Parenting from an intercultural perspective: The concept of amae

Résumé 0

Attachment behaviors and representations are considered to be universal. However, in Japan, studies have reported an over-representation of the insecure-resistant category of attachment. Several authors have suggested this exception may owe to the presence of the concept of amae in Japanese culture; this concept refers to the notion of interpersonal dependency. In Japan, a certain form of dependency is considered to play an important role in social relationships. In Western cultures, on the contrary, mothers encourage their children to be autonomous at an early age. Such cultural differences may explain the relatively higher frequency of attachment behaviors that appear as insecure-resistant. This paper presents the preliminary results of a cross-cultural research project on the association between amae and attachment representations in children of four to six years old.