How can we say what behaviour is a sign of healthy attachment in a baby, and what is a sign of dysfunction? Will the relationship between a baby and the caregiver look different across cultures?
Takahashi (1986) has found that according to the Western classification of attachment styles, twice as many babies in Japan would be classified as having an insecure-resistant attachment compared to American infants. Does this mean Japanese babies are more likely to develop unhealthy attachments or was the classification culturally biased? This article will discuss cultural variations in attachment and challenges regarding how attachment is studied across cultures.
- First, we'll define cross-cultural variations in attachment and introduce the ways of assessing attachment styles in infants.
- Next, we'll outline what research has shown about cultural variations in attachment.
- Moving along, we'll describe the key study conducted by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg, which investigated variations in attachment across eight countries.
Then, we'll discuss the findings of research into cultural variations in attachment and the possible explanations for these.
Finally, we'll explore the cross-cultural variations in attachment evaluation points.
Fig. 1 - The way parents bond with and take care of children differs across cultures, which can lead to cultural variations in attachment.
Cultural Variations in Attachment Psychology
The investigation of cultural variations of attachments in psychology involves using research to investigate whether attachments and their styles are universal across cultures or whether differences exist.
What Are Cross-Cultural Variations in Attachment?
When Bowlby proposed his Monotropic Theory of Attachment, he argued that attachment is an innate mechanism and that babies are biologically pre-programmed to form secure bonds with caregivers.
This mechanism is considered adaptive, enabling infants to survive by prompting caregivers to respond to their needs. Bowlby also suggested that the attachment infants form to their primary caregiver acts as a prototype for future relationships. This concept is known as the internal working model.
This theory assumes that the tendency to form a secure attachment is universal.
However, critics of Bowlby's theory have pointed out that he failed to account for cultural variations in attachment styles. If different patterns of attachment styles are found cross-culturally, it would indicate that infants' attachment styles are not innate like Bowlby suggested but learned through exposure to cultural child-rearing styles.
Cultural variations in attachment refer to the differences in social norms relevant to child-rearing practices and attachment styles between different cultural groups.
To test the assumptions behind Bowlby's theory, we need to establish whether attachment styles are shared across cultures and what the potential cross-cultural variations are.
How is attachment assessed?
Mary Ainsworth (1978) developed a procedure that classified infants into one of the three attachment styles based on their behaviour with their caregiver and a stranger. The procedure is called the Strange Situation, and it has been developed based on research on White, middle-class mother-infant dyads from the US.
The infant's behaviour is assessed in several scenarios during the Strange Situation when their mother is present in the room, when the mother leaves them alone, when a stranger attempts to consolidate them and when reunited with their mother.
Based on the infant's behaviour, they are classified as having secure, insecure-avoidant or insecure-resistant attachment styles.
Outline what research has shown about Cultural Variations in Attachment
Early research conducted by Takahashi (1986) has raised concerns about the generalisability of the Strange Situation procedure and Ainsworth's classification. Among the insecurely attached Japanese infants, almost all children showed insecure-resistant attachment; however, their behaviour was inconsistent compared to the Western children.
The author explains that the procedure might cause mild distress in American children that have already experienced being left alone or with strangers. But, it causes a severe amount of distress in Japanese children.
Separation from mothers is not usual for Japanese infants, as they spend the first few years with their mothers. Japanese mothers tend to be less rejecting than American mothers and are hesitant to leave a child with anyone else for brief periods. This likely skewed the results of Takahashi's study.
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg Study
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) conducted a meta-analysis of studies around the world that used the Strange Situation procedure. In total, their analysis included 32 cross-cultural studies of attachment behaviour.
A meta-analysis is a statistical method where no new research is carried out; instead, findings and results from previous studies are analysed to draw conclusions.
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg aimed to investigate whether attachment styles were universal across cultures. They only included studies that used the Strange Situation procedure to compare the findings between studies reliably.
The researchers also wanted to assess the extent of intercultural (between cultures) and intracultural (within cultures) differences in attachment styles.
The meta-analysis was conducted using 32 studies from 8 countries that used the Strange Situation procedure. The method compared Western cultures to Eastern ones, such as Japan and China. For each country, an average percentage for the different attachment styles was calculated as part of this method.
Discuss Findings of Research into Cultural Variations in Attachment
Researchers found that most infants across cultures were securely attached (70%). China and Great Britain showed the lowest percentage of secure attachments.
Also, Western countries that value independence, such as the US and European countries, had high levels of insecure-avoidant infants.
Eastern countries with collectivist cultures that value close family relationships and cooperation had higher levels of insecure-resistant infants. An example of this type of country is Japan.
The exception to the pattern was China, which had an equal number of avoidant and resistant infants.
The findings of the meta-analysis are reflected in the table below.
Country | Number of studies | Number of mother-infant pairs | Percentage of Type A attachment type (insecure-avoidant) | Percentage of Type B attachment type (secure attachment) | Percentage of Type C attachment type (insecure-resistant) |
Britain | 1 | 72 | 22 | 75 | 3 |
China | 1 | 25 | 25 | 50 | 25 |
Germany | 3 | 136 | 35 | 57 | 8 |
Holland | 4 | 251 | 26 | 67 | 7 |
Israel | 2 | 118 | 7 | 64 | 29 |
Japan | 2 | 96 | 5 | 68 | 27 |
Sweden | 1 | 51 | 22 | 74 | 4 |
United States | 18 | 1230 | 21 | 65 | 14 |
The difference between Western and Eastern countries can also be attributed to cultural child-rearing practices, as highlighted by Takahashi (1986). Mother-infant separation is much more common in Western countries, where the mother is likely to return to work sooner after having the baby.
This can affect the stress level when the infant is separated in the Strange Situation procedure, affecting its attachment style classification.
Interestingly, the researchers reported that attachment variations within each culture were greater than those found between cultures. Intracultural variation is more likely in larger countries such as the US and China. There were differences in each culture across races and economic classes.
For example, infants of middle-class parents were found to have different attachment styles to infants of working-class parents.
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg: Conclusion
Overall, the secure attachment style was the most common attachment type cross-culturally. This supports the findings of Mary Ainsworth's initial study and Bowlby's theory of attachment. This also suggests universal characteristics among infants underlie mother-child attachment, and secure attachment is likely to develop with a secure caregiver.
However, as the meta-analysis found, there are also cross-cultural variations in attachment styles. This suggests that cultural differences in child-rearing practices can influence children's outcomes of the Strange Situation procedure.
Fig. 2 - Child-rearing practices can differ from culture to culture; the Strange Situation procedure assumed that separation from the mother is common for all children, disregarding possible cultural differences.
Cross Cultural Variations in Attachment Evaluation
Let's consider the following evaluation points of the Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg meta-analysis.
Strengths of the Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg Study
- The meta-analysis used a large and varying sample size, allowing for cross-cultural conclusions.
- Researchers could reliably compare the findings by choosing studies that employed the same procedure (Strange Situation).
- The study had minimum ethical issues as it utilised secondary data collection that required no direct participant contact.
- The study's objectivity is high as it was a collection of established data; there was no data interpretation or researcher bias.
Limitations of the Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg Study
- Using the Strange Situation and Ainsworth's classification of attachment styles is an example of an imposed etic. This classification reflects the Western understanding of the concept of attachment. By using the etic approach to cross-cultural research, the reasons for cross-cultural differences might be overlooked.
- Ethnocentrism: since the classification of attachment styles was developed in an American study; it may reflect American values and practices. As such, ethnocentrism may undermine the validity of the study.
Ethnocentrism is the belief or assumption that one culture's ideas, values, and practices are 'right', 'natural' or 'correct'. The etic approach to cross-cultural research involves looking at the culture from an outsider's perspective.
- The samples representing each country in the meta-analysis were small and taken from Western cultures. This poses an issue with generalisability, as significant variations in attachment styles can exist within each culture.
Cultural Variations in Attachment - Key takeaways
- When Bowlby proposed his Monotropic Theory of Attachment, he argued that it is an innate behaviour, that babies are biologically pre-programmed to form bonds with caregivers.
- Mary Ainsworth (1978) developed the Strange Situation procedure that classified infants into one of the three attachment styles based on their behaviour concerning their caregiver and a stranger.
- Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) conducted a meta-analysis of studies around the world that used the Strange Situation procedure.
- The findings of the meta-analysis suggested that although secure attachment was universally the most common attachment style, there were variations in attachment between and within cultures.
- The meta-analysis was strong because it included studies that used a replicable procedure. However, the meta-analysis could suffer from cultural bias and generalisability issues.
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