Cultural Variations

• Van Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg analysed data from 32 different studies (meta-analysis) of the SS and found that

  • secure was most common
  • proportion of secure varied from 50% in China to 75% in GB
  • Insecure-avoidant was most common in Germany and least common in Japan
  • Individualist cultures' rates of insecure-resistant were similar to Ainsworth's original sample but wasn't true for collectivist cultures e.g China
  • Variations within a country were more than variations between countries
• Takahashi suggested that the high percentage of anxious-resistant attachments in Japan is due to the excessive stress Japanese infants might experience during the SS, as infant-mother separation isn't the norm.

  These findings suggest Ainsworth's SS may be an inappropriate measure for all children, particularly if they're raised in circumstances that are very different from the american model
• Evaluation of Cross-Cultural Differences

  + Large sample - the meta-analysis consisted of 2,000 babies + their carers, this increases the internal validity by reducing the number of anomalous results

  X Unrepresentative of culture - they were actually studying differences between countries not cultures as within a country, there could be many cultures.

  X Biased method of assessment - designed by an American researcher based on British theory.