cultural variations

• cultural variations are the differences in norms and values that exist within any group of people
• most attachment research has been carried out in america

  • generalisations are made where findings are applied to all people - assumptions such as this limits explanations due to false assumptions towards different cultures and individuals
  • leads to imposed etic - making universal assumptions and inappropriately applying on culture to another
• individualist cultures are those who value rights and interests of individuals - concerns independence and self assertiveness - e.g. america, Britain + germany
• collectivist cultures are those where people value the neses of the group - concern for interdependence

  • everyone works together to contribute to good of the group
  • e.g. china/ india
• key study - van ijzendoorn

  • looks at proportions of secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant attachments across countries - USA, germany, japan, israel
  • looked at differences within same countries to get idea of variations in each culture
• procedure of van ijzendoorn's study into cultural variations of attachment

  • compared 32 studies of attachment were strange situation was used
  • 32 studies conducted in 8 countries (not equally distributed - usa had 18 studies - not able to successfully generalise)
  • produced results from 1990 children
  • data of studies was meta analysed (combined and weighted for sample size)
• findings of ijzendoorn study - BETWEEN countries

  • secure attachment - most common - varied between most countries - britian = 75%, china = 50%
  • insecure resistant - least common - isreal = 30%, britian = 3%
  • insecure avoidant - most common in germany and least common in japan
• findings of ijzendoorns study - WITHIN countries

  • variation between results of studies within same country was 150% greater than those between countries
  • variation between study results within each country was greater than differences between each country
  • usa - 46% securely attached in one study but another study had 90% securely attached
• highest resistant babies

  • outcomes can reflect differences in way infants perceive strange situation rather than real differences in attachment
  • japan (27% resistant) - japanese infants virtually never separated from mothers - means they are more distressed upon separation
  • israel (29% resistant) - children raised within certain communities - rarely meet strangers due to only knowing those within communities - results in high rates of resistant behaviour due to stranger anxiety
• highest avoidant babies

  • some cases of strange situation may reveal genuine cultural differences in ways children are attached to mothers
  • germacy (35% avoidant) - researchers concluded german parenting approaches contribute to high levels of insecure avoidant attachment - german cultures emphasis independence which may account for differences in proportion of insecure avoidant attachments between countries
• other studies into cultural variation of attachment

  • italy - simonella et al
  • korea - jin et al
• italy - simonella et al study

  • looked at proportions of babies with different attachment types to see if still matched those in previous studies
  • assessed 76 12 month olds using strange situation - 50% secure, 36% insecure avoidant
  • presented lower rate of secure attachment in comparison to other studies - suggests because result of increasing numbers of mothers of young children who are working longer hours - using childcare
  • findings suggest cultural changes can make dramatic differences in pattern of attachment types
• korea - jin et al study

  • compared proportion of attachment types in korea and other studies
  • strange situation used to assess 87 infants
  • overall proportion of secure and insecure babies were similar to those in most ocuntries with most being securely attached
  • most had insecure resistnat attachment and 1 had insecure avoidant attachment
  • similar to japan - have similar child rearing practices which can explain similarities in results
• conclusions for ijzendoorns study + other cultural studies

  • cultural practices have influence on attachment type
  • attachment appears to be norm in wise range of cultures - supports idea that attachment is innate and universal
• evaluation points for cultural variations of attachment

  • imposed etic
  • countries not cultures
  • reliable
  • minimal ethical issues
• imposed etic as eval point for cultural variations (-)

  • issues associated using strange situation as way to measure attachment types in other countries
  • strange situation designed and used in america -to apply theory designed for 1 culture disregards cultural uniqueness
  • example - individualist cultures 'willingness to explore' seen as secure attachment but collectivist cultures dependence on primary caregiver (not willingness to explore) seen as having secure attachment
  • result of imposed etic - validity of strange situation studies used doubted - cultures have negative impact result
• imposed etic is the term used to apply one theory developed in one culture and then use it to explain behaviour in another culture
• countries not cultures as eval point for cultural variations (-)

  • study looked at cultures within county then applied directly to country - not all cultures considered
  • ijzendoorn found in tokyo -distribution of attachment similar to individualist studies whereas sample of japan found over representation of insure resistant - shows strange situation findings of japan are inadequate due to not considering multiple cultures that could contribute to findings
  • limits applicability - more data collected for variation in attachments between countries as opposed to sub cultures within each country
• reliable being eval point for cultural variations (+)

  • researchers used studies which followed template of ainsworths strange situation - heightened reliability of van ijzendoorns study as they were able to effectively compare - knowing same procedures had been used
  • limiting change of there being potential variable which contributes to differing findings (e.g. not following 7 steps made by ainsworth)
• minimal ethical issues - eval point for cultural variations (-/+)

  • ijzendoorn used secondary data meaning he didnt personally collect data
  • no direct contact with participants which eliminates any potential ethical issues study may have obtained
  • through using secondary data it allowed quick analysis and presentation of findings - limits impact on economy
  • (-) however, using secondary sourced data - limits overall control researchers have on study
  • e.g. control of variables limited - could have triggered different findings as opposed to when variables are controlled - affects validity