Cultural variations in attachment

• Culture


  The shared beliefs of members of society and includes expected ways of behaving (norms) and beliefs about what is good or bad
• Cultural variations


  Refers to differences in norms and values that exist between people in different groups.
• Individualistic culture

  • A community that prioritises the individual over the collective group.
  • Individualistic cultures emphasise attributes like uniqueness, or individuality; personal goals, independence and privacy.
• Collectivist culture

  • Emphasise the needs and goals of the group as a whole over the needs and desires of individuals.
• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg aim

  • Conducted a study to look at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of cultures.
• How did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg conduct their study?

  • Located 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used to investigate the proportions of babies with different attachment types.
  • Conducted in 8 countries
  • Data was meta-analysed
• Findings from Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study?

  • In all cultures, secure attachment was the most common. 75% in Britain, 50% in china
  • Insecure-avoidant second most common in Western culture.
  • Insecure-resistant the second most common in non-western cultures
• Conclusions made from Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study?

  • Findings suggest that secure attachment is the most common attachment types, but there are some variations in attachment type
• APFC of Simonelli study

  • Study in Italian to see whether the proportions of babies in different attachment types matched those found in previous studies.
  • Assessed 76, 12-month old babies using strange situation
  • 50% secure, 36% insecure-avoidant
  • Lower rate of secure and high rate of insecure-avoidant
  • Reason: Increasing number of mothers working long hours and using professional childcare.
  • Suggests that a change in society and change in cultural norms can lead to changes in attachment types
• APFC of Jin et al study

  • Study to compare proportions of attachment types in Korea compared to other studies
  • Strange situation used to assess 87 children
  • Most infants securely attached. However, more of those classified insecurely were resistant and only 1 avoidant
  • Supports Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study
  • Suggests that most infants are securely attached however there are small differences due to child-rearing styles.
• Indigenous researchers

  • Indigenous psychologists are those from the same cultural background as the participants. for example Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg included research by a German and Japanese team.
  • This kind of research means that many problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided, such as researchers misunderstanding of language used by participants and difficulty communicating instructions.
  • Means through the use of indigenous researchers the validity of the data can be enhanced.
• Imposed Etic

  • Imposed etic occurs when we assume an idea of technique that works in one cultural context will work in another. An example of this in attachment researcher is in the use of babies’ response to reunion with the caregiver in SS.
  • In Britain and the US, lack of affection on reunion may indicate avoidant attachment. But in Germany such as behaviour would be more likely interpreted as independent rather than insecure.
  • Infants are not being measured by the standards of their own cultural and so may be incorrectly categorised.
• Alternative explanation

  • Bowlby, universal similarities in how attachments form is because of an innate drive for survival.
  • however Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg introduced an alternative explanation and that is some similarity in attachment types can be attributed to the effect of mass media.
  • Shows that mass media spreads ideas about ideal parenting techniques across the globe and so children all over the world are potentially being exposed to similar influences.
  • Similarity may be down to our global culture rather than down to innate biological influences.
• Confounding variables

  • Studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when compared in reviews or meta-analyses
  • Sample characteristics such as poverty, social age or age of participants could confound results. Environmental variables might also differ between studies e.g the size of the room. babies might show more exploration behaviours in small rooms and interesting toys.
  • This means looking at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us anything about cross-cultural patterns in attachment