Cultural Variations

• Cross-cultural variations

  Van Ijendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

  Aim: To investigate cross cultural differences in attachment.

  Method: Conducted a meta analysis of 32 studies from 8 countries.

  Results: Secure is the most common across all cultures / Japan and Israel showed highest levels of resistant / Germany showed higher levels of avoidant / 1.5times greater differences within cultures (intra) rather than between (inter).

  Conclusion: Secure is the norm and differences are due to cultural attitudes. Attachment behaviours mean different things in different cultures.
• Evaluation of cross cultural research

  The highly controlled method means that it would have been easy for the different researchers to replicate the technique. There is a possibility the various teams carried out the technique slightly differently within each study, meaning all the methods are inconsistent. The SS was designed in America based on a British theory and then it was applied to other cultures - imposed etic. The meta analysis used a large sample (2000 babies) - high validity. However, the analysis focused on individualistic cultures meaning it is not reflective of other cultures.