Examining the ecological validity of Strange Situation Procedure in Japan

Research Project

Project/Area Number	18K13297
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Basic Section 10020:Educational psychology-related
Research Institution	Hiroshima University
Principal Investigator	Tomotaka Umemura 広島大学, 人間社会科学研究科(教), 准教授 (80805325)
Project Period (FY)	2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2021)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000) Fiscal Year 2020: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Keywords	アタッチメント / 愛着 / ストレンジシチュエーション法 / アタッチメント・Qソート / ストレンジ・シチュエーション法 / アタッチメント理論 / Strange Situation / 幼児 / 親子
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) is a laboratory procedure to assess infants' attachment security with their caregivers. The SSP was developed in the U.S. and has been used in many countries as a gold-standard assessment for infant attachment security. This study examiend the validity of SSP in the context of Japan. We found that the attachment security assessed by the SSP predicted some aspects of infant mental health outcomes, whereas it was not associated with the attachment security assessed in infant's home.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究は，日本の幼児のアタッチメントの安定性を測定する最善の方法を検討するものであったため，学術的にも社会的にも意義のある研究であった。特に，アジア圏における幼児のアタッチメント研究は乏しく，学術的意義があったと言える。また，幼児のメンタルヘルスとの関連を示す結果から，社会的意義も示された。