Katarzyna Lubiewska
Instytut Psychologii, Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy
Abstract:
The study investigated the „cultural fit hypothesis” (CFH) and focused on formation of interpersonal attachment in families in Poland and Germany. There was analyzed match between the normative culture of a country and individual level of collectivism-individualism among mothers, and its influence on generic attachment among their teenage offspring.. Since Germany was considered an individualistic culture, individualism of mothers was hypothesized to influence their parenting style and teen attachment. By the same token in Poland an analogous effect of collectivism was expected. Attachment avoidance was hypothesized to be more sensitive to cultural influences than anxiety. A total of N = 569 families (mothers, and their adolescent children) were interviewed in Poland, and N = 305 families in Germany. Attachment was assessed by AAS (Collins & Read, 1990), individual values by the shortened scale of Schwartz & Bilsky (1990), and parenting style by the abbreviated version of PARQ (Rohner et al., 1980). Multigroup SEM was used to test the hypotheses. Results speak in favor of the cultural fit hypothesis. The parenting style of Polish mothers was mostly affected by maternal collectivism while in Germany individualism was more effective. Individualism was found to influence attachment avoidance in Germany. The results show that parental values that match normative expectations in a country positively influence development of secure attachment.
Keywords: attachment, collectivism, individualism, cultural fit hypothesis
Cite this article as:
Lubiewska, K. (2014). Cultural fit hypothesis: The impact of individualism-collectivism on maternal parenting and adolescent attachment in Germany and Poland. Psychologia Społeczna, 29, 200-219. doi: 10.7366/1896180020142905