Attachment investigators provide evidence that security takes similar forms and has similar antecedents and consequences in diverse cultures. However, there is also evidence that security differs across culture, and the nature of the similarities and differences are not well understood. A total of 39 mothers from the United States and 32 mothers from Japan were interviewed to assess beliefs about attachment and amae (expectations of indulgence and interdependence). Cultural similarities involved the manifestation of security and insecurity, the role of maternal responsiveness, and the link between security and desirable child characteristics. Cultural differences also emerged: There is more exploration associated with security and more anger and aggression associated with insecurity in the United States, and U.S. mothers link security with a much greater range of positive attributes than do Japanese mothers, who more often link security with accommodative behaviors. In mildly stressful situations, Japanese mothers more often attribute the child's inappropriate behavior to needs for security and interdependence and less often attribute these behaviors to egotism and self-maximization.
Ainsworth, M.D.S., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
2.
Allen, J.P., Hauser, S.T., & Borman-Spurrell, E. (1996). Attachment theory as a framework for understanding sequelae of severe adolescent psychopathology: An 11-year follow-up study. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 64, 254-263.
3.
Azuma, H. (1996). Cross-national research on child development: The Hess-Azuma collaboration in retrospect. In D. Shwalb andB. Shwalb (Eds.), Japanese childrearing: Two generations of scholarship (pp. 220-240). New York: Guilford.
4.
Behrens, K.Y. (2004). A multifaceted view of the concept of amae: Reconsidering the indigenous Japanese concept of relatedness. Human Development , 47, 1-27.
5.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Loss: Sadness and depression [Vol. 3 of Attachment and Loss]. London: Hogarth Press .
6.
Bretherton, I., & Munholland, K. (1999). Internal working models in attachment relationships: A construct revisited. In J. Cassidy and P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 89-114). New York: Guilford.
7.
Carlson, V.J., & Harwood, R.L. (2003). Attachment, culture, and the caregiving system: The cultural patterning of everyday experiences among Anglo and Puerto Rican mother—infant pairs. Infant Mental Health Journal, 24, 53-73.
8.
Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P. R. (Eds). (1999). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. New York: Guilford.
9.
Clancy, P.M. (1986). The acquisition of communicative style in Japanese . In B. B. Schieffelin & E. Ochs (Eds.), Language socialization across cultures (pp.213-250). New York: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Dennis, T.A., Cole, P.M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Mizuta, I. (2002). Self in context: Autonomy and relatedness in Japanese and U.S. mother—preschooler dyads. Child Development , 73, 1803-1817.
11.
Doi, T. ( 1981). The anatomy of dependence. Tokyo: Kobundo.
12.
Doi, T. ( 1992). On the concept of amae. Infant Mental Health, 13, 7-13.
13.
Gjerde, P.F. (2001). Attachment, culture, and amae. American Psychologist, 56, 826-827.
14.
Greenfield, P.M., Keller, H., Fuligni, A., & Maynard, A. (2003). Cultural pathways through universal development. Annual Review ofPsychology, 54, 461-490.
15.
Grossmann, K.E., Grossmann, K., & Keppler, A. (2005). Universal and culturally specific aspects of human behavior: The case of attachment. In W. Friedlmeier , P. Chakkarath, & B. Schwarz (Eds.), Culture and human development: The importance of cross-cultural research on the social sciences. Lisse, the Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.
16.
Harwood, R.L., Miller, J.G., & Irizarry, L.N. (1995). Culture and attachment: Perceptions of the child in context. New York: Guilford.
17.
Heine, S.J. (2001). Self as a product of culture: An examination of East Asian and North American selves. Journal of Personality , 69, 881-906.
18.
Kitayama, S., & Markus, H. (1999). Yin and yang of the Japanese self: The cultural psychology of personality. In D. Cervone & Y. Shoda (Eds.), The coherence of personality: Social-cognitive bases of consistency, variability, and organization . New York: Guilford.
19.
LeVine, R.A., & Miller, P.M. (1990). Strange situations in other cultures: An anthropological view of infant—mother attachment. Human Development , 33, 73-80.
20.
LeVine, R.A., & Norman, K. (2001). The infant's acquisition of culture: Early attachment reexamined in anthropological perspective. In C. C. Moore & J. F. Matthews (Eds.), The psychology of cultural experiences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Lyons-Ruth, K., Alpern, L., & Repacholi, B. (1993). Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom. Child Development, 64, 572-575.
22.
Mizuta, I., Zahn-Waxler, C., Cole, P., & Hiruma, N. (1996). A cross-cultural study of preschooler's attachment: Security and sensitivity in Japanese and U.S. dyadsInternational Journal of Behavioral Development, 19, 141-159.
23.
Morris, M.W., & Peng, K. (1994). Culture and cause: American and Chinese attributions for social and physical events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 949—971.
24.
Posada, G., Jacobs, A., Richmond, M.K., Carbonell, O., Alzate, G., Bustamante, M., et al. (2002). Maternal caregiving and infant security in two cultures. Developmental Psychology, 38, 67-78.
25.
Renken, B., Egeland, B., Marvinney, D., Mangelsdorf, S., & Sroufe, L.A. (1989). Early childhood antecedents of aggression and passive-withdrawal in early elementary school. Journal of Personality, 58, 257-281.
26.
Rosenstein, D.S., & Horowitz, H.A. (1996). Adolescent attachment and psychopathology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 64, 244-253.
27.
Rothbaum, F., & Kakinuma, M. (2004). Amae and attachment: Security in cultural context . Human Development, 47, 34-39.
28.
Rothbaum, F., & Morelli, G. (2005). Attachment and culture: Bridging relativism and universalism. In W. Friedlmeier, P. Chakkarath, & B. Schwarz (Eds.), Culture and human development: The importance of cross-cultural research to the social sciences. Lisse, the Neatherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.
29.
Rothbaum, F., Nagaoka, R., & Ponte, I. (2006). Caregiver sensitivity in cultural context: Japanese and U.S. teachers' beliefs about anticipating and responding to children's needs. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 21, 23-39.
30.
Rothbaum, F., Pott, M.L., Azuma, H., Miyake, K., & Weisz, J. (2000). The development of close relationships in Japan and the U.S.: Paths of symbiotic harmony and generative tension. Child Development, 71, 1121-1142.
31.
Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J., Pott, M., Miyake, K., & Morelli, G. (2000). Attachment and culture: Security in the United States and Japan. American Psychologist, 55 (10), 1093-1104.
32.
Shweder, R., Goodnow, J., Hatano, G., LeVine, R., Markus, H., & Miller, P. (2006). The cultural psychology of development: One mind, many mentalities. In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology, 6th Ed., Vol. 1 (pp. 865-937). New York: John Wiley.
33.
Suomi, S.J. (1999). Attachment in rhesus monkeys. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp.181-197). New York: Guilford .
34.
Tobin, J.J. (2000). Using “The Japanese problem” as a corrective to the ethnocentricity of Western theory. Child Development, 71, 1155-1158.
35.
Tobin, J.J., Davidson, D.H., & Wu, D.Y.H. (1989). Preschool in three cultures: Japan, China, and the United States. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
True, M.M., Pisani, L., & Oumar, F. (2001). Infant—mother attachment among the Dogon of Mali. Child Development, 72, 1451-1466.
38.
van IJzendoorn, M.H., & Sagi, A. (1999). Cross-cultural patterns of attachment. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 713-734). New York: Guilford.
39.
Vereijken, C.M., Riksen-Walraven, J.M., & Van Lieshout, C.F. (1997). Mother—infant relationships in. Japan: Attachment, dependency, and amae. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 28, 442-462.
40.
Weisz, J.R., Chaiyasit, W., Weiss, B., & Eastman, K.L. (1995). A multimethod study of problem behavior among Thai and American children in school: Teacher reports versus direct observations . Child Development, 66, 402-415.
41.
Yamaguchi, S. (2004). Further clarifications of the concept of amae in relation to dependence and attachment. Human Development , 47, 28-33.
