Culture-Specific Attachment Strategies in the Cameroonian Nso Cultural Solutions to a Universal Developmental Task

CULTURe-SPECIFIC ATTACHMENT STRATEGIES IN THE CAMEROONIAN NSO Cultural solutions to a universal developmental task Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften eingereicht am Fachbereich Humanwissenschaften der Universität Osnabrück Fachgebiet Entwicklung & Kultur vorgelegt von Hiltrud Otto, Dipl.-Psych. Osnabrück, Dezember 2008 Gewidmet der besten Oma der Welt. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to thank my supervisor Heidi Keller, for her readiness to welcome someone from the universalist camp in her lab. For the past three years, Heidi guided the insights and direction of this dissertation and always found time for encouraging and challenging comments. She gave me the opportunity to increase my knowledge and broaden my horizons on attachment, sent me on adventurous journeys to collect or present data, and introduced me to renowned researchers in the field. I benefited immensely from her. Thank you, Heidi, for making this PhD possible! To Beate and Georg Schücking, who supported my PhD project not only academically, but also personally. A special thank you for the pleasant time I spent with you both during my first months in Osnabrueck! To Kim Bard, for the precious time I was allowed to watch video recordings with her. The first thing I now do with data is to look at it! Thanks for shouldering all the ‘unfortunate’ trips to Osnabrueck! To Prof. em. Klaus Grossmann who enthused me on the topic of attachment. Thank you for your inspiring ideas! To Dry, her husband Cosmas and her family in Cameroon, who made the data collection in Cameroon possible. The Yovsi family accepted me as a family member, introduced me to their culture and provided essential help in times of needs in Kumbo. Beri wo! To Patience, her husband Maurice and her family, who became valued friends during the past years. Kudos to you, for assistance, accommodation, and friendship! To my colleagues, who are simply the best: Thanks for precious discussions and suggestions over many cups of coffee, and the fun we had between work! Thanks to Bettina’s little ones, who made us play football in the hallways and served as prelimi- nary test samples and a special thanks to the basement people: to Carolin for reading and commenting on parts of this thesis in advance, and to Jörn for the humorous chats during long nights of working. To my grandma and my mum, who constituted the most important pillars of support the last thirty years. Please, keep healthy so you can continue! To my brother and my father, who often cheered me up. Many thanks for your emotional and motivational support. Last but not least, to my friends, who always took the time for a chat, whose savvy advice and humor helped me not to get lost in the ‘ivory tower’ of science. Markus, Sabine, and Luci, thanks for lengthy phone calls. Emer, Hardy, Jo and Deko, thanks for the warm welcome in Osnabrueck, the beer sessions, the sport sessions, and the long conversations. Kisses to you all! Osnabrück, December 2008 Hiltrud Otto This research was supported by the Graduate School “Integrative Competences and Well-Being” funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, Grant 772/3). TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ....................................................................... 8 1 Introduction .............................................................. 11 2 Theory ....................................................................... 15 2.1 Theoretical foundation of attachment theory ..... ........ 15 2.2 Evolutionary and biological foundations of attachment ......................................... 21 2.2.1 Our ancestors’ environment ......................................... 21 ��2.2.2 Plasticity of attachment .......................................�� ........ 24 2.2.3 Attachment and the cortisol response to stress ............... 28 2.2.4 Adults‘ intuitive competencies ..................................... 33 2.3 The cultural embeddedness of attachment .................. 35 2.3.1 The marginalization of culture: ethological attachment research ..................................... 35 2.3.2 The significance of culture: cultural attachment research ........................................ 45 2.3.3 Extending attachment theory: adding the non-Western developmental perspective ........................ 49 2.4 The Cameroonian Nso ............................................... 57 2.4.1 History, geography, society .......................................... 57 2.4.2 Nso families ................................................................ 58 2.4.3 Nso infant care practices .............................................. 60 2.5 Research question ...................................................... 62 3 Method ...................................................................... 66 3.1 Study site and sampling technique ............................. 66 3.2 Socio-demographic data of participants ..................... 67 3.3 Procedures ................................................................. 69 3.3.1 The context of data assessment ..................................... 69 3.3.2 Assessment of infants’ reaction towards the greetings from female strangers .................. 71 3.3.3 Measurement of cortisol reactivity ................................ 72 3.3.4 Naturalistic observation of infants’ everyday functioning ....................................... 73 3.3.5 Interviews and questionnaires ...................................... 74 5 3.4 Data analysis and measures ........................................ 77 3.4.1 Analysis of strangers’ visits ........................................... 77 3.4.2 Cortisol analysis .......................................................... 84 3.4.3 Analysis of interviews .................................................. 85 4 Results ....................................................................... 88 4.1 Maternal representations of attachment relationships ............................................ 89 4.1.1 Mothers’ conceptions of attachment ............................. 89 4.1.2 Mothers’ perceptions of the context of attachment relationships .......................................... 92 4.2 Infants’ behavioral regulation .................................... 99 4.2.1 Infants’ behavioral regulation towards the Cameroonian stranger ............................... 99 4.2.2 Infants’ behavioral regulation towards the greetings from the German stranger: ...........................................A comparison with the behavioral regulation towards the Cameroonian stranger ............................. 102 4.3 Infants’ psycho-physiological regulation: Cortisol response to the strangers’ visits .................. 105 4.4 Infants’ emotion regulation patterns ........................ 106 4.4.1 Emotion patterns during the 1st and 2nd episode: Change, stability and valence ..................................... 107 4.4.2 Infants’ psycho-physiological arousal relating to the three emotion patterns ..................................... 110 4.5 Factors relating to the three cultural emotion regulation patterns of Cameroonian infants ............. 111 4.5.1 Connections between socio-demographic factors and maternal belief systems ........................................ 112 4.5.2 Socio-demographics relating to the three emotion patterns ......................................... 114 4.5.3 Maternal belief systems relating to the three emotion patterns ......................................... 117 4.5.4 The cultural emotion regulation pattern of Cameroonian infants ............................................. 120 6 5 Discussion ............................................................... 124 5.1 Attachment in the Cameroonian Nso ....................... 124 5.1.1 Shared attachment concepts of Nso mothers ............... 124 5.1.2 Differential aspects of Nso attachment ....................... 128 5.1.3 Summary: The adaptiveness of culture-specific attachment strategies in the Cameroonian Nso ............................................ 136 5.2 Reappraisal of attachment theory’s assumptions ....... 142 5.3 Limitations of the study ........................................... 150 5.4 Outlook ................................................................... 152 5.4.1 Future research ......................................................... 152 5.4.2 Practical implications ................................................ 153 6 Conclusion .............................................................. 155 References ................................................................ 156 Appendices .............................................................. 186 Appendix 1 ............................................................... 186 Appendix 2 ............................................................... 187 Appendix 3 ............................................................... 193 7 ABSTRACT Human universals and cultural variation are frequently two pieces of the same puzzle; this also applies to attachment relationships. The attachment system is a phylogenetically rooted human universal, anchored in specific structures and functions of the central nervous system. It consists in the infant’s motivation to form attachments and a basic behavioral repertoire of attachment behaviors. However, specific attachment relationships have to be constructed and are therefore based on early caregiver-infant interactions. Cross-cultural studies

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