cultural variations in attachment

• Aim of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's study(1988)


  To investigate attachment types across cultures.

  To investigate if attachment styles (secure, insecure resistant and insecure avoidant) are universal across cultures, or culturally specific.
• Procedure of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's study


  They conducted a meta-analysis of 2000 infants in 32 studies from 8 countries that used the strange situation.
• Why does Germany have a high amount of insecure-avoidant children?


  Parents value independence.

  Some of the behaviour in the strange situation which is supposed to indicate secure attachment is seen by German parents as 'clingy'.
• Why does Japan have a high amount of insecure-resistant children?


  It is rare to leave an infant alone and their mothers rarely leave them in the care of others.
• + Large Sample


  E - In the Van Ijzendoorn meta-analysis there was a total of nearly 2000 babies and their primary attachment figures.

  E - Any poorly conducted research or unusual results only have a small effect on the overall results.

  L - Therefore, this increases internal validity and overall increases our confidence in the validity of the overall findings.
• - Ethnocentric


  E - Comparing cultures using the same 'Strange Situation' attachment behaviour interpretations may be 'ethnocentric'. The Strange Situation was designed by Ainsworth (an American researcher) based on a British theory (Bowlby).

  E - It can be questioned whether Anglo-American theories and assessments can be applied to other cultures.

  L - Therefore, cross cultural comparisons using the 'strange situation' may lack validity.
• - Lacks ecological validity


  E - The 'playroom' environment in which the infant was interacting in was both strange and unfamiliar to the infant's everyday environment.

  E - This means that, because the research was conducted in a laboratory, the environment is artificial.

  L - Therefore, It is possible that the experiment was not measuring the infant's natural behaviour and as a result, the findings cannot be generalise past the study.
• Findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's study

  General patterns: Secure attachment was the most common type in all countries and insecure resistant was the least common type.

  Insecure avoidant was more common in individualistic Western cultures and resistant in collectivist non-western.

  Individual findings: Germany was the most insecure-avoidant (35%). Japan had the most insecure resistant (27%). The UK had the most secure (75%).
• Secure attachment was the most common type in all countries; this suggests there is a globally preferred attachment style which potentially has a biological basis.
• / May lack temporal validity


  E - Simonelli et al (2014) measured attachment in modern Italian infant-mother pairs - low percentage of secure and high percentage of avoidant.

  E - Suggests this change is a healthy coping mechanism due to the demands of modern life.

  L - Ainsworth's + Van Ijzendoorn's research may lack temporal validity due to the changing nature of family life in the modern world.