cross cultural variation

• who conducted a meta study of the strange situation

  van ijzemdoorn and kroonenberg
• aims of the cross cultural variation meta study

  van ijzemdoorn and kroonenberg wanted to see if the significant differences in attachment in diff countries were true

  
  

  wanted to see if there was a diff between collectivist cultures/ individualist cultures
• procedure of the cross cultural variation meta study

  they took data from 32 different studies that used the strange situation

  - contained data from 8 diff countries with almost 2000 mother-infant pairs
• what countries did the cross cultural variation meta study include

  china

  sweden

  UK

  japan

  isreal

  germany

  netherlands

  USA
• findings of the cross cultural variation meta study

  in the usa, they found a % very similar to ainsworth study: 65, 21, 14

  
  

  secure, avoidant, reisistant

  
  

  Uk: 75,22,3

  West germany: 57,35,8

  isreal: 64, 7, 29

  japan: 68, 5, 27

  
  

  they also found that variation within cultures was 1.5x greater than variation between cultures
• conclusions of the cross cultural variation meta study

  secure is the most common worldwide

  
  

  Intra-cultural variation was nearly 1.5 times greater than the cross-cultural variations. Van Ijzendoorn speculated that this was linked to differences in socio-economic factors

  
  

  Japan & Israel revealed a higher incidence of resistant than avoidant children
• strengths of the cross cultural variation meta study

  supported by grossman and grossman and takahashis findings

  - this suggests consistancy in cultural differences which indicates the findings are reliable

  
  

  overall, the meta analysis includes a large sample which means it can be considered broadly representitive as the results are unlikely to be affected by anomalous results
• weaknesses of the cross cultural meta study

  study was not globally representative

  Africa, South America, and Eastern European socialist countries were not represented

  - 18 out of the 32 studies were american - makes the results misleading

  
  

  ethnocentric behavioural categories

  - the original categories used worldwide were originally based on ainsworths observation of middle-class american infants

  - so when researchers carry this study out on non americans, their data is being compared to american standards eg: being independant is highly valued in germany but is negatively viewed as 'avoidant' in usa

  
  

  lack of standardised procedures throughout the diff studies

  - possible that the way of categorising was diff in diff studies eg, subjective nature of defining distress levels

  - the studies did not all conduct exactly the same procedures eg takahashi who removed the child alone stage from 90% of the studies which alters the findings and makes it unable to be compared

  
  

  number of participants in the studies

  - some studies had a very small sample size which brings reliability into question
• extra studies showing cultural attachment differences

  takahashi - japan

  grossman and grossman - germany
• the takahashi study

  60 middle class japenese infants: 68% secure, 32% resistand and 0% avoidant

  
  

  same as the strange situation but there was such extreme distress on separation that meant that 90% of the 'child alone' stage was removed completely

  
  

  if this had not happened, more children may have been classed as securely attatched which AGAIN suggests that the japense have more insecure resistant but secure remains the most common
• the grossman and grossman study


  conducted the strage situ in germany and found

  - a significant proportion were classified as insecure: the most being insecure aviodant which supports the findings of the meta analysis that there are cross cultural variations
• explanations of the contrast between grossman and grossman and takahashi studies

  germany is an individualist country

  - child rearing seems to require distance between parent and child to gain independence which is the ideal

  - independancy is valued, parents want children who can 'stand on their own two feet'

  
  

  japan is a collectivist country

  - child rearing appears to place a large value on developing close family relationships

  - eg japenese mothers almost never leave their child with a stranger and are rarely separated
• japenese infant attachment characteristics

  low willingness to explore

  
  

  intense separation anxiety

  
  

  high stranger anxiety

  
  

  mixed reunion behaviour
• germany infant attachment characteristics

  high willingness to explore

  
  

  low separation anxiety

  
  

  low stranger anxiety

  
  

  little reunion behaviour
• conclusion of the meta study