Primary appraisal of the Strange Situation: A cross-cultural analysis of preseparation episodes.

Abstract

Studies in various countries-among them Germany, Holland, Israel, Japan, Sweden, and the United States-have reported Strange Situation distributions that differ markedly across and within cultures, thus raising doubts as to whether infant behavior in the Strange Situation can be regarded as a valid index of the security of attachment, at least in a cross-cultural context. It is proposed here that a fuller understanding of infant behavior in the Strange Situation requires an assessment of what Connell and Goldsmith (1982) have referred to as the infant's primary appraisal of this procedure. A crossnational comparison of data from seven laboratories ( N = 498) was carried out in order to determine (a) whether the preseparation episodes made any difference in attachment classifications and (b) whether infant behavior in different countries was indeed the same before separation from the mother. Furthermore, procedural variations have been taken into account. Using multivariate discriminant function techniques, information obtained during preseparation episodes was found to discriminate between attachment classifications. At the same time, however, in a series of multivariate analyses of variance, a relatively small number of cross-cultural differences in preseparation behavior were found. With the exception of the Israeli kibbutz and Swedish infants, our data suggest that infants in different countries make similar primary appraisals of the Strange Situation.

Mothers of Anxious/Ambivalent Infants: Maternal Characteristics and Child‐Care Context

“…For example, in a series of studies conducted by Sagi and his colleagues, it was demonstrated that the vast majority of insecure infants in Israel are ambivalent (Sagi et al, 1985(Sagi et al, , 1994. This poses a question about whether the meaning of ambivalent attachment in Israel is similar to ambivalence in other cultures (Sagi, van IJzendoorn, & Koren-Karie, 1991). The findings of the present study support the contention that cultural context may be a relevant (moderating) factor of the child's attachment.…”

Sleeping Out of Home in a Kibbutz Communal Arrangement: It Makes a Difference for Infant-Mother Attachment

“…This possibility seems to be unlikely in ligbt of previous data (Sagi et al, 1985) showing that Strange Situation classifications were unaffected by timing of assessment. Finally, recent meta-analyses demonstrate that, after years of debate regarding the validity of the Strange Situation in a cross-cultural context, use of the procedure in various cultural contexts can be considered cross-culturally valid (Sagi, 1990;Sagi, van IJzendoorn, & Koren-Karie, 1991;van IJzendoorn, 1990;van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988).…”

Measuring Infant‐Mother Attachment: Is the Strange Situation Enough?

“…But the SS may not be psychologically equivalent for all infants, because infants differ in how familiar they are with the components of the SS procedure as a result of variation in daily caregiving routines, and this may affect how stressful they find it. Most commonly this issue has been raised in discussing the differences in attachment behavior and the distribution of attachment types observed in different cultures (Grossmann, Grossmann, Spangler, Suess, & Unzner, 1985;Lamb, Thompson, Garner, & Charnov, 1985, 1986Miyake, Chen, & Campos, 1985;Sagi, Lamb, Lewkowicz, Shoham, Dvir, & Estes, 1985;Sagi, van IJzendoorn, & Koren-Karie, 1991;van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988;Zach & Keller, 1999). In countries around the world, the rate of avoidant attachment (Type A) has been observed to range from 0% (in Japan) to 49% (in Germany); the rate of resistant attachment (Type C), to range from 4% (in Sweden and Holland) to 66% (in Israeli kibbutzim) (Sagi et al, 1991).…”

“…Most commonly this issue has been raised in discussing the differences in attachment behavior and the distribution of attachment types observed in different cultures (Grossmann, Grossmann, Spangler, Suess, & Unzner, 1985;Lamb, Thompson, Garner, & Charnov, 1985, 1986Miyake, Chen, & Campos, 1985;Sagi, Lamb, Lewkowicz, Shoham, Dvir, & Estes, 1985;Sagi, van IJzendoorn, & Koren-Karie, 1991;van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988;Zach & Keller, 1999). In countries around the world, the rate of avoidant attachment (Type A) has been observed to range from 0% (in Japan) to 49% (in Germany); the rate of resistant attachment (Type C), to range from 4% (in Sweden and Holland) to 66% (in Israeli kibbutzim) (Sagi et al, 1991). In general, the distribution of attachment types is tilted toward greater avoidance in Western Europe and greater resistance in Eastern nations (Sagi, van IJzendoorn, Scharf, Joels, Koren-Karie, Mayseless, & Aviezer, 1997;van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988).…”

“…Second, there is evidence that experience with strangers affects the child's behavior in the SS. In a meta-analysis of SS data from laboratory playrooms around the world, Sagi et al (1991) found that infants' behavior in the reunion episodes was related to their behavior in the preseparation episodes, and that the only differences between groups in different countries occurred in Israel, where infants in kibbutzim, who seldom encounter strangers in the normal course of events, were more strongly affected by the SS than other infants. Specifically, these children were more anxious about the presence of a stranger in the SS.…”