Japanese and US 4- and 5-year-old children and their mothers were studied in situations designed to examine attachment-related behaviours, feelings, and representations. Separation and reunion behaviours, conversations about separation, and child-rearing patterns were examined in relation to culture, gender, and internalising symptoms. Japanese and US dyads did not differ in overall levels of security and sensitivity in separation and reunion behaviours, based on a rating system developed by Crowell, Feldman, and Ginsberg, (1988). However, Japanese children showed more amae (desire for bodily closeness) behaviour than US children. Amae was positively correlated with internalising symptoms for US children but not for Japanese children. Cultural differences in dyads' discussions of separation issues and in maternal child-rearing patterns also were identified.
