LS9 - Cross Cultural Variations In Attachment Flashcards
Cross Cultural Meta-Analysis
Van And Kroonberg conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies into attachment to see if it occurs in the same way across all cultures.
Cross Cultural Findings
Secure attachment was the most common across all countries.
Second most common was insecure-avoidant except in Israel and Japan where resistant was most common.
Lowest secure percentage = China
Highest Secure Percentage = GB.
Cross Cultural Study Summary
Variations within cultures were 1.5 times greater than the variation between cultures.
What Do The Similiarties Suggest
That caregiver and infant interaction have universal characteristics making it partially instinctive.
What Do The Differences Suggest?
That differences in child rearing practices and social class play an important role in attachment styles.
What Do The Differences Suggest?
That differences in child rearing practices and social class play an important role in attachment styles.
Strengths
High Validity
Weaknesses
Culturally Biased
Closed Community
Didn’t Compare Cultures
Only Mothers
High Validity (+)
The study is a meta-anaylsis which increases the validity because it has a very large sample.
Culturally Biased (-)
The strange situation was developed in the US and may not be valid in other countries.
Closed Community (-)
The Israeli infants lived in a closed community and didn’t contact strangers suggesting why there classed as resistant.
Didn’t Compare Cultures (-)
The study didn’t compare cultures for countries because e.g. Jpana and USA have many different sub-cultures.
Only Mothers (-)
The meta-analysis only studied attachments with mothers and children. Infants may have been insecurely attached to their mothers but securely attached to their fathers.
