Multiple Caregiving among African Americans and Infant Attachment: The Need for an Emic Approach

Attachments of African Americans should be studied with a focus on cultural practices of multiple caregiving and with an emic approach, in order to detect attachment phenomena inherent in the culture. Misunderstanding of African-American infant attachments is likely if evaluative standards derived from infant caregiving in traditional white middle-class culture and an imposed etic approach are employed. An exploratory study is described to highlight issues that should receive the attention of attachment researchers and to draw attention to the need to expand the scope of discussion on culture and attachment.