Cultural ideal of secure adult attachment: A comparison of three cultural groups (Taiwan, China, United States)

The present study examined the cross-cultural validity of attachment theory as applied to adults in romantic relationships by comparing cultural ideals of healthy adult attachment among Taiwanese, American, and Taiwanese-American samples. A total of 639 university students of these three cultural groups completed the research surveys. The results of this study have added important information to cross-cultural attachment research. The results clearly suggest that the optimum, healthy adult attachment ideals are indeed culture-specific. Findings suggest that Taiwanese ideal of optimal adult attachment as applied in romantic relationships embraces a higher degree of avoidance and anxiety than the Western attachment ideal. When taking into account the characteristics of the cultural values and societal norms in Taiwan, the relatively higher degree of avoidance held by Taiwanese ideal of healthy adult attachment can be understood as being considerate and harmonious and the higher anxiety as being characteristic of interpersonal interdependence and connectedness. The results also suggest that an individual with ideally healthy attachment also demonstrates a high degree of cultural compliance and adaptability, which does not contradict the competence hypothesis of attachment theory if one makes allowances for how social competence is defined differently in interdependent and independent cultural contexts. Implication of the results suggests that because there are many fundamental differences between Chinese and American culture in defining the meanings of relationships between the self and other, perhaps the Western-based notion that the working model of self and working model of others are two relatively independent constructs needs to be reexamined in Taiwanese/Chinese culture. Future research could continue to examine the "goodness-of-fit" of the two-dimension, four-category theoretical model of adult attachment as it applies to collectivistic cultures.