Cultural variations in attachment, Van Ijzendoorn

Question 1

Research: Van Ijzendoorn

Answer 1

Aim – To investigate whether there are differences in attachment behaviour between and within different countries/cultures.

Procedure – Van Ijzendoorn conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies of attachment (using The Strange Situation) in 8 different countries. The findings from these 2,000 Strange Situation classifications were analysed.

Findings – Differences between the countries were generally small. Secure attachments were the most common type in every country. Insecure-avoidant attachment was the next most common in all the countries except for Japan and Israel. There was more variation in attachment types within the different countries than between them.

Conclusions – It was concluded that secure attachments are the ‘norm’ in all countries suggesting that it is the best for healthy social and emotional development. These similarities also support the idea that attachment is an innate process, as suggested by Bowlby.

Question 2

Other research into cultural variations in attachment

Answer 2

Japan: 60 middle class Japanese mothers and babies were observed using the procedures of the Strange Situation. The results were that almost the same proportion of children showed secure attachment as in the US (68% compared to 66%). However, there was a higher proportion of insecure resistant in Japan (32% compared to 12% in the US) and no babies were classified as insecure avoidant in Japan compared to 22% in US.

Germany: Using the Strange Situation, research studies have found that although the majority showed secure attachment (57%), there was a higher percentage of insecure avoidant (35%) compared to in the US (22%).

Question 3

Evaluation of research into cultural variations in attachment, strength

Answer 3

A strength of Van Ijzendoorn’s research is the large sample size. Van Ijzendoorn combined the results of studies carried out in different countries (a meta-analysis) which resulted in a total of 2000 infants and their caregivers being analysed. This is a strength because such a large sample size reduces the impact of anomalous results and therefore increases the accuracy of the findings, allowing them to be generalised to a large number of people.

Question 4

Evaluation of research into cultural variations in attachment, limitation

Answer 4

Some researchers have criticised the accuracy of the conclusions drawn by Van Ijzendoorn. This is because it claims to be investigating cultural variations in attachment whereas it is really comparing the percentage of attachment types in different countries. Since any country will be made up of a number of cultures, it can be considered inappropriate for Van Ijzendoorn to draw conclusions about cultural variations in attachment. As this may not be investigating culture, but country, this research may be argued to lack validity.

• Another criticism is that the research only included 8 countries. Some researchers have argued that this is not a large enough selection of countries to draw conclusions about ‘cultural variations’ based on only 8 countries. Furthermore, 18/32 of the studies were from
  America. Again, this is means that there is not enough variation to draw large scale
  conclusions about types of attachments across different cultures.

Question 5

Evaluation: criticisms of the use of the Strange Situation to assess attachment type when researching cultural variations in attachment type

Answer 5

Firstly, this assessment tool uses controlled observation whereby the mothers are aware that they are being observed and that their interactions are being judged by experts. This could affect the way that they interact with their child. This would, in turn, affect the child’s behaviour too. This is a weakness because the categorisation of the infants’ attachment types may not be accurate.

Secondly, the Strange Situation as a tool to assess attachment type is culturally biased. The Strange Situation does not differentiate between different types of upbringing. Japanese infants rarely leave their mothers so appear to have insecure resistant attachment in the Strange Situation because of their extreme distress when separated. German children are brought up to be self-reliant and independent so appear to have avoidant attachment in the Strange Situation because they do not show much concern. This is a weakness because the responses are strongly influenced by the children’s upbringing rather than being a sign of their attachment type, meaning that the Strange Situation is only a valid way to measure attachment types in cultures similar to the US.