cultural variations

• When was van Ijzendoorn study?

  1998
• what did Van IJzendoom research

  he conducted a study to look at the proportions of secure/insecure-avoidant/insecure-resistant attachments types across a range of countries and within
• why type of analysis was Van IJzendoom's study

  meta analysis of the strange situation
• what was the method of Van IJzendoom's

  used 32 previous studies

  - across 8 countries, with 1990 children used

  - where the strange situation had been used to investigate attachment types

  
  

  results were meta-analysed
• what were the countries used in Van IJzendoom study

  UK

  USA

  Germany

  China

  Israel

  Japan

  Netherlands

  Sweden
• what were the findings of Van IJzendoom study

  - average findings were consistent with Ainsworth's original research

  - individualistic countries had high levels of insecure avoidant

  - collectivist countries had high levels of insecure resistant

  - results of studies within the same country were 150% greater than those between different countries

  - secure attachment seems to be the norm

  - cultural practices have an influence on attachment type

  - this supports Bowlby's idea that attachment is innate + universal
• who conducted a study in Italy about cultural variations of attachment

  Simonelli et al (2014)
• what did Simonelli et al study

  conducted a study to see whether the proportions of babies of different attachment types still match those found in previous studies

  
  

  researched 76 12-moths olds using the strange situation
• what were the findings of Simonelli et al

  50% = secure attachment (lower than many previous studies)

  36% = insecure-avoidant (higher than many previous studies)
• what are the conclusions of Simonelli et all study

  an increased number of mothers work long hours + use professional childcare

  
  

  patterns of attachment styles are not static but vary in line with cultural change
• who conducted a study of cultural variations in attachment in Korea

  Jin et al (2012)
• what did Jin et al conduct a study about

  conducted a study to compare the proportions of attachment styles in Korea to other studies

  
  

  87 children assessed
• what are the findings of the Jin et al study in Korea

  overall proportions of insecure + secure babies were similar to those in most countries

  
  

  but most of those classified as insecurely attached were resistant and only one child was avoidant (similar to Japan)

  
  

  can be explained as Japan + Korea have similar child-rearing styles
• cross cultural research has aimed to?

  - find out if attachment varied between cultures

  - find out if Ainsworth's strange situation procedure is ethnocentric
• what is the strength of cultural variations

  indigenous research
• indigenous research


  - most studies were conducted by indigenous psychologists

  meaning they are from the same cultural background as pps

  
  

  - many problems in cross-cultural research is avoided

  researchers misunderstanding the language used by pps

  not being able to communicate instructions

  
  

  - when there are difficulties, bias can occur due to one nation stereotyping another

  
  

  - excellent chance that researchers + pps communicated successfully - enhancing validity
• what is a counterpoint to the strength of indigenous researchers

  - not true for all research

  - Morelli + Tronick (1991) were outsiders from the USA to the Efe of Zaire

  - their data might have been affected by difficulties in gathering data from pps outside their own culture

  - so data from some countries might not have been affected by bias + difficulty in cross-cultural contamination
• what are the two weaknesses of cultural variation research into attachment

  - confounding variables

  - imposed Etic
• why is confounding variables

  - studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in meta-analysis

  
  

  - sample characteristics (poverty/age/social class) can confound results

  
  

  - environmental characteristics can also confound

  
  

  - this means that looking at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us anything about cross-cultural patterns of attachment