Cultural variations

• Individualistic culture

  • western cultures
  • Value independence and individuality
• Collectivist culture

  • e.g. Japan and China
  • Value interdependence - dependant on each other
  • Importance of the group
  • Extent to which things are shared - groups live together, share tasks, childrearing and belongings
• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) meta-analysis

  • examined 32 studies in 8 countries where the strange situation had been used
  • Had data from around 2000 children
  • Results combined from the studies but were weighted for sample size
• Findings :

  • In all countries - secure attachment was the most common classification
  • However - it varied (75% in Britain, 50% in China).
  • Insecure-Resistant was the least common
  • Avoidant attachment was more common in West Germany but rare in Israel and Japan.
  • Variation within cultures was 1.5x greater than the variation between cultures
  • E.g. in USA one study found 46% securely attached, another found 90%
• Conclusion:

  • The global pattern across cultures appears to be similar to what was found in the US.
  • Supports the idea that secure attachment is best for healthy (social and emotional) development.
  • Cross cultural similarities support the view that attachment is an innate and biological process.
• Cross Cultural similarities :

  • Tronick et al
  • Africa
  • Studied an African tribe
  • Infants looked after and breastfed by different women but slept with their own mother
  • Infants still showed one primary attachment
• Cross cultural differences - Grossman

  • Grossmann and Grossmann (1991)
  • Germany
  • German infants classified as insecurely attached.
  • German culture involves keeping interpersonal distance.
  • Infants do not engage in proximity seeking behaviour in Strange Situation – therefore labelled insecurely attached.
  • This is because they are encouraged to act independently
• Cross cultural differences - Takshashi

  • Japan
  • Found similar rates of secure attachment in Japanese infants to US infants
  • Japanese infants showed no evidence of insecure-avoidant attachment
  • High rates of insecure-resistant attachment
  • Infants distressed being left alone (for 90% of infants the study had to be stopped).
  • Explained by different childcare practice – in japan infants rarely experience separation from their mother
  • Therefore appear insecurely attached in the Strange Situation.
• Conclusions

  • Studies suggest despite the fact that there are cultural variations in infant care, attachments are still formed with the infants mother.
  • Research shows that there are differences in the patterns of attachment
  • These can be related to differences in cultural attitudes and child rearing.
• Strength - use of indigenous researchers

  • indigenous researchers are from the same cultural background as the ppts
  • This helps communication between researchers and participants and helps prevent misunderstandings e.g. of instructions
  • Removes language barriers
  • This means that there is a good chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully
  • This increasing the validity of the study
• Counter point of indigenous researchers AO3:

  • The use of these researchers isn’t true for all of the research
  • E.g. Americans Morelli and Tronick investigated the Efe in Zaire
  • This means that some cross cultural research may have communication errors hence lacks validity
• Weakness - confounding variables

  • Studies conducted in different countries may not be matched for sample characteristics
  • e.g. may use children of different ages and social classes
  • Environmental variables - may differ
  • e.g. using smaller rooms which might encourage babies to explore more
  • This means that studies assessing attachment types carried out in different countries may tell us little about cultural differences in attachment
• Weakness - imposed etic

  • Using a test (the Strange Situation) in a different cultural context from the one it was designed for (America) may be meaningless
  • Strange Situation was designed in the USA where lack of affection at reunion represents insecure attachment.
  • However- in Germany it would be seen as a sign of independence, which is desired.
  • This means that sit may be meaningless to compare attachment behaviours across countries
  • This is known as imposed etic