Cultural equivalence of adult attachment across four ethnic groups: Factor structure, structural means, and associations with negative mood

This study examined factorial invariance, structured means, and association with negative mood of adult attachment across 4 ethnic groups. Online survey data (N 831) were collected from African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Caucasian college students. Results indicated that the factor structure of the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale did not vary across the 4 groups. Asian Americans and perhaps also ( p .051) Hispanic Americans reported greater attachment anxiety, whereas African Americans and Asian Americans reported greater attachment avoidance than did their Caucasian peers. Attachment anxiety was significantly associated with negative mood in every group, although Asian Americans reported a stronger association than their African American and Caucasian peers. The magnitude of the association between attachment avoidance and negative mood was invariant across the groups. In recent years, two sharply differing positions have emerged in a vigorous debate about the cultural universality of attachment theory constructs. Claims for the cultural universality of attach-ment theory have been made since its early beginnings. Ainsworth conducted her first groundbreaking observational studies of infant–caregiver attachment in Baltimore and rural Uganda (Ains-worth, 1967, 1989; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). Similar patterns she observed in both settings became the basis for the claim that attachment theory constructs are culturally universal. Proponents of the cultural universality position emphasize Bowl-by’s (1969) assertion that for millions of years, the caregiver– infant attachment system has been crucial for the survival of relatively helpless human offspring, and therefore the attachment system is part of the biological makeup of every member of the human species. Although culture no doubt influences the way this biological heritage is manifested as observable behavior, some attachment theorists maintain that at its foundation, culturally universal forces are at work (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999; Main, 1990