studies yielded results for 1,990 children.

Question 9

Did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg discover a significant or insignificant variation between the proportion of attachment styles?

Answer 9

They found that there was wide variation between the proportions of attachment types in different studies.

Question 10

Which attachment type was the most common classification across the eight countries?

Answer 10

In all countries secure attachment was the most common classification.

Question 11

What percentage of the British sample were classified as being securely attached?

Answer 11

75%

Question 12

What percentage of the sample in China were classified as being securely attached?

Answer 12

50%

Question 13

Which attachment type was the least common classification across the eight countries?

Answer 13

Insecure-resistant was overall the least common type of attachment.

Question 14

What percentage of the British sample were classified as being insecure-resistant?

Answer 14

3%

Question 15

What percentage of the sample in Israel were classified as being insecure-resistant?

Answer 15

30%

Question 16

In which country were increase-avoidant attachments most common?

Answer 16

Insecure-avoidant attachments were observed most commonly in Germany.

Question 17

In which country were increase-avoidant attachments least common?

Answer 17

Insecure-avoidant attachments were observed the least commonly in Japan.

Question 18

What did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg find about variations within countries?

Answer 18

Variations between results of studies within the same country were 150% greater than those between countries. For example, in the USA one study found only 46% securely attached compared to one sample as high as 90%.

Question 19

Who conducted an Italian study?

Answer 19

Simonella et al. (2014) conducted a study in Italy to see whether the proportion of babies of different attachment types still matches those found in previous studies.

Question 20

What was Simonella’s sample when studying attachment styles in Italy?

Answer 20

The researchers assessed 76 12-month olds using the Strange Situation.

Question 21

What did Simonella et al. find from their study to Italian attachment styles?

Answer 21

They found 50% were secure, with 36% insecure-avoidant. This is a lower rate of secure attachment than has been found in many studies.

Question 22

What explanation did Simonella give for the lower percentage of securely attached infants found in Italy?

Answer 22

The researchers suggest this is because increasing numbers of mothers to young children work long hours and use professional childcare.

Question 23

What was concluded from Simonella et al’s research?

Answer 23

It was concluded that cultural changes can make a dramatic difference to the patterns of secure and insecure attachment.

Question 24

Who conducted a Korean study?

Answer 24

Jin et al. (2012) conducted a study to compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea to other studies.

Question 25

How many children were assessed throughout Jin et al’s study?

Answer 25

The Strange Situation was used to assess 87 children.

Question 26

What did Jin et al. find from their study of Korean attachment styles?

Answer 26

The overall proportions of insecure and secure babies were similar to those in most countries, with most infants being secure. However, more of those classified as insecurely attached were resistant and only one child was avoidant.

This distribution is similar to the distribution of attachment types found in Japan. Since Japan and Korea have similar child-rearing styles this similarity might be explained in terms of child-rearing style.

Question 27

What can be concluded from the various studies investigating cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 27

It can be concluded that secure attachment tends to be the norm in a wide range of cultures, supporting Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and universal. However, the research also shows that cultural practices have an influence on attachment type.