Attachment in the Indonesian Caregiving Context

Abstract

The quality of the mother-child attachment relationship, the quality of support mothers provide to their children, and characteristics of the caregiving context were examined in 46 Indonesian mother-child dyads. The distribution of attachment patterns, as assessed with the Strange Situation, showed the proportion of children classified as secure and insecure-disorganized to be comparable to the global distribution as reported in two meta-analyses. An over-representation of resistant children was found within the insecure group, which was comparable to the distribution in Japanese samples. The quality of maternal support, measured in two settings, was highest for secure dyads and lowest for insecure-disorganized dyads. Contextual characteristics were not found to differentiate secure from insecure dyads but were found to discriminate between different types of insecure attachment.

Test of the ‘healthy migrant hypothesis’: A longitudinal analysis of health selectivity of internal migration in Indonesia

“…The asymptomatic nature of these conditions implies that they require a professional diagnosis to be recognized. This, however, is less likely to occur in Indonesia due to the extremely limited use of health care services, especially when it comes to preventive health care such as regular medical examination (Chernichovsky & Meesook, 1986;Zevalkink, Riksen-Walraven, & Van Lieshout, 1999). Therefore, a large number of acute and mild cases remain undiagnosed, leaving only severe health conditions visible to the victims.…”

Attachment Orientations and the Development of Israeli Elementary School-Age Children: The Role of Dependent Relationship

“…Researchers have attributed this unique distribution to interdependent societal values that are often associated with more enmeshment and over-involvement. These have been found to characterize Israeli parent-child relationships (Mayseless and Scharf 2009) and may lead to ambivalent/ dependent infant behaviors (Leyendecker et al 1997;Zevalkink et al 1999).…”

Reviewing Japanese Concepts of Amae and Ie to Deeper Understand the Relevance of Secure-Base Behavior in the Context of Japanese Caregiver-Child Interactions

“…For example, one study with Japanese mothers and their infants (Takahashi 1986) had no avoidant babies in the sample (N=60), although another study (Durrett et al 1984) reported five avoidant babies (N=36). Similarly, a study with Korean mothers and their infants (Jin et al 2010) had only one baby classified as avoidant (N=87), and a study with Indonesian mothers and their babies (Zevalkink et al 1999) reported only three avoidant babies in the sample (N=46). On the other hand, a study conducted in Germany (Beller and Pohl 1986) had only two resistant babies in the sample (N=40).…”

“…Findings suggest that insecure infants in Asian countries are more likely to be categorized as resistant, whereas their Western counterparts are more likely to be classified as avoidant. For example, studies in Indonesia (Zevalkink et al 1999), Israel (Sagi et al 1985;Sagi and Lewkowicz 1987), Japan (Takahashi 1986;Durrett et al 1984), and Korea (Jin et al 2010) have found a higher prevalence of resistant infants compared to avoidant infants. On the other hand, in Germany (Beller and Pohl 1986;Grossmann et al 1985), the Netherlands (van Ijzendoorn 1986), and the United States (e.g., see van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg 1988, for review), a higher proportion of infants are classified as avoidant than as resistant.…”