Discuss research into cultural variations in attachments (Van Izjendoorn)

Question 1

outline

Answer 1

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg carried out a meta-analysis and reviewed the findings from 32 different ‘Strange Situation’ experiments, using more than 2000 participants, across 8 different cultures.

27 of the experiments were from individualist cultures and 5 were from collectivist cultures.

They found there was greater variation, up to 1.5 times, in the types of attachments within cultures than between cultures.

This means that, the variation of attachment types within one country is greater than between two different countries.

There were important similarities between the different countries in the meta-analysis.

For example: Secure Attachments were the most common in all cultures as secure attachments are consistently around one half of all attachments; USA: 65% secure, Germany: 57%, Japan: 68%. Countries with similar cultural norms (e.g. the USA and the UK) show very similar findings.

However, there were also great differences within individual countries e.g. one Japanese study found no insecure avoidant attachments but the second found 20% of infants with this attachment.

Alongside this, there were significant differences between the countries in the meta-analysis – insecure avoidant was most common in Germany (35%) but were rare in Japan (5%).

Question 2

conclusion

Answer 2

In individualist cultures, rates of insecure-resistant attachment were similar to Ainsworth’s original findings however for collectivist cultures, the numbers of insecure-resistant attachment were a lot higher, although the numbers of insecure-avoidant attachment were reduced.

This suggests that there are cultural differences in the distributions of insecure attachment.

Question 3

limit 1

Answer 3

There is evidence to suggest that culture has little influence on attachment type, for example secure attachments, as measured by the strange situation, are the most common form of attachments across the globe, regardless of culture.

Support comes from Tronick (1992), who found that children belonging to the African Efe tribe formed one secure attachment to their mother despite being cared for and breastfed by different women.

This suggests that the strange situation is a valid measure of attachments across different cultures.

This adds further strength to Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment which argues that attachment formation has evolved to become innate (rather than learnt) explaining why children show similar attachment behaviour regardless of the culture in which they are born.

Question 4

strength

Answer 4

A strength of meta-analyses, such as that by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) is that they are high in internal validity.

This is because they have large sample sizes; van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study involved nearly 2000 participants.

Having a large sample size reduces the impact of biased methodology or unusual participants.

Therefore, we can be more confident about the conclusions drawn from these studies.

Question 5

limit 2

Answer 5

A limitation of these samples is they may be unrepresentative of cultures van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study made comparisons between countries not cultures; each country is made up on different cultures with different child rearing practices.

Van Ijzendoorn and Sagi (2001) found that distributions of attachment type in Tokyo were similar to results from western studies whereas, a sample from a more rural area had a larger number of insecure-resistant individuals.

This means that comparisons between countries may have little meaning and that the cultures and caregiving styles of the sample need to be specified.

Question 6

alternative explanation

Answer 6

There is an alternative explanation for the similarities between cultures.

Bowlby’s explanation for cultural similarities in attachment was that attachments are innate and universal and therefore the same behaviours are shown in countries across the world.

However van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg offered an alternative suggestion; saying that small cross-cultural differences may reflect the effect of the mass media.

They meant that many books and television programmes are broadcast around the world and create parenting norms through advocating a particular parenting style.

This has led to similarities in child rearing becoming more common.