Attachment in different cultures

I was really interested in reading about Bowlb'ys theory of attachment. I spent last semester learning about children in other countries. It was interesting that Chapter 7 covered some of the same thoughts. Bowlby suggests that the desire for attachment is universal. After learning about the other countries, I would disagree. I know in Japan, parents tend to not encourage independence. This in turn means that the child probably feels very attached to the mother or father. This becomes a big issue when the child has to attend school, and is throwing fits everyday. Children in China tend to go through the same struggles. I learned that children in the United States and in Scandinavia usually don't have such a severe attachment because they both encourage independence at a younger age. I agree with the book in that attachment goes on everywhere in the world, but it depends on how the caregiver promotes independence to the child. I also think that attachment comes from inside the child, one child may be more prone to want to be independent than another child does.

Mollie Lanigan