Cultural variations in attachment

Cultural variations in attachment

1. A01

   • Tronik et al -
     • children lived in extended family groups,
       • were breastfed by different women,
         • but slept with mothers in the zaire in africa.
           • Children still have a primary attachment figure at 6 months
   • Meta Analysis
     • Van ijzendoorn and kroonenberg
       • from 32 studies of attachment types
         • across 8 countries
           • found intercultural differences
             • most common in ALL countries =
               • Secure attachment
                 • highest in GB
                 • attachment is innate
             • individualistic countries =
               • insecure avoidant
                 • E.G GERMANY
           • INTRA cultural differences
             • 1.5 TIMES GREATER than variation between cultures
         • from the strange situation
       • Nation vs Culture - there is more variation within cultures than between cultures.
         • this may be because some experiments involved only middle class and some only involved working class.
   • Takahashi
     • Studied 60 middle class Japanese infants
       • 32% = RESISTANT
         • particularly stressed when being left alone
           • 90% was stopped at this time
             • rarely separated from mothers
               • made them more stressed than Americans
                 • o they APPEARED to be avoidant RESISTANCE
       • same levels of secure
   • Grossmann and Grossmann-
     • german children are more insecure than secure
       • b/c of their culture which promotes interpersonal distance

2. A02

   • Rothbaum (culture bias) -
     • attachment theory is so rooted into american culture eg sensitivity hypothesis, continuity hypothesis and secure base
       • are based on western ideals.
         • japanese culture is based on dependence rather than independence.
           • they aren't insecure ambivalent but instead they show characteristics of a typical amae relationship.
   • CULTURAL SIMILARITIES
     • as a result of mass media
       • books and tv
         • spread ideas about parenting - exposed to familiar influences
           • cultural similarities = NO innate = influenced
   • Imposed etic- techniques for strange situation were developed in america and imposed in other countries all over the world. Japanese children APPEAR to be insecure by american standards but they are in fact secure by their standards