This study was conducted in the USA so the classifications of attachment types were based on American children. The problem with this is that psychologists have referred to the ‘infant’ and the ‘caregiver’ as a universal culture giving little regard to differences that may occur in forming attachments in different societies. On account of this problem Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg 1988 conducted 32 studies of 2000 infants which surveyed the results of the strange situation in eight different countries. Although they found that all eight countries posses mainly secure attachments, there were clear differences between the countries and the reasons why different attachments are formed. The countries included Germany, Japan, USA, Great Britain, Netherlands, Sweden, Israel and China.
Studies conducted in Germany
Grossman et al 1985 studied German infants and their mothers using the strange situation. He found that 49% of the infants had formed an insecure – avoidant attachment with only 33% of the children being securely attached.
The avoidant nature of the children was said to be due to the fact that independence was highly valued by German parents. They believe that self reliance should be encouraged as much as possible before their child’s first birthday. German parents also consider the secure attachment behaviour to be too ‘clingy’ and discourage it. As a result of this, a high proportion of attachments were classified as insecure – avoidant.
Studies conducted in Japan
Studies of Japanese children and their caregivers using the strange situation show high levels of insecure – resistant attachments of 25 % with only 5.2% of infants with insecure- avoidant attachments. This was found by Takahashi 1986.
Research discovered that childrearing ‘norms’ in Japan require that children are never left alone and are very rarely left in the care of anyone else. Due to this, when a child is left alone they become very distressed and unhappy so when the caregiver returns they will approach the caregiver but with great caution out of fear that if they get too close to their caregiver they will be abandoned again, thus creating a high proportion of insecure attachments.
Studies conducted in Israel
Sagi et al 1985 found Israeli infants showed a similarly high proportion of insecure – resistant attachments as in Japan. One study classified only 37% of infants having a secure attachment with their caregiver and 63% having insecure attachments.
This is said to be because Israeli children have little contact with strangers so when they are left in the care of a stranger like in the strange situation, it can prove to be rather distressing for the infant as they have no experience of being without their mother and therefore have not been taught or learned how to cope in this type of situation.
Studies conducted in China
The first study of attachment in China using the strange situation method was in 1996 and was conducted by Hu and Meng. From their research, the distribution of attachment classifications were similar to international comparisons with 68% of infants having secure attachments and 32% with insecure attachments.
Chinese culture values interdependence over independence and Chinese parents emphasize emotional harmony and control over relationships. Due to the fact that Chinese families encourage their children to not only rely on their parents for their needs but also to be self reliant, a high proportion of securely attached infants in China will occur.
In conclusion to this, cross cultural studies tend to find that secure attachments seem to be the ‘norm’ in any country. However there are clear differences between cultures in the popularity of insecure attachments. There are several reasons depending on the culture as to why different attachments are formed but it all falls down to child rearing. Parenting behaviours and expectations play an important role in child rearing and determine the attachment the child will adopt. For example in the USA the majority of children have secure attachments because the mothers are sensitive to their child’s needs. Whereas in China there is a high rate of secure attachments because parents in China value interdependence. However in Japan there is a high level of insecure – resistant attachments because the children are never left alone and it is only in very rare situations that the child will be left in the care of someone other than there mother. There is also a high level of insecure – avoidant attachments formed in Israel. However this is not due to the same reasons as in Japan. It is due to the fact that Israeli children have little contact with strangers and it is only family members that take care of the child. Finally in Germany there is a high proportion of insecure – avoidant attachments being formed. This is due to the fact that parents value independence and believe that the behaviour of children with secure attachments to be too ‘clingy’ and will discourage their child from this type of behaviour.
In general terms culture affects the parenting styles used in child rearing which in turn affects the type of attachment developed by a child.
