Full text of DOI:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2002.41316.x

COMMENTARY
Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Implications for
Attachment Theory and Family Therapy
PATRICIA MINUCHIN, Ph.D.†
Cross-cultural perspectives have always
been useful for understanding behavior.
They clarify the distinction between as-
pects that are essentially part of the hu-
man condition and those that are the most
responsive to variation. The interesting
article by Rothbaum and his colleagues is
in that tradition, contrasting the cultural
values and family patterns in Japanese
society with those of Western cultures, in-
cluding our own, and suggesting that
these differences shape the nature and
course of attachment. It stimulates ques-
tions about what we have taken for
granted in our theories and in our evalu-
ations of dysfunctional behavior.
To create a cross-cultural image rele-
vant to these points, I start with a per-
sonal observation in a Japanese pre-
school. I was watching a class of 4-year-
olds in Tokyo on the day their teacher
introduced them to finger paints. They
were seated 8 to a table, and each table
was fitted out with a large piece of paper
and 3 jars of paint in primary colors. After
the teacher demonstrated how to dip their
hands and spread the paint, the children
went to work with enjoyment, smearing
in and around each others’ efforts and pro-
ducing one large painting at each table. A
sharp contrast to the process in our schools,
where the child’s individual product is la-
beled with his or her name and carefully
Fam Proc 41:546–550, 2002 carried home, to be admired by the family
and taped to the refrigerator door.
Adults in Japanese society, it would ap-
UILDING on this cross-cultural per-
spective, I will explore the useful-
ness of extending the investigation of at-
pear, are slower to move children toward
individual accomplishment and apprecia-
tion than adults in Western cultures, and
B
tachment in two directions: first in terms more apt to encourage mutual effort dur-
ing early childhood. It seems useful to
extend our consideration of cultural and
subcultural differences in the pace and
timing of developmental transitions, and
in the spread and depth of attachments in
early childhood.
of a developmental framework that high-
lights the transition from attachment to
greater autonomy; then, through consid-
eration of multiple attachments in early
childhood, which may be as typical and
functional, in some situations, as the
mother-child bond.
Transitions: From Attachment
Toward Increasing Autonomy
† Send correspondence to Patricia Minuchin,
Ph.D., 308 Commonwealth Avenue, Apt. K, Boston
MA 02115; e-mail: spminuchin@aol.com
Elsewhere in this issue, Edwards has
discussed the flow of development from
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MINUCHIN
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attachment to autonomy and interdepen- balance between attachment and greater
dence, noting that it is the task of parents autonomy, and what range of patterns
to guide the child through the process. and timing appears compatible with
While there might be general agreement healthy adjustment? What happens when
concerning this idea, the literature on at- the subculture of a family values a pat-
tachment has seldom focused on the tran- tern of childrearing that is different from
sitional period or raised questions about the broad culture within which they live?
the pace and timing encouraged by What of two parents who regard the tran-
adults.
sition differently? (“She babies him!” . . .
It is a basic point, in attachment theory, “He wants a two-year-old macho!”)? There
that secure attachment allows the child to is a rich literature concerning the moth-
explore. The implication, however, is that er’s personality and history, in relation to
a securely attached child will move ahead the child’s attachment, but considerably
on his or her own. There’s little investiga- less investigation of the interaction
tion of the ways in which adults shape the among family adults in the handling of
process: whether, when, and how they developmental transitions.
balance close contact and contingent care-
For family therapists, the implications
taking with the provision of space and of a cross-cultural perspective are some-
intriguing objects to explore, the encour- what different. There’s considerable em-
agement of locomotion, and the enthusi- phasis on sensitivity to ethnic diversity in
astic appreciation of independent efforts. the field, and therapists are urged to lis-
The article by Rothbaum and his col- ten to and respect a family’s values. While
leagues suggests that the encouragement that would alert a therapist to the cul-
for children to move out on their own is tural differences highlighted by Roth-
seen differently in various cultures, and baum and his colleagues, there are other
that family patterns in relation to this matters to be noted in helping a family
transition are structured and paced dif- through a transitional period. Family
ferently.
members may vary in their expectations
The point is important not only in rela- of what is appropriate, or the patterns
tion to the broadly different cultures of that seem natural and correct to members
East and West but also in terms of the of the family may not fit those of the dom-
subcultures within our own society. Fam- inant culture.
ilies with a North European heritage are
We are an immigrant society, and cou-
likely to differ from Latino families in ples are not always homogeneous in
their expectations of when the child terms of the subcultures they grew up in.
should become more independent, and in They may well bring different assump-
the patterns they develop for holding the tions about child rearing into the mar-
child close and encouraging autonomy. riage—a fact that becomes evident only
Young children who are equally secure, in when the children arrive and begin to
these different families, may vary in the grow. As an example, consider a couple
pace and timing of their development to- formed by an American male of Yankee
ward new stages, and all may function stock and a Japanese woman who mi-
within the parameters of adequate grated to the United States. They may have
growth.
developed a comfortable pattern of care-
By and large, developmental psycholo- taking and protection when their first-
gists have not raised questions that would born is very young, but they are apt to run
illuminate the process of transition. What into conflict when the child becomes a bit
is the role of family adults in guiding the older. The father may believe it is time to
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encourage more autonomy—to let the child’s subsequent development. When
child fail when he reaches for something, this conviction is passionately held, it is
for example, even if he cries, while the seen as the exclusive cornerstone of the
mother, bewildered by that point of view, child’s security. Even when other rela-
feels blocked in what seems like a natural tionships are seen as important, research
wish to protect the child. If the family and theoretical interest continue to focus
comes to therapy, it’s useful to under- on the quality of this particular attach-
stand that such conflicts may have cul- ment. Does a cross-cultural perspective
tural roots, that transitional issues bring suggest that it would be useful to examine
such differences to the fore, that extended the reality and implications of multiple
families are apt to take sides in keeping attachments in early childhood?
with their childrearing customs, and that
Nobody questions the strong biological
the usual therapeutic techniques for help- bond between a mother and her newborn
ing families resolve such conflicts can be infant, or the continuing importance of
helpful if sensitively employed.
their physical and psychological contact.
When the family is homogeneous, in Yet it seems fair to consider the question
terms of its subculture, transitional is- of whether children also make other
sues concerning attachment may not strong attachments almost from birth; to
arise until the family comes into contact explore the circumstances under which
with the expectations of the broader cul- that might occur, and—without prior as-
ture. The obvious example is the child’s sumptions—to evaluate the connection
entrance into school. A child raised in a between multiple attachments and healthy
Japanese family, for instance, may find development.
the behavioral expectations in an Ameri-
The cross-cultural perspective is useful,
can school confusing, and the family may for such questions. The article by Roth-
find it difficult to help. A therapist called baum and his colleagues describes a rela-
into such a situation needs to see the tively long-term exclusive attachment be-
home and the school as interacting sys- tween mother and child; yet from the
tems that deliver different messages to early years on, the Japanese child has a
the child, and must help the family face a sense of being part of a social group. An
developmental transition mandated by even clearer reference for this point, how-
the larger society, in which the child is ever, comes from communal societies,
expected to move toward a level of greater such as the Israeli kibbutz (for a descrip-
independence. Knowledgeable educators tion, see the article by Aviezer, Sagi, and
have always understood that when young van IJzendoorn in this issue).
children enter school, sensitive teachers
Whether or not they sleep in children’s
are there to help them grasp the opportu- houses, kibbutz children make strong
nity to broaden their horizons while they multiple attachments early in life. It is
handle the anxiety of the unfamiliar. not that they do not bond to their families.
Families face the same need to change It was clear (again, from a personal obser-
their patterns and expectations at a time vation), that very young children who had
of transition, and, if necessary, therapists lived in small peer groups from their ear-
are there to help them in that same way. liest days knew very well who their par-
ents and siblings were, but they were
Multiple Attachments in Early Childhood
bonded as well to their caretakers (meta-
Both psychodynamic theorists and de- plot) and to the other children in their
velopmental researchers have regarded group. A sense of connection with other
mother-child attachment as the key to the members of the kibbutz is an important

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value in this community, and the situa- possibly complex pattern of attachments.
tion is structured for multiple attach- Nor do psychologists traditionally con-
ments. In reading the description of the sider the family reality when attachment
communal sleeping arrangements pre- behavior in the Strange Situation is eval-
sented by Aviezer and her colleagues, uated. Is it possible that the relatively
most of us would agree that the children unresponsive reaction of some children to
were pushed too early toward the auton- the mother’s return, in that situation, re-
omous handling of their needs and fears flects the fact that they have always lived
during the night. Yet kibbutz members in a household of reliable adults and take
have generally grown up as secure and the mother’s comings and goings in stride,
competent adults. It is worth considering rather than indicating insecure attach-
whether the sense of security based on ment and self-defensive mechanisms? Is
multiple attachments ameliorated the over-involved behavior, in that situation,
anxieties and long-term effects of the ever a reflection of a transient distur-
nighttime arrangements.
bance in the household? The generalized
Again, the questions associated with findings that have emerged from this re-
multiple attachments apply not only to search have been informative, but broader
broadly different societies but to different questions about multiple attachments and
realities closer to home. American chil- about the context of assessment patterns
dren grow up in a wide variety of family have yet to be addressed.
structures: close extended families with
Therapists, more than researchers, are
lots of siblings, grandparents, aunts, un- inevitably involved with individual cases,
cles and cousins; couples with one child and with the viability of the patterns a
living geographically far from other fam- family has developed. They are also gen-
ily members; single parents with one or erally trained in a systemic orientation.
more children; three-generational house- When the toddler in the family seems
holds; working couples whose children anxious or unresponsive, the question for
spend much of the day with caretakers the therapist is not only whether the
from infancy on; lesbian or gay parents, mother has shaped a secure attachment
who may both be “mother” or “dad,” and with the infant, but how supportive or
so forth. And there is considerable varia- competitive other members of the family
tion in the way different families foster have been. When it is evident that the
the child’s earliest connections to people, child goes as easily to grandpa or an older
other than the mother, who may feed, sibling as to mother, the question is
bathe, play with, and carry the infant whether that is an indicator of confusion
about in close physical contact.
or a sign of multiple attachments that
What do we make of those variations? serve the child well and relieve the bur-
To understand the child’s reality, one den on a busy mother.
would need to apply a systems view to the
In the reality of modern America, there
questions of attachment, including the are a number of family structures that
emotional viability of different patterns. present therapists and/or the professional
The Strange Situation, which has been staff of social agencies with particular at-
such a useful research tool for psycholo- tachment issues. They include families
gists, is basically tied to theory concern- involved in the process or aftermath of
ing the mother-child attachment. Exten- divorce, families whose children are
sions to other figures, such as the father, placed in foster care, and ethnically di-
have been, interesting but essentially lin- verse or poor families living in stressful
ear. We know little about a given child’s circumstances. Family therapists work
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most often in situations of divorce, but the generational families with a matriarchal
structure of foster care is actually quite structure and multiple mothering are rel-
similar: the child is between two sets of atively common in certain subcultures of
relationships, and attachment is an im- this country. Afro-American families liv-
portant issue. The task for professionals ing in difficult socioeconomic circum-
is to help the child form and maintain stances often take this form, and Latino
secure attachments to the important fig- families, while less likely to be matriar-
ures in both settings—mothers and fa- chal, are often characterized by the close
thers, even though they are separated or involvement of three generations and by
divorced, and the central figures in both the multiple mothering of very young chil-
biological and foster families. To make dren. In such situations, the attachment
that possible, in situations of divorce, of the child may not be centered exclu-
therapists know they must help the sively on one figure. The challenge for
adults resolve their conflicts sufficiently professional workers, in such circum-
so they can cooperate on behalf of the stances, is to refrain from evaluating the
child. In the case of foster care, the bio- attachment patterns against a standard
logical and foster families usually do not established in nuclear families, and to
know each other and have no history of help the family monitor whether the
conflict, but they are seldom brought to- availability of multiple attachment fig-
gether on behalf of the child. A foster- ures has become confusing for the child,
care worker may encourage the attach- rather than reassuring.
ment of the child to the foster mother or
Systemically oriented therapists are in
may emphasize the idea that the child a position to take account of family struc-
already has a mother, but neither ap- tures and realities, in relation to attach-
proach addresses the child’s complex re- ment, both across different cultures and
ality. When continuing contact between within our own heterogeneous society. If
the two mothers has been arranged, how- they are not caught up strongly in the
ever, it has often proven possible to en- assumptions of traditional theory, they
courage an atmosphere of collaboration, may find a variety of attachment patterns
allowing the child to maintain an open that occur in well-functioning families
relationship with both families.
and are consistent with healthy child de-
Is multiple attachment possible and de- velopment. If that is so, the description of
sirable? That may be debatable, in theo- such patterns would contribute consider-
retical circles, but we know that three- ably to our understanding of attachment.