cultural variations

• 1. Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg conducted a meta-analysis of the findings from 32 studies. They examined over 2000 strange situation classifications in 8 different countries. They were interested to see if there were intra cultural differences or inter culture differences. They found that between countries, the differences were small. Secure attachment was the most common type in every country and then insecure avoidant (except Israel and Japan who were classed as collectivist at the time).
• 2. Within cultures, they found that this was 1.5x greater than the variation between cultures. The conclusion therefore seems to be that the patterns across the globe do seem to match with the ones from the US. Secure attachment is the ‘norm’ and seems to be the healthiest and best for social development. Grossman and Grossman studied German infants and found that here, there were much higher levels of insecure resistant due to differences in childrearing practices. Germans keep interpersonal distance between themselves and infants and therefore don’t seek proximity.
• Bowlby’s theory of attachment suggests that the cultural similarity is due to the innate mechanisms.

  Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg created a meta-analysis of 32 studies and concluded that some cultural similarities may be due to effects of mass media. This spreads ideas and ways of parenting and so, as a result, children all over the world are exposed to similar influences.

  This suggests that it isn’t due to innate biological factors, as explained by Bowlby, but may be due to the increasing global culture.
• 3. Takahashi studied Japanese infants who showed not insecure avoidance but very high levels of insecure resistant. Their response to being left alone was so distressed that 90% of the studies stopped here. This concludes that there are differences in culture and childcaring practices across the globe.

   
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  An issue with the strange situation is that it may not be appropriate for other countries.

  For example, Japanese children may be securely attached to their caregiver, but is classed as insecurely attached due to the strange situation being designed in America, to suit their version of what’s a secure attachment. This is an issue of an imposed etic as Japanese children don’t suit the strange situation due to the different culture practises.

  This means that the strange situation lacks validity in other cultures/countries.
• An issue with studies into cultural differences is that they compared countries rather than cultures.

  For example, when comparing Japan with the US within these countries are many subcultures which may all have different childcare practices they use. This can be seen in the conclusion as they found a greater variation within countries rather than between countries which may be due to the different subcultures measured within that country.

  This suggests that caution needs to be taken when stating culture differences were assessed, when it was actually just countries compared.
• It is argued that the theory involved is an issue as it is also rooted in American culture.

  Bowlby and Ainsworth proposed that infants who are more securely attached go on to be independent and socially more competent children and adults. However, this competence is defined in terms of individuation (being able to explore). However, for example in Japan, competence is represented by not showing emotions and be group-orientated rather than self-orientated.

  Therefore, the theory of this also isn’t valid in other countries/cultures due to different theories to the US.