cultural variations in attachment

Van Ijzendoorn - located 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used over 8 countries. Conducted a meta - analysis of the data. Found are large variation in attachment types in different countries.

• Secure attachment ranged from 75% in the UK to 50% in China
• Insecure-resistant ranged from 30% in Israel to 3% in the UK
• Insecure-avoidant ranged from the highest in Germany and the lowest in Japan
• Variations between studies in the same country were 150% greater than between countries.

Simmonella - assessed 76 1 year olds using the strange situation in Italy.

• 50% were secure
• 36% were insecure-avoidant
• Lower number of secure attachments than is typical - it’s suggested that this could be because an increasing number of Italian women are working from the time their children are of young ages.
• The study suggests that social change influences the proportion of attachment styles in a country.

Jin - Strange situation was used on 87 children in Korea

• Overall proportions of secure and insecure children were normal
• However, only one child was avoidant
• Much higher than typical rate of insecure resistant children
• Similar to rates in Japan found by Van Ijzendoorn

Secure attachment seems to be the norm in most cultures, supporting Bowlby’s notion that attachment is innate and universal . However, this research shows that attachment is influenced by culture and upbringing (environmental influences).

Evaluation -

+Large samples - Studies use large samples and are across several cultures allowing for high rates of generalisability

-Samples aren’t necessarily representative of culture - Samples may be over representing children from rural or urban areas or different social classes etc.

-Strange situation lacks validity - may not be measuring attachment but instead temperament/disposition