Cultural variations

    avatar
    Created by
    Lucy

    Cards (8)

    • Cultural variations - The differences between western and non-western cultures and why their attachment styles may differ
    • Van Izendoorn's research
      > AIM - To investigate cross cultural variations in attachment
      > SAMPLE - 32 studies of the strange situation from 8 countries using around 2000 children
      > METHOD - Meta analysis of the strange situation
    • Most common attachment types
      > Secure - UK (75%), Sweden (74%)
      > Insecure avoidant - Germany (35%), Holland (26%)
      > Insecure resistant - Israel (29%), Japan (27%)
      Least common attachment types
      > Secure - China (50%), Germany (57%)
      > Insecure avoidant - Japan (5%), Israel (7%)
      > Insecure resistant - UK (3%), Sweden (4%)
    • Van Izendoorn FINDINGS
      > Most common attachment types in all countries was secure
      > Insecure resistant was the most dominant insecure type in non-western cultures
      > Insecure avoidant was most dominant in western cultures
      > One and a half times more variation within cultures then between cultures
    • Van Izendoorn CONCLUSION
      > There are cultural variations in attachment as insecure types were different
      > Must be similarities due to secure attachment being most common in all cultures
    • Cultural variations AO3
      :) High population validity
      > Meta-analysis of 32 strange situation studies
      > 2000 infants
      > Making it easier to generalise the findings to the target population, increasing the internal validity
    • Cultural variations AO3
      :( Culture bias
      > Over half (18 out of 32) of the research studies were carried out in the USA
      > Only 5 carried out in non-western cultures
      > Difficult to generalise the findings across all cultures when explaining different attachment types
    • Cultural variations AO3
      :( Imposed Etic
      > Based on american child-rearing practices and ignores other cultures
      > eg. the lack of separation anxiety indicates an insecure-avoidant attachment type, in germany this would be seen in a positive light as it shows independence
      > Therefore the strange situation may not be appropriate to measure attachment types across all cultures