The Cultural Organization of Parenting: Change and Stability of Behavior Patterns During Feeding and Social Play Across the First Year of Life

Objective. This study explores the cultural patterning of maternal beliefs and practices across the first year of life among middle-class Anglo and Puerto Rican mother-infant dyads in two daily situations, feeding and social play. Design. Sixty middle-class mothers (32 Anglo from northeastern Connecticut, and 28 Puerto Rican from San Juan, Puerto Rico) were interviewed regarding their long-term socialization goals and videotaped in their homes during feeding and social play when their infants were 4-, 8-, and 12-months of age. Results. Group comparisons revealed that across time and contexts the Anglo mothers were more likely to show patterns of beliefs and behaviors that emphasized the infant's personal choice and mastery of the situation, whereas the Puerto Rican mothers were more likely to show patterns of beliefs and behaviors that emphasized the infant's interdependence on the mother. The groups did not differ in nurturant behaviors toward their infants. Conclusions. The organization of feeding and social play differs by culture. Within this larger cultural frame, mother-infant interactions differ by context and adjust to universal aspects of infant development.     

Cultural Differences in Maternal Beliefs and Behaviors: A Study of Middle-Class Anglo and Puerto Rican Mother-Infant Pairs in Four Everyday Situations

This study examines cultural patterning in situational variability in mother-infant interactions among middle-class Anglo and Puerto Rican mothers and their 12 to 15-month-old firstborn children. Forty mothers were interviewed regarding their long-term socialization goals and childrearing strategies, and videotaped interacting with their infants in four everyday settings: feeding, social play, teaching, and free play. Results suggest that: (1) Anglo mothers place greater emphasis on socialization goals and childrearing strategies consonant with a more individualistic orientation, whereas Puerto Rican mothers place greater focus on goals and strategies consistent with a more sociocentric orientation; (2) coherence was found between mothers' childrearing beliefs and practices, with Puerto Rican mothers more likely to directly structure their infants' behaviors; and (3) situational variability arose in mother-infant interactions, but this variability showed a cultural patterning consistent with mothers' long-term socialization goals and childrearing beliefs.     

Culture and Class Influences on Anglo and Puerto Rican Mothers' Beliefs Regarding Long-Term Socialization Goals and Child Behavior

These 2 studies examine culture and socioeconomic status as simultaneous possible sources for group differences in mothers' beliefs regarding desirable and undesirable long-term socialization goals and child behavior. In Study 1, 100 mothers of young toddlers aged 12–24 months from 5 sociocultural groups participated: middle- and lower-class Anglo, middle- and lower-class island Puerto Rican, and lower-class migrant Puerto Rican. Results indicate that culture and socioeconomic status contribute independently to group differences, but that cultural effects appear to be stronger. Study 2 examined cultural differences in perceptions of behaviors using middle-class Anglo and Puerto Rican mothers only. The findings support those of Study 1, suggesting that Anglo and Puerto Rican mothers place differential value on the constructs of Self-Maximization and Proper Demeanor, even when socioeconomic status is controlled for. The findings of these studies have important implications for the culturally sensitive study of the relation between parental beliefs and behaviors.     

Mothers' Acculturation and Beliefs About Emotions,Mother–Child Emotion Discourse,and Children's Emotion Understanding in Latino Families

Research Findings: We examined associations among Anglo acculturation, Latino enculturation, maternal beliefs, mother–child emotion talk, and emotion understanding in 40 Latino preschool-age children and their mothers. Mothers self-reported Anglo acculturation, Latino enculturation, and beliefs about the value/danger of children's emotions and parent/child roles in emotion socialization. Mother–child emotion talk was observed during a Lego storytelling task. Children's emotion understanding was measured using 2 age-appropriate tasks. Correlations showed that mothers' Latino enculturation was associated with mothers' stronger belief in guiding children's emotions and children's lower emotion understanding. Anglo acculturation was associated with mothers' lower belief that emotions can be dangerous and children's better emotion understanding. Mothers with a stronger belief in guiding children's emotions more frequently labeled emotions. Mothers with a stronger belief that emotions can be dangerous less frequently explained emotions. Regressions controlling for child age and maternal education demonstrated that mothers with a stronger belief that children can learn about emotions on their own and mothers with greater Latino enculturation had children with lower emotion understanding, whereas mothers with greater Anglo acculturation had children with better emotion understanding. Practice or Policy: Results suggest that understanding both family acculturation and family enculturation will be helpful for early childhood researchers and educators seeking to assess and promote children's socioemotional development.     

Ethnic Category Labels,Parental Beliefs,and the Contextualized Individual: An Exploration of the Individualism - Sociocentrism Debate

Objective. Research has suggested that parenting practices reflect cultural meaning systems. Recent debate regarding the use of individualism and sociocentrism as broad constructs that describe parents' cultural meaning systems have centered on the adequacy of such terms to capture the multiplicity of individual orientations that exist within any group. Concomitantly, concerns have been raised that ethnic category labels may be combined with the use of such constructs in a stereotypical way. Design. This study examines group differences and similarities in the relative importance of individualistic versus sociocentric childrearing values as expressed in the long-term socialization goals of 106 middle-class European American and Puerto Rican mothers of infants aged 8 through 18 months. Analyses were conducted using both conventional statistics and statistical tools developed within the field of anthropology. Results. Analyses indicate the existence of coherent belief patterns across the 2 groups, as well as of considerable heterogeneity within both groups. In particular, a majority of European American mothers express long-term goals that emphasize more individualistic goals, such as the child's maximization of the self, whereas a majority of Puerto Rican mothers articulate beliefs that focus on more sociocentric goals, such as the child's proper demeanor. However, within each group considerable heterogeneity exists as well. Conclusions. Additional research is needed regarding factors associated with differing childrearing goals and their implications for the organization of parent - child interactions among diverse groups.     

Evaluations of Children's Gender Stereotypic Activities by Korean Parents and Nonparental Adults Residing in the United States

Objective. To determine how parents evaluate decisions about children's autonomy, Korean mothers and fathers as well as nonparental female and male adults, all living in the United States, were interviewed about parental decisions regarding children's engagement in gender consistent and gender inconsistent extracurricular activities. Design. A homogeneous sample of parents and nonparental adults (N = 80) participated to control for social experience beyond parental status. Participants were interviewed about whether it was acceptable for parents to allow their sons and daughters to engage in gender consistent (boy plays baseball, girl takes ballet), gender inconsistent (boy takes ballet, girl plays baseball), and gender neutral (boy goes to a sleepover, girl goes to a sleepover) peer activities, along with questions about autonomy, gender preferences, parental jurisdiction, cultural change, and stereotype knowledge. Results. Whereas all participants promoted autonomy, parents were more likely to sacrifice autonomy to conform to gender stereotypic expectations than were nonparental adults and to use social-conventional reasoning to justify their evaluations. Parents were more likely than nonparental adults to promote boys' autonomy than girls' autonomy in the absence of stereotypic expectations but were less likely to do so in gender inconsistent contexts. Conclusions. Korean parents and nonparental adults differ in their decisions about children's engagement in gender related peer activities. In contrast to nonparental adults, parents used multiple forms of social reasoning when evaluating children's autonomy in the context of gender expectations. These findings shed light on the complex decision-making that parents engage in when granting children autonomy and promoting social development.     

Discrimination Concerns and Expectations as Explanations for Gendered Socialization in African American Families

Discrimination concerns and parental expectations were examined as mediators of the relations between gender and parenting practices among 796 African American mothers of 11‐ to 14‐year‐olds from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study. Mothers of sons had more concerns about racial discrimination impacting their adolescents' future, whereas mothers of daughters had more gender discrimination concerns. Racial discrimination concerns, but not gender discrimination concerns, were related to lower maternal academic and behavioral expectations. Maternal expectations were related to mothers' responsiveness, rule enforcement, monitoring, and parent–adolescent conflict. The relations between gender and parenting practices were partially explained through mothers' racial discrimination concerns and expectations. These findings demonstrate the importance of contextual factors on African American family processes.     

Authoritative and Authoritarian Mothers' Parenting Goals,Attributions, and Emotions Across Different Childrearing Contexts

Objective. The central goal of this study was to explore how childrearing contexts might moderate relations between parenting styles and mothers' parental beliefs and emotional responses. Design. Participants were 76 mothers of children (41 boys, 35 girls) ranging in age from 30 to 70 months. Mothers completed a global measure of parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative). Self-reports of parental beliefs (parental goals, attributions) and emotional responses (angry, embarrassed, happy) were assessed in response to hypothetical vignettes depicting a variety of children's behaviors (aggression, misbehavior, shyness, prosocial behavior). Results. In situations depicting children's negative behaviors, authoritarian mothers were less focused on empathic goals and attributed child aggression and misbehaviors to less external sources than their more authoritative counterparts. Authoritarian mothers were also more likely to respond with greater anger and embarrassment across all childrearing scenarios. Conclusions. Results suggest that authoritarian and authoritative mothers differ in their affective response patterns consistently across childrearing contexts, but that more challenging childrearing situations accentuate differences in the cognitive reactions of authoritative versus authoritarian mothers. Implications for understanding how general parenting styles may be translated into specific parental responses are considered.     

Predictors of mothers' and fathers' teaching of reading and mathematics during kindergarten and Grade 1

The aim of the present longitudinal study was to investigate factors contributing to mothers' and fathers' teaching of reading and mathematics to their children during kindergarten and Grade 1. It was assumed that mothers' and fathers' teaching during kindergarten would be influenced by their socioeconomic status and their own learning difficulties, whereas during Grade 1 by their children's academic performance. A total of 189 mothers and 165 fathers filled in questionnaires regarding their teaching of reading and mathematics twice, once in kindergarten and once in Grade 1. Children's reading and mathematics performance was also examined twice, once in kindergarten and once in Grade 1. The results showed that the lower the socioeconomic status of mothers and fathers, the more teaching of reading and mathematics they reported. Moreover, the lower the children's academic performance in reading and mathematics in the beginning of Grade 1, the more teaching by mothers and fathers reported later on. Overall, the results suggest that mothers and fathers adjust their teaching to the actual skill level of their children when their children enter primary school.     

School Trouble: A mother's burden

ABSTRACT The desire for parent involvement in children's schooling is based on the assumption that parents play a significant role in children's educational achievements. As a policy goal, parent involvement includes the participation of both mothers and fathers. However, in practice, parent involvement refers more often to the work of women in support of children's schooling. The coordination and supervision of children's educational activities often demands a significant portion of mothers' waking hours, particularly in the case of mothers whose children are doing poorly in school. This article draws on interviews with parents of children who struggled academically in school to examine the effects of 'school troubles' on mothers who, among the parents interviewed for this study, were much more likely to assume the material and emotional burdens for school troubles.     

Conflict Resolution in Japanese Social Interactions

The aim of this study was to examine Japanese preschool children's social conflicts and methods of conflict resolution in order to shed light on existing cultural characterizations of Japanese preschool education and social development. Japanese preschool-age children were observed during school-time free-play and they and their mothers were interviewed about teacher methods of conflict resolution in the preschool setting. The results showed that Japanese children's conflicts stemmed from a wide range of issues, including concerns about justice, rights, and fairness. Moreover, teachers encouraged children to work out conflicts on their own, stressing self-reliance and autonomy. Japanese children and mothers chose resolution choices which pertained to the intrinsic consequences of the acts. Japanese children and mothers, however, preferred teacher-directed nonintervention over punishment as a form of teacher response. This was in contrast to previous research which has shown that American children and mothers prefer punishment over nonintervention. The results indicated that issues of independence (e.g., autonomy) and interdependence (e.g., group orientations) were both present in Japanese children's social interactions and in children's and mothers' judgments about teacher methods of conflict resolution.     

A comparison of European American and Puerto Rican parents’ goals and expectations about the socialization and education of pre‐school children

This article identifies similarities and differences between Head Start parents of European American and Puerto Rican backgrounds regarding their socialization goals and expectations concerning the early educational experiences of their pre‐school children. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 60 parents (30 European American and 30 Puerto Rican) in their homes. The results show that both groups of parents valued pro‐social skills, school readiness skills, and skills related to good behaviour. Both sets of parents considered creative and physical skills to be least important. However, differences between groups were found regarding the relative importance of skills in the different developmental domains. The findings suggest that to maximize the effects of early childhood programmes and interventions it is important that educators and policy makers recognize and respond to differences in parents’ goals and expectations.     

Ethnicity and Psychosocial Factors in Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Adolescence

Research on ethnic group differences has suggested that (a) adolescents from various groups differ on a number of dimensions that have been related to risk for substance use initiation, and (b) adolescents of different groups choose different substances. However, there is little consensus regarding the reasons for such differences. There is an especially high rate of alcohol use among Hispanic adolescents, and Hispanics are at high risk for alcohol abuse. In light of ethnic group differences in both substance use and the precursors of substance use in adolescence, this study examined differences among black, Anglo, Puerto Rican, and Dominican adolescents in the relation between cigarette and alcohol use and psychosocial functioning. Comparisons between the Puerto Rican and Dominican subjects were of special interest due to preexisting differences between these groups that may be attributed to acculturation. Results provided evidence of the importance of acculturation in modifying psychosocial vulnerability, especially for alcohol use, with the Dominican group at highest risk.     

Linkages Among Preschoolers' Playground Behavior,Outcome Expectations,and Parental Disciplinary Strategies

To explore relationships among parent's self-reported disciplinary strategies, preschoolers' outcome expectations, and playground behavior, 136 mothers of preschool-age children (age range = 39–71 months) participated in home disciplinary style interviews. Measures of preschoolers' outcome expectations and observations of childrens' prosocial, antisocial/disruptive, and nonsocial/withdrawn playground behavior in preschool settings were also obtained. Results indicated that power-assertive mothers had preschoolers who engaged in more antisocial/disruptive behavior and who expected successful instrumental outcomes for hostile methods of resolving peer conflict. Preschoolers with such outcome expectations also participated in more antisocial playground behavior. Older preschoolers of inductive mothers engaged in more prosocial behavior and expected prosocial behavior to lead to both instrumental gains and enhanced relations with peers. Preschoolers who were more prosocial envisioned friendly-assertive strategies as leading to instrumental gains and, in the case of less nonsocial behavior, to enhanced relations with peers. Children's outcome expectations were also found to be different for older versus younger preschoolers. Evidence was also obtained suggesting that maternal discipline and outcome expectations make separate and independent contributions to children's social and aggressive play behavior.     

Child Care Selection Under Welfare Reform: How Mothers Balance Work Requirements and Parenting

This paper examines the reasoning and experiences of mothers in selecting child care while trying to meet welfare-to-work requirements. Three theoretical positions that have been used to look at child care selection -rational choice, structuralist, and cultural - are examined and critiqued in light of a structural developmental psychology perspective. The paper then reports on semi-structured, open-ended interviews with seven mothers from three different ethnic groups—African- American, Anglo, and Latina—who range in age from 21 to 42. Interviews covered a 15-month period of time following the mothers' enrollment in a welfare- to-work program. The major finding is that mothers have hierarchically ordered criteria for evaluating child care possibilities, and the preeminent criteria is that they trust the child care provider to keep their children safe and well cared for. Structural constraints on the mothers choices are also analyzed. The findings in this article suggest that policy makers should focus on issues of trust and legitimacy of child care providers, as well as on more traditional concerns of supply and educational quality.     

Relationship between maternal scaffolding and preschooler's metacognitive strategies in a problem-solving situation

This study examined how mothers' scaffolding predicts preschoolers' metacognitive strategies and task performance. N = 132 preschoolers and their mothers participated in the study. Problem-solving tasks were solved in mother-child interactions and independently. Mothers' scaffolding (means; cognitive, metacognitive, autonomy support) and mother-child task performance were coded during mother-child interactions. Children's metacognitive strategies and task performance were coded during child-alone problem-solving. Path-model analyses found that mothers' metacognitive support was negatively – and autonomy support positively – associated with mother-child task performance. Mothers' scaffolding means served different scaffolding intentions, building two scaffolding strategies: (1) Mothers using more scaffolding means provided more cognitive support, which was related to lower levels of children's metacognitive strategies. (2) Mothers using fewer scaffolding means provided more autonomy support, which was related to higher levels of children's metacognitive strategies. This study demonstrates the importance of examining scaffolding strategies and shows that different scaffolding strategies may be relevant in joint and child-alone problem-solving.     

Mothers' Beliefs about Feelings and Children's Emotional Understanding

We revised Hyson and Lee's (1996) Caregiver's Beliefs about Feelings questionnaire for use with parents. One hundred and fifteen mothers of 4- to 6- year-old children completed the Parents' Beliefs about Feelings questionnaire (PBAF). We assessed emotional understanding of 60 of the children using Denham's (1986) measure. Factor analysis supported a 2-factor solution for the PBAF. The first subscale (Emotion Language) reflected mothers' belief in socializing emotion language. The second subscale (Developmental Beliefs) assessed mothers' belief that their children were not developmentally ready to control or talk about emotions. Mothers' Developmental Beliefs scores were positively related to mothers' negative emotional expressiveness. Mothers' Emotion Language scores were positively related to children's knowledge of emotion terms. Results may help educators design intervention programs to teach children emotional and social skills.     

Mother-Child Play in Italy: Regional Variation,Individual Stability,and Mutual Dyadic Influence

Objective. This longitudinal study assessed similarities and differences in exploratory, symbolic, and social play in mother-child dyads in the south and north of Italy. Design. Altogether, 89 mothers and their children were observed and recorded at home when children were 13 and 20 months of age. From videotapes, exploratory, symbolic, and social play were coded and analyzed. Results. Children did not differ in their play with mothers across region and play type, but they played less in exploratory and more in symbolic modes as they grew. At 13 months, mothers in the south did not differ from mothers in the north in engaging in exploratory or symbolic play with their children; at 20 months, mothers in the south engaged in more demonstrations of exploratory and mothers in the north more demonstrations of symbolic play. Mothers in the south and north engaged in equivalent social play at the two ages, but northern mothers verbally praised their children more at the two ages. Child play was not stable, and mothers' play only irregularly stable. In both regions at both ages, individual variation in children's exploratory and symbolic play was specifically associated with individual variation in mothers' exploratory and symbolic play, respectively, but mothers' play did not predict children's play, nor did children's play predict mothers' play. Mothers' social play was not predictive of child play, although verbal praise was associated with child play. Conclusions. These data highlight the universality of general developmental processes in play as well as specific intra-cultural variation in parenting and child development.     

Are both classroom autonomy support and structure equally important for students' engagement? A multilevel analysis

The current study was carried out within the framework of self-determination theory and aimed to investigate specific, additive and combined effects of teachers' autonomy support and structure on students' engagement. Using multilevel analyses, main effects and interaction of autonomy support and structure provided at the classroom level were tested on behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement. 744 ninth grade students from 51 classes completed a questionnaire about their engagement during language classes and their perceptions of the teacher's provision of autonomy support and structure. The results highlight the links between classroom context, especially structure, and the three components of engagement. Autonomy support has a complementary role as it was associated with emotional engagement. These results improve our understanding of the relationships between learning environment and engagement and provide more accurate indications to teachers and educators regarding the most effective ways to enhance students' engagement.