Cultural variations

• VAN IJZENDOORN and KROONENBERG:

  Aim: to investigate the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of countries to see whether there was cultural variations in attachment types.

  Procedure:

  • Meta analysis Of 32 strange situations in 8 countries.
  • 1990 babies.
  • Secure attachment was most common in all cultures studied.
  • Lowest percentage of secure attachment = China And highest = Britain.
  • Avoidant attachment more common in Germany, less common in Japan and Israel.
  • Resistant attachment more common in Israel less in Britain.
• SIMONELLA ET AL:

  • Study in Italy.
  • 76 12-month old assessed using the strange situation.
  • 50% were secure, 36% were insecure-avoidant.

  Lower rate of secure attachment suggested because of the increasing numbers of mothers of very young children work long hours and use professional childcare. This suggests that cultural differences make a dramatic difference.
• Korean study by JIN ET AL:

  • compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea to other studies.
  • 87 children.
  • Insecure and secure babies were similar, most babies were secure so were similar to other countries.
  • Only one child was resistant.
• STRENGTHS:

  • A large sample means that generalisability is greater and increases internal validity by reducing anomalous results caused by bad methodology or very unusual participants.
• LIMITATIONS:

  • Comparisons between countries may have little meaning: the particular cultural characteristics and caregiving styles of the sample need to be specified.
  • Culturally bias - Ainsworth’s Strange Situation studied behaviour in America to the rest of the world and practices vary.
  • Cultural similarities may not be due to nature, but interaction of nature and nurture.
  • Lacks internal validity - attachments due to nurture and a consequence of how the mother behaved towards the child