Describe and evaluate cultural variations in attachments.

Attachment is an affectional bond that one person or animal forms between itself and another specific individual, for example a child and its mother.
Attachment has been said to vary depending on different cultures.A test was conducted by Ainsworth & Bell (1970) on the attachment on children. 100 middle-class American infants and their mothers took part in the study. A method of controlled observation was developed. This involved observing infants with their mother during a set of predetermined activities, known as the strange situation. Firstly, the mother and child are introduced to the room. The mother and child are left alone and the child can investigate the toys. A stranger then enters the room and talks with the mother. The stranger gradually approaches the infant with a toy. The mother leaves the child alone with the stranger, and the stranger interacts with the child. The mother returns to greet and comfort the child. The child is left on its own, the stranger then returns and tries to engage with the child. Finally the mother returns, greets and picks up the child. The stranger then leaves inconspicuously.This test was conducted to observe children’s attachment with their mothers. The Findings showed that 66% of the children were securely attached. This was shown as the infants tended to explore the unfamiliar room; they were distressed when their mother left and were easily comforted when she returned. The infants displayed moderate avoidance of the stranger, although were friendly when the mother was present.22% of the infants were classed as avoidant-insecure. These infants did not orientate to their mother while investigating the toys and room; they did not seem concerned by her absence and showed little interest in her when she returned. These infants also avoided the stranger, however not as much their mother on return.The remaining 12% of the infants were classed as resistant-insecure, they showed intense distress especially when their mother was absent but rejected her when she returned. These infants showed uncertainty towards the stranger similar to the pattern of resistance and interest shown to the mother on her return.This specific study was only conducted on Middle-Class American infants therefore the results cannot be generalised globally.
Also it was done in 1970 only involving the mother carer, which is gender bias and again, cannot be generalised globally as with different cultures the primary caregiver may not be the Mother. A small sample size was also used therefore making it difficult to say the results are reliable. However, although the study was done over 20 years ago it is still used to measure children’s attachment with their caregivers. This shows that the test has stood the test of time and is very valid. It is also easily replicable and has been replicated in a variety of cultures.
The strange situation study was conducted by Takahasi (1990) in japan with Japanese children to show whether the strange situation is a valid procedure for other cultures rather than just American middle-class. The participants were 60 middle-class, Japanese infants (1 year old) and their mothers. All of the infants were raised at homes. Similar to the study on the American infants 68% of the infants were classified as securely attached. However there were no infants classified as avoidant-insecure. The other 32% of the group were classed as resistant-insecure. The findings suggest there are cross-cultural variations in the way infants respond to separation and being left alone. This may be due to the fact that Japanese infants experience much less separation compared to American infants. For example, Japanese infants usually sleep with their parents until over 2 years old and are carried on their mother’s backs and bathe with their parents. This resulted in the strange situation being more than mildly stressful meaning that the behaviours observed were studies of extreme stress which is not the original aim of the strange situation, this affecting whether the strange situation is cross culturally valid. The results of the study also find that none of the Japanese infants lack avoidant behaviour in this sample. Within Japanese culture children are taught that such behaviour is impolite and would be actively discouraged from displaying it.This study was conducted in 1990 making it more up-to date than the original Ainsworth and Bell study conducted in 1970 showing that the strange situation is a reliable study. Unfortunately the study only consisted of a sample size of 60 which means it is less reliable not only due to a small sample size but individual differences. As the sample is smaller individual differences will have a larger impact, compared to if it was a large sample and there was a bigger wider range of results individual differences won’t have as much as an affect compared to a small sample size. As stated as before Japanese culture differs in comparison with American culture therefore the strange situation will have a different result, children are rarely left on their own which means the study has a low ecological validity.(Van ljzendoorn & Kroonenberg compared the findings of studies using the strange situation conducted in different cultures. They were interested in patterns of attachment (secure, avoidant and resistant) both between and within cultures.They did a meta-analysis reviewing 32 world-wide studies involving eight countries and over 200 children. The countries from which the studies were conducted by other researchers were from West Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Sweden, Israel, Japan, china and the US. The study showed that the most common form of attachment was Securely attached with anxious avoidant being relatively more common in western European countries. The countries included in the study are both western and non-western however only 3 of the 32 were carried out in China and Japan. Also, the variation within cultures shows that there isn’t a single British or American form of child rearing making it difficult to compare different cultures. In the meta-analysis it shows that the strange situation affects children from different cultures in different ways. Japanese children are rarely separated from their mothers, resulting in the separation episodes in the strange situation being the most upsetting. Children raised in Israel within kibbutzim ( small, closed-knit groups) the arrival of the stranger that’s the most distressing. Knowing about child-rearing practices in different cultures will help to interpret findings validly.