Cross-Cultural Research Into Attachment (Edexcel A-Level Psychology): Revision Notes
Cross-Cultural Research Into Attachment
Introduction to cross-cultural research
Ainsworth's original research into attachment using the Strange Situation Procedure was limited to families in Baltimore, USA. However, the Strange Situation Procedure has since become an internationally recognised method for classifying parent-child attachment types. This allows researchers to examine whether attachment patterns are consistent across different cultures or whether they vary based on cultural practices.
Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) conducted a meta-analysis examining cross-cultural patterns of attachment. They analysed data from multiple studies and found that attachment patterns varied considerably across cultures. This finding raises an important question: are attachment types universal (supporting a nature explanation), or are they culturally specific phenomena shaped by different childrearing practices (supporting a nurture explanation)?
According to Ainsworth's research, parent-child attachment types are primarily determined by maternal sensitivity - the degree to which caregivers respond appropriately and promptly to a child's needs. Since childrearing practices vary substantially across cultures, reflecting different traditions and beliefs about childhood, it becomes essential to investigate whether attachment types differ as a result. Understanding these differences helps determine whether attachment is a universal phenomenon or one that is culturally specific.
Attachment types in Germany
Research Study: The Bielefeld Study (Grossman et al., 1976-77)
Researchers: Klaus and Karin Grossman and colleagues conducted a longitudinal study of attachment in northern Germany.
Participants: 49 families were recruited at hospital before the birth of their child. The sample comprised 26 boys and 23 girls from typical German native families with traditional divisions of labour (mother as primary caregiver, father as provider).
Procedure: Researchers made extensive records from observations of parent-child interactions within the family home. When the children reached two years old, they were assessed using the Strange Situation Procedure.
Findings: The study found that 24 out of the 49 infants (49%) showed Type A insecure-avoidant attachment behaviour during the Strange Situation. This proportion was substantially higher than that typically found in American samples. The findings were consistent with Ainsworth's maternal sensitivity hypothesis, as parental sensitivity was correlated with child-parent attachment types.
Cultural explanation: The attachment types found were disproportionate to those found in America, possibly due to childrearing practices in Germany. German children are taught to be more independent from an early age and become accustomed to being left with other adults. This cultural practice may have been interpreted as avoidant behaviour by the Strange Situation Procedure.
Researchers recognised this interpretation and later established a further longitudinal study. Regensburg (1980) used measures that were adapted to account for parent-child interactions being interpreted by traditional German methods as avoidant. The researchers concluded that the avoidant attachment types found were not necessarily a result of insensitive parenting, but rather a conscious cultural belief in the independence of children.
Within-Culture vs Between-Culture Differences
The sample size used by the German study was not applicable to all German families. Other research conducted in Germany suggests that there are as many within-culture differences as between-culture differences. For instance, the difference in attachment profiles found between Berlin and Bielefeld in Germany were as different as those found between Berlin and an Israeli kibbutz. This could be a product of subcultural differences within a culture, highlighting the diversity that exists even within a single country.
Attachment types in Japan
Research Study: Japanese Attachment Patterns (Miyake et al., 1985 & Takahashi, 1986)
Researchers: Miyake et al. (1985) and Takahashi (1986) studied attachment types of children in Sapporo, Japan.
Findings: They found an absence of Type A insecure-avoidant attachment types but a greater distribution of Type C insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachment types (over 30%) compared to the USA.
Cultural explanation: Miyake interpreted this finding as a product of childrearing practices and the temperaments of Japanese children. Japanese children are rarely separated from the mother and attachment is characterised by close and continuous physical contact. They were also found to have fearful and irritable temperaments, making them more distressed at separation.
In the Strange Situation, this distress was interpreted as resistant attachment behaviour. Specifically, Japanese children show signs of distress at episode two in the Strange Situation Procedure, which is confounded by subsequent episodes of separation and stranger activity around the child. As such, they become inconsolable, a pattern misunderstood as resistant behaviour.
Validity Concerns with the Strange Situation
This research suggests that the Strange Situation is not a valid tool to measure attachment for Japanese children. Rather than being an indication of maladaptive parenting, the behaviour represents an unusual response to the procedure itself.
This interpretation is further supported by evidence that modern Japanese families often work and leave their children regularly. In these modern families, attachment distribution behaviour more similar to the USA is found, suggesting that when separation is more common, children respond differently to the Strange Situation.
Attachment types in Israel
Research Study: Kibbutz Attachment Patterns (Sagi et al., 1985 & 1991)
Researchers: Sagi et al. (1985) studied attachment types of children and their parents in a communal living environment such as an Israeli kibbutz.
Participants and context: Children are often separated from their parents during the day in kibbutz arrangements. Instead, they are looked after in a nursery environment headed by a community member known as a metapelet. Children sleep in dormitories and are cared for collectively, with childrearing being shared.
Findings (1985): Within these communes, Sagi et al. found the highest level of Type C insecure-resistant attachment (33%). They suggested that resistant behaviour was more likely because the mother was regularly absent and caregivers rotated shifts, so continuous and immediate attention could not be given by caregivers.
Follow-up research (1991): Sagi et al. (1991) later compared kibbutz children who were raised in communal sleeping arrangements with those who slept with their biological family. They found that attachment patterns were consistent with attachment proportions found in the USA when children experienced modern kibbutz sleeping arrangements (living with biological families rather than communally).
Interpretation: This finding suggests that when continuous care is available through biological parents, attachment patterns differ from those in traditional kibbutz arrangements. The communal care structure, with rotating caregivers and dormitory sleeping, appears to influence attachment patterns in ways that differ from family-based care.
Explaining attachment types across cultures (nature-nurture)
Ainsworth's research into attachment types and maternal sensitivity suggests a strong association between sensitive, responsive parenting and Type B secure attachments. If cross-cultural research is taken at face value, one could assume that Japanese, German and Israeli children are insecurely attached due to a lack of maternal sensitive responsiveness.
However, cross-cultural research into attachment types suggests that the beliefs and values concerning childcare practices within a culture or subculture affect the way a child responds within a strange situation. This challenges a purely nature-based explanation of attachment.
The problem of imposed etic
Imposed Etic: A Critical Limitation
The Strange Situation Procedure was created in America and therefore reflects the values and beliefs concerning childrearing practices of that culture. As such, it may not be a useful measure of attachment across other cultures. It may simply be the case that this procedure is not appropriate to use as it is not sensitive to cultural values. This leads to a misunderstanding that different cultures produce insecure-attachment types, which is an imposed etic (the single viewpoint of a researcher being applied across different cultures without considering cultural relativism).
This imposed etic may lead us to assume that Japanese, German and Israeli parents are insensitive to the needs of their children relative to USA parenting, because they have been judged by the ethnocentric standards set by one culture being imposed on another. The reality is that these childrearing practices and attachment patterns are normal within their particular culture.
Universal aspects of attachment
Despite cultural differences in attachment type distributions, attachment as a behaviour exists across many cultures and to an extent is determined by maternal sensitivity. This seems to support Bowlby's position that attachment is an innate process driven by evolutionary adaptedness.
However, the type of attachment formed is largely dependent on different childrearing practices in different cultures. This affects how children respond to separation and to strangers, as it is a product of nurture. Cultural practices shape children's expectations and responses in these situations, meaning that the Strange Situation Procedure may measure cultural adaptation rather than attachment security in some cases.
Key Points to Remember:
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The Strange Situation Procedure, developed in America, became an international tool but may reflect culturally specific values, creating an imposed etic when applied to other cultures.
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Germany (Grossman et al.) showed higher Type A insecure-avoidant attachment (49%), possibly due to German childrearing practices that encourage early independence rather than genuine insensitivity.
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Japan (Miyake et al., Takahashi) showed absence of Type A but higher Type C insecure-resistant attachment (>30%), likely because Japanese children experience continuous contact with mothers and found the Strange Situation unusually distressing.
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Israel (Sagi et al.) found highest Type C attachment (33%) in kibbutz children with communal sleeping arrangements, but modern kibbutz arrangements with family sleeping showed USA-similar patterns.
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Attachment exists across cultures (supporting Bowlby's evolutionary view), but the type of attachment formed depends on cultural childrearing practices (supporting the role of nurture), highlighting the nature-nurture interaction in attachment development.