Gabriela Dal Forno Martins

Brazilian Mothers’ Beliefs About Child-Rearing Practices

Mothers’ beliefs about their practices in different Brazilian contexts were investigated in this study. A sample of 350 primiparous Brazilian mothers from seven cities, each from one of the five geographic regions of the country, participated in this study. As part of a major project, mothers answered an inventory concerning their beliefs about practices of child care and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Factorial analysis revealed three factors, named Proper Presentation (the importance mothers attribute to parental practices oriented by socially accepted daily rules), Stimulation (the importance attributed by mothers to practices that stimulate their children’s development), and Responsiveness and Bonding (the importance attributed by mothers to the immediate responses to children’s needs and to a bond of intense proximity and protection).The sample studied valued most Proper Presentation, followed by Stimulation. Less importance was attributed to Responsiveness and Bonding. Mothers’ educational level was a predictor of scores on Stimulation, and fathers’ educational level was a predictor of scores on Proper Presentation. Some regional differences were identified regarding Proper Presentation. A general model that encompasses aspects of socialization for group interaction and also cognitive and social stimulation seems to be shared by mothers of the different geographic regions of the country. This model is influenced by educational level and cultural conditions. Future studies need to address the development of instruments to analyze Brazilian parental cultural models and the implications of these models to children’s development.

Diferenças de gênero no brincar de crianças pré-escolares e escolares na brinquedoteca

Este estudo teve como objetivo principal caracterizar o brincar de meninos e meninas em duas brinquedotecas, uma na pre-escola e outra no ensino fundamental. Participaram do primeiro nove meninos e dez meninas; e do segundo, onze meninas e treze meninos. Em ambos os contextos, verificaram-se a predominância de brincadeiras entre criancas de mesmo sexo. Houve predominio de brincadeiras solitarias na pre-escola, e de brincadeiras em grupo no ensino fundamental. Meninas, nos dois contextos, brincaram significativamente mais de faz-de-conta e com brinquedos para o desenvolvimento afetivo do que meninos. Estes, em comparacao com meninas, na pre-escola, brincaram significativamente mais de brincadeira realistica e com brinquedos que reproduzem o mundo tecnico. No ensino fundamental, meninos brincaram significativamente mais de brincadeira turbulenta e sem brinquedo do que meninas. Os resultados sao discutidos com base nas caracteristicas das criancas e tambem em funcao dos contextos das brinquedotecas.

Transmissão intergeracional de práticas educativas parentais: evidências empíricas

This study investigated the transmission between generations of childrearing practices of 30 mothers and 22 fathers, whose first child was 3 years old. Participants were interviewed about childrearing practices they had themselves received from their parents and those they used with their children. Quantitative and content analyses were realized with childrearing practices categorized as inductive, coercive and non-interfering. Results showed continuity of received practices, whether they were inductive, coercive or non-interfering, as well as changes in the used practices due to characteristics of the couple or the child. Childrearing practices seem to comprise a dynamic process between parents and children, with a nonlinear transmission between generations, and affected by factors other than reproduction of learned patterns.

Promovendo saúde e desenvolvimento na educação infantil: uma atuação da Psicologia

Este artigo apresenta o relato de estagio em Psicologia desenvolvido em uma instituicao de educacao infantil, que teve como objetivo promover saude e desenvolvimento de criancas neste contexto. O enfoque teorico utilizado foi a Abordagem Bioecologica do Desenvolvimento Humano. Conhecimentos sobre familia, educacao infantil e atuacao do psicologo sao apresentados. Foram definidas duas demandas de atuacao: as familias e os professores/coordenacao. Por meio das intervencoes realizadas, a saber, curso de capacitacao para professores, visitas as familias, participacao em reunioes, constatou-se que esta contribuiu para a formacao de uma parceria entre os contextos da creche e da familia.This study presents the report of a supervised training in Psychology developed in an early child education institution and which aimed to promote the health and development of children in this context. The used theoretical framework was the Bioecological Perspectives on Human Development. Knowledge about family, early child education and the psychologists practices are presented. Two demands of interventions were defined: families and teachers/coordinators. It was possible to perceive that the performed interventions, that is, training course to teachers, visits to families, participation in meetings, contributed to create a partnership between the context of the day care service and families.

Social Class, Workplace Experience, and Child-Rearing Values of Mothers and Fathers in Southern Brazil

We investigated associations among social class, parents’ work experiences, and their child-rearing values in a sample of mothers and fathers drawn from southern Brazil, testing Kohn’s hypothesis that parents who experience greater decision-making autonomy at work and who perceive their jobs to be more complex will be more likely to value self-direction and less likely to value conformity in their children. We also tested the hypothesis that the relation between social class and values would be mediated by workplace experiences. Participants included 68 parents (38 mothers, 30 fathers; 46 working class, 22 middle class) of 36-month-old children who were part of a longitudinal study. Correlation analyses revealed few associations among social class, workplace experiences, and child-rearing values among the mothers, but among the fathers these variables associated in the expected direction. The results also indicated that workplace experience mediates the relation between social class and values, although only for fathers. Our findings supported Kohn’s hypothesis regarding differences between social-class groups and highlighted that the relation between work experience and parental values varied by parents’ gender. Social and cultural issues regarding work context and parental values between women and men in southern Brazil are discussed.

Etnoteorias parentais: um estudo com mães residentes no interior e na capital de Santa Catarina

The aim of this study was to investigate parental ethnotheories of mothers living in the capital city and in the countryside of Santa Catarina State. In each cultural environment, fifty mothers were interviewed based on scales that evaluated their beliefs about childrearing practices, socialization goals and degree of familism. Results from the capital demonstrated a predominance of autonomous-related elements for practices and familism, whereas in terms of socialization goals, mothers valued the autonomy of the child. In the countryside, relational aspects were identified for socialization goals and familism. However, for beliefs about childrearing practices it has been noted emphasis on autonomy. The conclusion was that both contexts are characterized by an autonomous-related self, although with different emphases according to the dimension investigated.

Culture and developmental trajectories: a discussion on contemporary theoretical models

This paper aims to describe, compare and discuss the theoretical models proposed by Patricia Greenfield, Çiğdem Kağitçibaşi and Heidi Keller. Their models have the common goal of understanding the developmental trajectories of self based on dimensions of autonomy and relatedness that are structured according to specific cultural and environmental aspects. They bring an important contribution to research in the area of Psychology that takes into account the role of context. Greenfield emphasises the importance of socio-demographic variables and social change. For Kağitçibaşi, family plays an important role in self-development, which is understood from two dimensions: agency and interpersonal distance. Finally, Keller contributes to understanding the biologically cultural nature of human development, considering phylogenetic and ontogenetic aspects. The integration and further methodological improvements of three models may have important contributions to the understanding of developmental trajectories in their universal, cultural and socio-demographic aspects.

Crenças e práticas de cuidado entre mães residentes em capitais e pequenas cidades Brasileiras

This study aimed to compare both beliefs and care practices of mothers living in capital cities and small towns. Three hundred seven mothers living in capital cities and 299 in small towns answered a scale that assesses primary care and stimulation. A sociodemographic questionnaire has also been used. The results indicated that mothers from small towns reported developing significantly more practices of primary care than the ones who live in the capitals. Mothers from the capitals value and practice more stimulation than primary care. The age of the child and the educational level of the mother explained significantly the stimulation results. Therefore, it seems there is some similarity in the practices and beliefs of mothers which are independent of the context where they live. There are also different emphases on health care practices, but these are influenced by sociodemographic variables depending on each context.

Desenvolvimento humano e cultura: integração entre filogênese, ontogênese e contexto sociocultural

O presente artigo tem como objetivo principal apresentar reflexao teorica sobre a integracao entre aspectos da historia filogenetica do ser humano e a historia de desenvolvimento ontogenetico, considerando o contexto sociocultural onde o individuo esta inserido. Pressupostos da Psicologia do Desenvolvimento Evolucionista, da Psicologia Transcultural e da Psicologia da Cultura sao utilizados como referenciais teoricos. Conceitos como epigenese sao apresentados para indicar a relacao entre genetica e fatores ambientais. Diferentes conceitos de cultura tambem sao expostos e discutidos criticamente. Por fim, relacoes entre modelos culturais de independencia e interdependencia com as trajetorias de desenvolvimento sao apresentadas e discutidas. Atraves da analise critica apresentada, conclui-se que o estudo do desenvolvimento (em suas dimensoes em termos de filogenese e ontogenese) mediado pelo contexto sociocultural e consistente e representa um modelo promissor para gerar programas de pesquisas inovadores e originais.

Psicologia evolucionista: uma perspectiva em expansão

Evolutionary Psychology (EP) is a broad theoretic field within Psychology that to understand human nature from the standpoint of evolutionary perspective of neo-Darwinism. Although its emergence dates back to the 1980’s, EP has developed in Brazil only in this century. The aim of the present study was to review systematically the Brazilian scientific publications related to EP and compare them to the international publications in the same period. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature was carried out on the following databases: Virtual Health Library, CAPES Theses Database, and PsycINFO. Studies containing the keyword “Evolutionary Psychology” or its correspondent version in Portuguese were used. The search was carried out considering studies available on the databases until 2010. Brazilian publications were classified by subject matter and method employed, whereas frequencies by year were computed for international studies. Although results showed a growing number of publications related to EP as a general tendency, there were few empirical studies in the area in Brazil. Non-systematic reviews of the literature and studies on general aspects of the evolutionary approach comprised the major part of Brazilian publications. The need of further empirical studies in the area in Brazil, particularly investigations of issues related to personality and psychopathology, is highlighted.