Cross-Cultural Patterns of Attachment: A Meta-Analysis of the Strange Situation

TLDR

Cross‑cultural attachment research using Ainsworth’s Strange Situation has traditionally relied on incomplete data and focused on individual samples rather than aggregated analyses. This study expands the perspective by examining almost 2,000 Strange Situation classifications from eight countries. The authors aggregated country‑level data and employed correspondence analysis to compare classification distributions across samples. The results showed substantial intracultural variation, with some countries’ samples resembling others more than their own, a pattern of A classifications being more common in Western Europe and C classifications in Israel and Japan, and intracultural differences nearly 1.5 times larger than cross‑cultural differences.

Abstract

VAN IJZENDOORN, MARINUs H., and KROONENBERG, PIETER M. Cross-cultural Patterns of Attachment: A Meta-Analysis of the Strange Situation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1988, 59, 147-156. Crosscultural research using Ainsworth's Strange Situation tends to rely on incomplete information and to concentrate on individual rather than aggregated samples. In this study, a wider perspective is taken by examining almost 2,000 Strange Situation classifications obtained in 8 different countries. Differences and similarities between distributions in classifications of samples are investigated using correspondence analysis. Aggregation of samples per country and continent allowed for a firmer empirical basis for cross-cultural analysis. Substantial intracultural differences were established; in a number of instances, samples from 1 country resembled those in other countries more than they did each other. The data also suggest a pattern of cross-cultural differences, in which A classifications emerge as relatively more prevalent in Western European countries and C classifications as relatively more frequent in Israel and Japan. Intracultural variation was nearly 1.5 times the crosscultural variation.