Consider what psychological research has shown us about cross-cultural variations in attachment

His findings were revealing 68% of the infants were classified as securely attached; this is almost identical to the original American sample. No infants were classified as avoidant-insecure; however, 32% were classified as resistant-insecure. When this was studied in closer detail, differences emerged. Japanese infants grew so distressed after being left alone that the ‘infant alone’ step was stopped for more than 90% of the participants as it was un-ethical to proceed. If the infants weren’t as distressed, many more (possibly more than 80%) would have been classified as securely attached. This causes not just one cross-cultural variation.

The findings suggest that there were actually two cross cultural variations. The first being the way in which the infants responded to separation and being left alone. This maybe due to the fact that Japanese infants experience much less separation, they generally sleep with their parents until over 2 years of age, are carried around on their mothers’ backs and bathe with their parents. As a result, Japanese children are rarely left alone. This means that for Japanese children, the Strange Situation was more than mildly stressful, they were suffering extreme stress – this was not the original aim of the Strange Situation. Secondly, Japanese infants shoed a total lack of avoidant behaviour in this sample; this is another cultural factor. Japanese children are taught that such behaviour is impolite and are actively discouraged from displaying it. This means that the strange Situation does not have the same meaning for Japanese children as it does for American participants and is therefore, not a valid assessment of that culture, Takahashi proved this.

The Strange Situation measurement assumes that separation anxiety indicates secure attachment. However, Takahashi demonstrates that the reason infants become anxious in the Strange Situation may not be due to the secure or insecure attachment. Behaviour seen as normal in the USA may be seen differently in other societies.

A further criticism of the strange Situation is that it assumes the behaviour of all children in all cultures means the same thing. However, a study by Grossman et al (1995) showed why this is a false assumption. Grossman et al studied German infants and mothers using the Strange Situation. They classified 49% of attachments as insecure- avoidant and only 35 as secure. Insecure-avoidant relationships are characterised by the infant paying little attention to the caregiver and showing little concern when she leaves. The caregiver tends to ignore the infant in this study, so, German mothers were studied in their homes and found no evidence they were insensitive, unresponsive or indifferent to their children but their parents valued independence in their children. They wanted their children to be self-reliant, for them to ‘stand on their own to feet’ and not make demands of their children. Some of the behaviour shown in the Strange Situation which is supposed to indicate secure attachment was seen by German parents as evidence e of ‘clingy’ and ‘spoilt’ behaviour. As a result of the norms and values directed at childrearing in Germany, a high proportion of attachments were classified as insecure-avoidant.

Finally, cross-cultural studies have found a relationship between secure attachment and later adjustment. For example, in a study of Israeli infants, Sagi (1990) found that securely attached infants were later rated as having better social skills. This supports that secure attachment is important in all cultures for healthy psychological development. Thus it follows that it is unlikely that any thriving culture would have such high proportions of insecurely attached children.

In view of this and the evidence cited above it would appear that the Strange Situation may be a culturally specific way of assessing security of attachment and it is this which is responsible for cultural variations in the proportion of children in each attachment category.