Cultural variation

• Van Ijzendoorn aimed to investigate cross cultural attachment types through a meta analysis of research that had studied attachments in other cultures
• They compared only the findings of studies that had used the strange situation in order to draw inferences about external validity of this as a measurement of attachment to other populations (population validity)
• A meta analysis was conducted that compared the findings of 32 studies from 8 countries (1990 children in total) that has used the strange situation to measure attachment and classify the attachment relationship between mother and child
• Research from eight different nations was compared including western (Great Britain, Germany, US) and non-Western (Japan, China, Israel)

  Van Ijzendoorn researched various data bases for studies on attachment
• USA findings-

  Secure- 65%

  Avoidant- 21%

  Resistant- 14%
• Germany- Findings

  Secure - 57%

  Avoidant- 35%

  Resistant - 8%
• Israel - Findings

  Secure- 64%

  Avoidant - 7%

  Resistant- 29%
• Japan - findings

  Secure- 68%

  Avoidant - 5%

  Resistant - 27%