Monika Abels

Cultural Models, Socialization Goals, and Parenting Ethnotheories A Multicultural Analysis

This study conceptualizes a cultural model of parenting. It is argued that cultural models are expressed in the degree of familism, which informs socialization goals that are embodied in parenting ethnotheories. Three cultural models were differentiated a priori: independent, interdependent, and autonomous-related. Samples were recruited that were expected to represent these cultural models: German, Euro-American, and Greek middle-class women representing the independent cultural model; Cameroonian Nso and Gujarati farming women representing the interdependent cultural model; and urban Indian, urban Chinese, urban Mexican, and urban Costa Rican women representing the autonomous-related model. These a priori classifications were confirmed with data that addressed different levels of the cultural models of parenting. The authors further confirmed that socialization goals mediate between broader sociocultural orientations (familism) and parenting ethnotheories concerning beliefs about good parenting. The data reveal that the model of autonomous relatedness needs further theoretical and empirical refinement. Problems with empirical studies comparing participants with very different lifestyles are discussed.

The Bio-Culture of Parenting: Evidence From Five Cultural Communities

Objective. This study analyzes culturally formed parenting styles during infancy, as related to the sociocultural orientations of independence and interdependence. Design. Free-play situations between mothers and 3-month-old infants were videotaped in 5 cultural communities that differ according to their sociocultural orientations: cultural communities in West Africa (N = 26), Gujarat in India (N = 39), Costa Rica (N = 21), Greece (N = 51), and Germany (N = 56). The videotapes were analyzed using coding systems that operationalize the component model of parenting with a focus on 4 parenting systems, including body contact, body stimulation, object stimulation, and face-to-face contact. Results. 2 styles of parenting (distal and proximal) can be related to the sociocultural orientations of independence and interdependence. It is apparent that they express parenting priorities in particular ecocultural environments. Conclusions. Infants participate, from birth on, in sociocultural activities that are committed to cultural goals and values which inform parenting behaviors.

The Psycho-linguistic Embodiment of Parental Ethnotheories: A New Avenue to Understanding Cultural Processes in Parental Reasoning

A linguistic discourse analysis of the study of parental ethnotheories is proposed in this paper. It is argued that not only are ideas about parenting informed by the cultural environment, but the ways ideas are formulated in language itself can be understood as expressing cultural codes. In order to identify these cultural codes, we analysed interviews with mothers from independent and interdependent cultural contexts and looked for specific differences in the content and linguistic markers found in these personal narratives. We studied interviews with mothers from: two typically independent cultural communities (middle-class mothers from Los Angeles, USA, and Berlin, Germany); one typical interdependent cultural community (West African Nso farmers); and a cultural community that is believed to combine independent and interdependent orientations (middle-class urban Nso). The styles and analysis enabled us to discover the cultural embodiment of ethnotheories in terms of characteristic linguistic markers associated with independent and interdependent parenting environments. The close association between style and content in the narratives sheds further light on children’s early socialization environments.

Distal and Proximal Parenting as Alternative Parenting Strategies during Infants Early Months of Life. A Cross-Cultural Study

Cultures differ with respect to parenting strategies already during infancy. Distal parenting, i.e., face-to-face context and object stimulation, is prevalent in urban educated middle-class families of Western cultures; proximal parenting, i.e., body contact and body stimulation, is prevalent in rural, low-educated farmer families. Parents from urban educated families in cultures with a more interdependent history use both strategies. Besides these cultural preferences, little is known about the relations between these styles as well as the behavioural systems constituting them. In this study therefore, the relations between the styles and the constituting behaviours were analysed in samples that differ with respect to their preferences of distal and proximal parenting. The hypothesized differences between the samples and the negative relationship between distal and proximal parenting, as well as between the respective behavioural systems can clearly be demonstrated. Furthermore, the impact of the sociodemographic variables with respect to the parenting strategies can be shown. Results were discussed as supporting two alternative parenting strategies that serve different socialization goals.

Similarities and differences in contingency experiences of 3-month-olds across sociocultural contexts.

In this study we analyzed similarities and differences in the contingency experiences of 159 three-month-olds from 6 sociocultural contexts. Across contexts, caretakers responded with similar overall contingency levels, vocalizations provided the dominant response as well as the most salient signal, and there was a relative signal-response correspondence. With two exceptions, infants in all samples most often got responses addressing their sense of hearing, followed by the sense of touch and then sight. In response to nondistress vocalizations, infants from independent contexts (Berlin, Los Angeles) experienced more contingent responses addressing their sense of sight than infants from autonomous-related (Beijing, Delhi, urban Nso from Cameroon) or interdependent contexts (rural Nso). Rural Nso infants experienced more contingent responses addressing their sense of touch than infants from all other but the Los Angeles sample. These results support the interpretation of contingent responsiveness as a part of the intuitive parenting program that manifests differentially depending on culture-specific emphases on distal and proximal caretaking.

Early Reminiscing in Cultural Contexts: Cultural Models, Maternal Reminiscing Styles, and Children's Memories

The present study examined conversations of 164 mothers from seven different cultural contexts when reminiscing with their 3-year-old children. We chose samples based on their sociodemographic profiles, which represented three different cultural models: (1) autonomy (urban middle-class families from Western societies), (2) relatedness (rural farming families from non-Western societies), and (3) autonomy-relatedness (urban middle-class families from non-Western societies). The results showed that mothers from the autonomous contexts predominantly adopted an elaborative-evaluative reminiscing style (variable-oriented approach) and pattern (person-oriented approach). Mothers from the relational contexts mainly adopted a repetitive reminiscing style and pattern. There was greater heterogeneity for style variables among mothers from autonomous-relational contexts; in addition, the person-oriented approach revealed that the majority of mothers from autonomous-relational contexts showed hybrid style patterns. Thus, the cultural models, and their respective orientations towards autonomy and relatedness, were reflected in the way mothers reminisced with their children. The childrens provision of memory elaborations was high in the autonomous contexts, low in the relational contexts, and moderate in the autonomous-relational contexts. Across contexts, maternal evaluations prompted children to contribute memory elaborations. Maternal elaborations were an additional predictor for childrens memory, but only for families from the relational cultural model.

How Usual Is “Play As You Usually Would”? A Comparison of Naturalistic Mother-Infant Interactions with Videorecorded Play Sessions in Three Cultural Communities

In developmental research, mothers are frequently asked to “play as you usually would.” In this study, maternal behavior towards their three-month-olds in three cultural communities (Nso, Cameroon; Gujarati, India; Athens, Greece) was compared between videorecorded “play” situations and naturalistic observations. If there is consistency, videorecorded “play” episodes can be used as a proxy for daily behavior. Body contact, body stimulation, face-to-face situations, and object stimulation were coded. While individual mothers showed consistent levels of body contact and face-to-face and object stimulation in both situations, there were also high correlations across the different types of behaviors. Only body contact and object stimulation correlate significantly across behavioral frames but not with each other across or within either observational frame. They can therefore be understood as behaviors with some discriminatory power. Mothers generally show a higher frequency of behaviors in the videorecorded play situations than during the everyday observations across all three communities. However, the samples differ in the extent to which three of the four behaviors are seen more in the videorecorded play sessions. A broader and general understanding of mothers’ ethnotheories and daily activities in each community is required in order to interpret videographed “play as you usually would” situations.