ATTACHMENT 3

ATTACHMENT 3

1. Cultural Variations

   • Van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg - mata-anlysis of 32 studies using SS from 8 countries
     • Findings - secure attachment was the norm in all 8 countries, greater variation within countries than between them
   • Cultural similarities - Efe infants (Tronick)
     • Infants in tribe looked after and breastfed by different women but usually slept with their own mother at night
   • Cultural differences - more insecure attachment in German sample (Grossmann)
   • Cultural differences - no avoidant attachment in Japan sample - Takahashi
   • Similarities may be due to global culture
     • Within countries there are cultural differences, e.g. rural vs urban Japanese
   • Cross-culture research - uses tools developed in one country in a different setting where it has a different meaning (imposed etic)
     • Cultural bias - Rothbaum argues that attachment theory generally has a Western Bias
     • Indigenous theories - may be the solution, though Posada & Jacobs suggest that there are universal attachment behaviours

2. Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation

   • Value of maternal care - children need a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with a mother or mother-substitute
   • Critical period - frequent/prolonged separations from mother will have negative effects if they occur before the age of 2.5 (critical) or up to age 5 (sensitive) if there is no mother substitute
   • Long-term consequences - include emotional maladjustment or mental disorder such as depression
     • 44 Juvenile Thieves - 88 children from clinic, half had been caught stealing and other half were control group
       • Findings: 86% of affection less psychopath thieves had frequent separations before 2 compared with 17% of other thieves and just 2% of control group
       • Bowlby suggested some of these thieves were affections psychopaths
   • Deprivation - loss of emotional care Privation - attachment never formed in first place
   • Emotional rather than physical separation is harmful (Radke-Yarrow) - when mother is depressed & unable to provide care
     • Support for long-term effects (Bifulco) - vulnerability, 25% women who had experienced separation before age of 6 as infant later experienced anxiety disorder or depression
       • Individual differences - some children more resilient
         • Deprivation vs Privation

3. Romanian Oprhan Studies: Effects of Institutionalisation

   • Rutter - 165 Romanian orphans, physical, cognitive and social development tested at regular intervals
     • Findings: at age 11 those children adopted before 6 months showed good recovery, older adoptions associated with disinhibited attachment
     • Canadian study (Le Mare and Audet) - Romanian orphans physically smaller at adoption but recovered by age 10.5
       • Zeanah - institutionalised Romanian orphans compared to entroll group more likely to display disinhibited attachment
   • Effects - physical underdevelopment (deprivation dwarfism Gardner), intellectual under functioning (Skodak & Skeels), disinhibited attachment, poor parenting (Quinton)
   • Individual differences - some children appear to recover despite no apparent attachments wonton sensitive period
     • Longitudinal studies - show that some changes take a while to become apparent, current studies show some recovery possible
     • Institutionalisation may just slow development as recovery is possible in time
   • Real-life application - adoption should be as early as possible and then infants securely attach (Singer)

4. The Influence of Early Attachment

   • Internal working model - model of self and attachment partner based on their joint attachment history which generates expectations
   • Hazen & Shaver - Love Quiz in newspaper analysed 620 respondents
     • Findings: positive relationship between attachment type (childhood and current) and love experiences/attitudes
   • Behaviours influenced by IWM - childhood friendships (Minnesota child-parent study) poor parenting (Quinton) romantic relationships (Hazen & Shaver and mental health (attachment disorder)
   • Correlational research - IWM may not cause later relationship experiences, temperament may be intervening variable
     • Retrospective classification - childhood attachment type based on memory of childhood which may be inaccurate
     • Overly determinist - past attachment experiences do not always determine the course of future relationships
       • Low correlational - meta analysis of studies suggest correlations between early attachments and later relationships may be as low as .10