L9 - Cultural Variations In Attachments

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

• refers to the norms and values that exist within any group of people
• Cultural variations are differences in norms and values that exist between people in different groups.
• In attachment it’s the differences in the proportion of children of different attachment types
• culture isn’t necessarily country/society as many different groups can coexist in countries, each with it’s own rules and customs

Question 2

Subculture

Answer 2

• usually used to refer to a group within a country that, although it shares many of the dominant cultural characteristics of that country, may also have some special different characteristics

Question 3

Key way cultures differ

Answer 3

• Individualistic vs Collectivist
• western cultures tend to be individualistic - value independence and the importance of the individual (what they want themselves) e.g. UK
• non-western cultures tend to be collectivist - emphasise importance of group - share tasks, things, child rearing , live/work together, worry about others and their opinions e.g. Japan

Question 4

Key studies showing cultural variations

Answer 4

Ainsworth (1967)
Simonella (2014)
Jin et al. (2012)
Tronick et al. (1992)
Takahashi (1990)
Grossman and Grossman (1991)

Question 5

Ainsworth (1967)

Answer 5

• Uganda
• two year naturalistic observation of mother-infant interaction
• 26 mothers & infants - lived in 6 villages surrounding Kampala
• observed some mothers were more ‘sensitive’ to their infants needs and these mothers tended to have ‘securely attached’ infants
• Secure attachment then led the infant to have increasing competence and independence

Question 6

Simonella (2014)

Answer 6

• Italy - used 76 12 month olds
• 50% securely attached, 36% insecure-avoidant
• lower rate of secure attachment compared to other studies
• increase of working women & use of professional childcare
• findings suggests cultural changes can make a large difference to patterns of secure & insecure attachments

Question 7

Jin et al. (2012)

Answer 7

• Korea - 87 children - overall proportion of insecure & secure was similar to most countries
• insecurely attached children were mainly insecure resistant, only 1 was insecure-avoidant
• similar to Japan, both countries have similar child-rearing styles, can explain similarity

Question 8

Tronick et al.

Answer 8

• African tribe, the Efe, from Zaire
• lived in extended family groups - infants looked after & breastfed by different women
• usually slept with mothers
• at 6mo, still showed a primary attachment - supports Monotropy

Question 9

Takahashi (1990)

Answer 9

• study 60 middle-class Japanese infants
• found similar rates of secure & insecure attachments to Ainsworth in US
• but no insecure avoidant and high insecure resistant (23%)
• distressed when left alone - extreme response that meant for 90% study had to be stopped when they were left alone
• can be explained due to child-rearing practices - infants rarely experience separation from mothers which could explain why they were more distressed then Americans

Question 10

Grossman and Grossman (1991)

Answer 10

• German infants
• tended to be classified as insecurely attached instead of the securely attached - may be due to child-rearing practices
• parents & children tend to maintain some interpersonal distance

Question 11

Key study

Answer 11

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) - meta-analysis of findings from 32 studies of attachment behaviours in 8 countries

Question 12

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) countries studied

Answer 12

China - collectivist - 1 study
Netherlands - individualistic - 4 studies
UK - individualistic - 1 studies
Japan - collectivist - 2 studies
Israel - collectivist - 2 studies
Sweden - individualistic - 1 study
US - individualistic - 18 studies
West Germany - individualistic - 3 studies

Question 13

What does data show

Answer 13

• secure was most common in all countries
• China is anomaly - equal - 50% Secure, 25% IR, 25% IA
• Insecure-avoidant’ was the next most common, mainly in individualistic countries which put the greatest emphasis on independence, mothers go to work more etc..
• Insecure-resistant is most common in collectivist cultures such as Japan and Israel - stay close to parents
• Variations between results of studies within the same country were actually 150% greater than those between countries.
  E.g USA study found only 46% securely attached compared to one sample as high as 90%

Question 14

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) conclusion

Answer 14

• secure attachment is the most common suggests that most babies, regardless of the culture in which they are bought up, will form secure attachments
• supports idea Secure attachment is ‘best’ for healthy social & emotional development & that attachment is innate & biological process
• cultural practises can have a significant impact on the likelihood of a baby forming either an insecure-avoidant (individualistic) or insecure-resistant attachment (collectivistic)

Question 15

Evaluation of cultural variations in attachment

Answer 15

strengths
Large samples
weaknesses
Sample tend to be unrepresentative of culture
Method of assessment is biased
Generalisation
can also use strange situation evaluation

Question 16

Large samples

Answer 16

• a strength of combining the results of attachment studies carried out in different countries is that you can end up with a very large sample
  E.g. in the Van Ijzendoorn meta-analysis there was a total of 2000 babies and their primary attachment figures.
• Even studies like those of Simonella et al. and Jin et al. had large comparison groups from previous research, although their own samples were smaller.
• This overall sample size is a strength because large samples increase internal validity by reducing the impact of anomalous results caused by bad methodology or very unusual participants.
• can make firm conclusions about attachment types and the consequences of them

Question 17

Samples tend to be unrepresentative of culture

Answer 17

• the meta-analysis by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg claimed to study cultural variation whereas in fact the comparisons were between countries and not cultures
• Within any country there are many different cultures each with different child-rearing practices
• One sample could over represent poor people or even rich people
• e.g. in Japan, children reared in an urban setting were more likely to show the same attachment patterns as was found in the Western studies whereas a more rural sample in Japan had an over-representation of insecure-resistant children
• This means that comparisons between countries may not be as relevant as comparisons between different cultures in one country

Question 18

Method of assessment is biased (1)

Answer 18

• cross cultural psychology includes the ideas of emic and etic
• Emic is related to the uniqueness of each culture whereas as Etic is related to cultural universality
• The Strange Situation was designed by an American researcher Ainsworth based on a British theory by Bowlby
• There is a question over whether Anglo-American (Western-based) theories and assessments can be applied to other cultures
• In other words it could be that using the Strange Situation in a non Western culture is an example of an imposed etic
• A good example of imposed etic may be the idea of separation anxiety and lack of pleasure on reunion indicate an insecure attachment in the Strange Situation
• In Germany this behaviour may be seen as independence than avoidance and hence not a sign of insecurity within that cultural context

Question 19

Generalisation

Answer 19

• Rothbaum et al. (2000) argued that attachment theory and research is not relevant to other cultures because it is so rooted in American culture.
• Looked in particular at the contrasts between American and Japanese culture. He considered 3 major differences:

1) The sensitivity hypothesis – Bowlby and Ainsworth promoted the view that a sensitive mother is one who encourages her child to eventually become independent. However in collectivist cultures like Japan, sensitivity is about promoting dependence rather than independence.

2) The continuity hypothesis – Bowlby and Ainsworth proposed that infants who are more securely attached go on to develop into more socially and emotionally competent children and adults. However in Western cultures ‘emotionally competent’ has a different meaning across cultures. For example in some cultures individuals are expected to discuss and show their emotions. In others cultures-including Japan- individuals are not expected to show and share their emotions.

3) The secure-base hypothesis – In the West, secure attachments are seen as providing an infant with a secure base from which to explore, thus promoting independence. Attachment relationships in Japan are dependence-oriented
Rothbaum suggested therefore that attachment theories cannot be generalised to all cultures.