Cultural Variations in Attachment: Van Ijzendoorn

What study did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg conduct?

A study to look at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of countries to assess cultural variation. They also looked at the differences within the same countries to get an idea of variations within a culture.

What was the procedure of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study?

• A meta-analysis of 32 studies was conducted (studies of attachment where the strange situation and been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types)

• The study looked at nearly 2000 children who had been assessed via the Strange Situation from eight different countries: UK, USA, Sweden, Japan, China, Holland, Germany and Israel

What were the findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study?

There was a variation between the proportions of attachment types in different studies, their meta-analysis found:

• In all countries secure attachment was the most common classification; but proportion varied from 75% in Britain to 50% in China

• In Individualist cultures the rate of insecure-resistant attachment were similar to Ainsworth’s original sample (all under 14%)

• But in collectivist samples from China, Japan and Israel rates were above 25% (and rates of insecure-avoidant attachment were considerably lower in Japan and Israel than in other samples)

• Avoidant attachment was more common in Germany but rare in Israel and Japan

• Variation within the same cultures was 1.5 times (150%) greater than the variation between cultures: for example, in the USA, a study found only 46% were securely attached compared to another sample which was as high as 90%

What did the Italian Strange Situation Study find?

Simonelli et al (2014) conducted a study in Italy and found 50% were secure with 36% insecure-avoidant.

• This is a lower rate of secure attachment and found in the older studies

• The researchers suggest this is because there is an increasing number of children in households where both parents work long hours and use professional childcare

These findings suggest that patterns of attachment types aren’t static but vary in line with cultural change.

What did the Korean Strange Situation Study find?

Jin et al (2012) conducted a study comparing proportions of attachment types in Korea to other studies.

• 87 babies were assessed

• The overall proportions of insecure and secure babies were similar to those in most countries, with the majority of babies being secure

• However, more of those classified as insecurely attached were resistant and only one baby was avoidant.

• This distribution is similar to the distribution of attachment types found in Japan (Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg), since Japan and Korea have quite similar child-rearing styles

What is the conclusion of the cultural variations of the strange situation study?

Secure attachment seems to be the norm in a wide range of cultures, supporting Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and universal and this type is the universal norm.

• However, the research also clearly shows that cultural practices have an influence on attachment type

What is a strength of the cultural variations research on the strange situation?

Most of the studies were conducted by local researchers (from the same cultural background as the participants)

• For example, Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg included research by a German team and Takahashi who is Japanese

• Any misunderstandings of the language or language barriers can be avoided

This means there is an excellent chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully - enhancing the validity of the data collected.

What is a limitation of the cultural variations research on the strange situation?

The impact of extraneous variables on findings.

• Sample characteristics such as poverty, social class, age and urban/rural make-up can act as extraneous variables

• Environmental variables such as the availability of interesting toys can have an affect - babies may explore more in studies conducted in small rooms with attractive toys, compared to large and bare rooms

• Less visible proximity-seeking because of room size might make a child more likely to be classified as avoidant

This means that looking at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us anything about cross-cultural patterns of attachment.

How is it a limitation that cross-cultural research into attachment often uses procedures developed in another cultural context and simply just applies them to others?

It leads to cultural bias.

• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg used strange situation in their meta-analysis, a study originally developed by Ainsworth in the USA

• This procedure reflects Western values, such as independence and individualism, meaning it may be ethnocentric when applied to other cultures

• Behaviours such as lack of proximity-seeking on reunion are interpreted as avoidant attachment in the USA and Britain but in Germany this behaviour may be encouraged and seen as independence rather than insecurity

This suggests that the strange situation may not accurately measure attachment across all cultures, making it lack validity since some behaviours have different meanings it different cultures (so can’t be generalised).