Abstract

The present review considers cross-cultural and cultural studies on attachment carried out in last decades, to point out underlying assumptions, main results, and issues highlighted at both theoretical and methodological levels. After an examination of cross-cultural studies aimed to verify universalities vs. specificities of attachment patterns using mainly the SSP (and regarding the culture as independent variable), the review focuses on recent studies that, considering attachment in its adaptive value in sociocultural context, point out how culture shapes attachment development. In this perspective, the need to reconsider constructs as secure base and maternal sensitivity in the light of meanings they have in different sociocultural contexts is suggested.