Cross-Cultural Studies of Attachment Organization: Recent Studies, Changing Methodologies, and the Concept of Conditional Strategies

Abstract

Recent cross-cultural studies of individual differences in attachment organization are reviewed, and attention is drawn to new methods of assessment. In a speculative essay, the concept of the conditional behavioral strategy is examined. The concept suggests that individuals may be enabled through natural selection to reach the same biological ends in differing ways depending upon circumstances. A heuristic separation between primary and secondary behavioral strategies is proposed. While the attachment behavioral system is presumed continually active and context sensitive, circumstances may require manipulating the level of output usually called for by the system through secondary strategies that act to minimize or maximize that output in response to a caregiver stressing either exaggerated offspring independence or dependence. If propensities for exhibiting the primary strategy are retained under conditions that call for behaviorally substituting a secondary strategy, manipulations of cognitive processes may be involved in maintaining a given attachment organization.

The multiple caretaker paradox: Data from Holland and Israel

“…Furthermore, we would expect that infant-caregiver relationships can at least be considered classifiable according to the established coding system, because classifiability would mean that a restricted number of coherent strategies for dealing with the stressful Situation are being detected (Main, 1990). In case of unclassifiable infant-caregiver relationships, we should doubt the existence of an attachment in the usual sense.…”

Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers

“…In doing so, they are thought to be responding to the caregiver’s discomfort with close contact. In other words, these infants minimize their attention to attachment-related information that might otherwise lead them to approach the caregiver, as this retains the availability of the caregiver (Main, 1990). As long as the caregiver continues to provide reasonable protection and monitoring in the context of more emotional distance, this adjustment allows the infant to achieve an organized, workable attachment strategy.…”

“…Even in situations without significant alarming cues, these infants may engage in attachment behavior such as clinging to the caregiver at the expense of play, or mixing whiny or angry behavior with distress. In other words, they maximize their attention to attachment- related information (Main, 1990) to such an extent that it interferes with exploration. Again, to the extent that the caregiver does respond by giving attention, the child’s heightening of attachment behaviors can result in an organized workable attachment strategy.…”

Patrones y peculiaridades del apego romántico en adultos de 62 regiones culturales: ¿Son los Modelos de Sí Mismo y Otros constructos panculturales?

“…Aun cuando muchos investigadores del apego consideraron a los procesos del desarrollo del apego -que dan lugar a los modelos internos de trabajo de si mismo y otros -como universales (Main, 1990;van Ijzendoorn & Sagi, 1999), muchos de ellos argumentaron que los núcleos centrales de la teoría están muy sesgados por los estilos de pensamiento occidentales. Por ejemplo, Rothbaum y sus colegas recientemente cuestionaron si la base segura del apego promueve universalmente la adaptación a través de la exploración y la individuación (Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake & Morelli, 2000).…”