Poster group
Details of individual items:
poster
Cultural background shapes one's childrearing beliefs and behaviors, even within one society. As countries such as the United States become increasingly culturally diverse, it is important todocument normative parenting beliefs and practices for different cultural groups in order to morefully understand children's development. This study takes a step toward describing normativebeliefs and practices for parenting infants and relations between parenting beliefs and behaviorsfor middle-class Japanese Americans and South American-U.S. families. Japanese Americansand South American-U.S. mothers allow for an interesting comparison because, although they represent industrialized Eastern and Western cultures, they are believed to value interdependencewith others (especially family) more than independence, cultural values which are believed toimpact parenting practices. Mothers' social and didactic beliefs and behaviors toward theirinfants were singled out for study because social (interpersonal interaction) and didactic(encouraging exploration of the environment) domains of interaction are particularly salientparenting practices during early infancy. Previous cross-cultural research has shown differencesin Japanese and South American mothers' beliefs about and engagement in social and didacticbehaviors with their infants; however, little is known about maternal beliefs and behaviorsamong these immigrant groups. Thirty-six Japanese American and 41 South American-U.S.mothers and infants were observed in naturalistic interactions; mothers also filled outquestionnaires regarding specific parenting behaviors. Both Japanese American and SouthAmerican-U.S. mothers reported that they engaged in more social than didactic behaviors withtheir infants, a finding which supports the ideas that both Japanese American and SouthAmerican-U.S. cultures are sociocentric more than individualistic and generally valueinterpersonal relationships and social interactions. However, Japanese American mothersactually engaged in significantly fewer social than didactic behaviors with their infants, a findingwhich conflicts with mothers' own reports of their behaviors. The contradiction betweenJapanese American mothers' reports of their behaviors and their actual behaviors, coupled withthe finding that Japanese American mothers rated all behaviors on the questionnaire less stronglythan South American-U.S. mothers, suggests that mothers from different cultures may interpretand use the same questionnaire differently even when measures have been standardized for theircultural group. The findings of relations between global beliefs and absolute observed socialbehaviors for Japanese American mothers, and between specific beliefs and proportionalobserved didactic behaviors for South American-U.S. mothers, further suggest that JapaneseAmerican and South American-U.S. mothers may approach questionnaires and self-reportsdifferently because they think about themselves differently. In particular, Japanese Americanmothers appear to think about the absolute amount of time they engage in particular childrearingbehaviors during a 24-hour day, whereas South American-U.S. mothers appear to think abouttheir behavior relative to all their other behaviors with their infant. Thus, it would appear that thelevel of analysis (global vs. specific) and the unit of analysis (subscale scores vs. item scores) arecritical components of what researchers can expect to find in their data, particularly with diversecultural groups. It is important to describe normative parenting beliefs and behaviors towardinfants and belief-behavior relations among diverse U.S. cultural groups in order to more fullyunderstand factors which influence infant development.
poster
Past research has highlighted the influence of parents on thedevelopment of social competence in young children. Further, parents'interpretations of their children's behavior in different situations,influence their own perceptions of and behavior toward their children. Fromthe moment of birth, children are engaged in interactions that influencethe development of their ability to interact with others in culturallyacceptable ways. Differences among cultures have been reported both inbeliefs about children's behavior and in behavior toward children invarious daily parent-child interaction situations. These differences inturn are related to how children view themselves, and to what behaviorsthey come to consider as appropriate ways of being. This poster will expand on our past research exploring mothers'perceptions of the social competence benefits of parent-child interactionat 12 months of age. The data are based on qualitative analysis ofinterviews conducted with mothers from different cultural backgrounds anddiscussed and interpreted by a team of researchers representing these samebackgrounds. To date we have analyzed the interviews of approximately 12-15mothers from each of Korean, Taiwanese, and European-American backgrounds,and of 3-5 mothers from each of African-American and Hispanic backgrounds.Each mother was interviewed in her home or another location of her choice,by an individual from her own background. The totality of these interviewswas used in an iterative, ongoing process of understanding mothers'interpretations of their interactions with their babies. As interviews arediscussed and coded, emerging themes related to benefits and maternalstategies are refined and checked for consistency across dyads. One of the hypotheses that has emerged from this ongoing process isthat mothers' perceptions of the relationships between particular socialcompetence benefits and particular material strategies may differ acrosscultures. That is, mothers from different cultural backgrounds may thinkdifferently about the importance of particular roles in relation toparticular social competence benefits. Thus, one potential avenue toexplore with respect to understanding interactions across cultures is toexamine ways of characterizing mothers' perceptions of these links. In aprevious analysis, we have applied this hypothesis to interviews with 13Taiwanese mothers (Chen & McCollum, submitted for publication) by examiningthe contingent probabilities between two components of social competence(social and emotional) and five maternal roles (teacher, facilitator,partner, entertainer, caregiver) that emerged from our interviews. We foundthat whereas social components of social competence were more likely thanexpected to be described in conjunction with a teaching role, emotionalcomponents were more likely to be described in conjunction with caregivingor facilitator roles. In this poster, we will present a similar analysisfor interviews with European-American dyads, and will compare the patternsof contingency with those found among the Taiwanese mothers. In addition,illustrative comments from the mothers will be used to describe the rangeof meanings captured within categories.
poster
The goal of the present study was to examine the development ofmaternalself-efficacy beliefs during the prenatal and early postnatal periods.Maternalself-efficacy beliefs refer to a mother s expectations about the degree towhich she is able to perform competently and effectively as a mother (Teti &Gelfand, 1991). An expanding body of research has linked maternalself-efficacybeliefs to maternal behavioral competency, suggesting that maternalself-efficacy may play a causal role in producing good parenting. Twenty-four Caucasian, middle-class mothers, half primiparous and halfmultiparous, participated in the study. The mothers completed a battery ofquestionnaires at 12, 24, and/or 36 weeks of pregnancy and at 3 and/or 6monthsafter their child s birth. Mothers completed a background questionnaire prenatally. They alsocompleted the Maternal Efficacy Questionnaire (MEQ; Teti & Gelfand, 1991), theParenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC; Gibaud-Wallston & Wandersman,1978),the Prenatal Maternal Expectations Scale (PMES; Coleman, Nelson, & Sundre,1999), and the Desire to Be a Parent Scale (DTBP; newly developed scale) bothprenatally and postnatally, with wording modified as appropriate. The PSOCsubscales of efficacy (PSOC-EFF) and satisfaction (PSOC-SAT) were scored, aswere the PMES subscales of baby characteristics (BABY), enjoyment of mothering(ENJOY), changes in relations with others (FRIENDS), changes in quality oflife(LIFE), and images of herself as a mother (IMAGE). Questionnaire scores wereaveraged across the three prenatal administrations and across the twopostnataladministrations. Reported analyses focus on the MEQ and PSOC-EFF. Parity wasunrelated toall scores. Average prenatal and postnatal MEQ scores were significantlycorrelated (r .60), but PSOC-EFF scores were not. Prenatal MEQ and PSOC-EFFscores were significantly correlated with each other (r .53) as were thepostnatal scores (r .82). Prenatal MEQ scores were significantly correlatedwith prenatal DTBP (r .41) and PMES total (r .58) scores, as well as thePMES subscale scores of BABY (r .44), ENJOY (r .44), and IMAGE (r .54).Prenatal PSOC-EFF scores were significantly correlated with PMES scores (r .57), as well as the PMES subscale scores of BABY (r .65), ENJOY (r .46),and IMAGE (r .55). Postnatally, neither MEQ nor PSOC-EFF scores werecorrelated with the other measures. None of the prenatal scores except MEQsignificantly predicted postnatal MEQ (r .60) or PSOC-EFF (r .78) scores.One item from the background questionnaire, prior experience with children,wasfound to be significantly correlated with postnatal, but not prenatal, MEQ(r .69) and PSOC-EFF (r .65) scores. These findings suggest that mothers develop reasonably accurateexpectations during pregnancy concerning the self-efficacy they willexperienceas new mothers. These prenatal expectations are associated with, and may bepartially a function of, the desire to be a parent and a variety of otherexpectations concerning what mothers lives will be like with a young infant.Postnatal self-efficacy also was related to mothers prior experience withchildren, suggesting that mothers with more prior experience find mothering aninfant easier and more rewarding. Further research will examine the prenataland postnatal attitudinal correlates of competent mothering.
poster
Psychologists increasingly emphasize that the culture in which aninfant lives influences developmental processes and developmentaloutcome. This notion is articulated particularly well by theorists suchas Vygotsky (1978), who identifies more mature members of an infant'sculture as guides who support infants as they attempt increasinglydifficult and challenging tasks. Less is known about how caregivers'ideas about developmental processes, often referred to as a naEFvepsychology of development (Goodnow, 1988), might influence caregivingpractices. The developmental ideas of women who share common cultural originsand have migrated to different regions may have retained similarities,or they may have diverged because of different experiences with membersof the dominant culture of the new region (Bentacourt & Lopez, 1993).The ideas about development of West African women whose ancestorsmigrated to the United States because of slavery in the eighteenth andnineteenth centuries may have retained some similarities despite furthermigration to different regions of the United States, and they may haveretained some similarities to the ideas of West African women. In thisstudy, a comparison is made between the developmental ideas of AfricanAmerican women from the Gullah region of South Carolina where thedescendents of enslaved West Africans have lived quite separately fromthe larger community, African American women in middle Tennessee wherefamilies have lived in close proximity to the larger southern community,and West African women who are recent immigrants to the southeasternUnited States and live in a metropolitan area. Participants in this study included 36 mothers of young children,twelve from each of three communities: 12 from Chattanooga, Tennessee;12 from St. Helena, South Carolina; and 12 mothers from Sierra Leone,West Africa, who immigrated to Atlanta, Georgia. A semi-structuredinterview was developed based on the Battelle Developmental Schedulesand included queries concerning mothers' ideas and expectations aboutthe domains of gross motor, language, social, cognitive and adaptivedevelopment. Mothers were also asked about abnormal development, theircriteria for determining when development is not normal, and theirsources for help and support with developmental concerns. Several interesting themes emerged related to mothers' attribution ofthe contribution of maturation vs. their own teaching to the developmentof gross motor skills. Mothers from Sierra Leone identified maturationas having the most influence on the development of independent walking,whereas more mothers from St. Helena and Chattanooga thought thatwalking was also influenced by their own teaching. Mothers in all threecommunities identified family members more than professionals as theirpreferred source of help/support for concerns regarding weaning andtoilet training. Mothers from Chattanooga were more likely to use slowgross motor development as criteria for determining atypicaldevelopment, whereas mothers from Sierra Leone identifiedphysical/medical causes. Such heterogeneity may not have a simpleexplanation, but does emphasize the risk of viewing women of Africandecent in too monolithic a manner.
poster
This study examines the relationship between stated goals for parenting andhow parents shape their infants' early intentional behavior. Parents infour American cultural groups (Japanese-, Filipino-, Hawaiian- andCaucasian-Americans [n389]) were asked to list the characteristics theymost wanted their children to develop by adulthood. A frequency count wasconducted of all desired characteristics, using the word-search capabilitiesof 'Microsoft Word'. Descriptors were found to cluster around 10 maincategories and the following cultural profiles emerged.Filipino-American parents [FA n72] mentioned characteristics such asobedience, respect and rule-following most frequently (17% of all FAmentions) and significantly more frequently than did parents in the othergroups. Hawaiian parents [HA n64] mentioned kindness, generosity andprosocial features most frequently (35% of all HA mentions), andsignificantly more than did others. Caucasians [CA n90] mentionedcreativity, imaginativeness, and playfulness most frequently (19% of all CAmentions) and more frequently than did others. Japanese parents [JA n163]mentioned prosocial behaviors most frequently (24% of all JA mentions) andstrong ethics and high morals (16%) significantly more frequently than didother parents.Videotaped mother-infant interactions were microanalyzed for a subsample ofthese parents, who had infants and toddlers (3 to 24 months old) (n90).Videotapes were coded to determine the mother's attentiveness,responsiveness, directiveness and expressiveness, and how she responded toinfant intentional actions.FA mothers (n ), with stated goals of obedience, attended to their infantsthe second most frequently of all groups, but also directed and correctedthem the most. They encouraged eating manners early on, regulated thetiming and amount of eating and allowed little exploration. HA mothers(n21), with stated goals of prosocial but independent behavior, attendedless to their infants as they socialized with other adults during thesemeals, modeling sociability. They oriented their infants toward others inthe group, reinforced prosocial intentional acts (such as greetings) butdiscouraged self-absorbed intentional actions (such as isolated objectplay). CA mothers (n23) with stated goals of creativity andimaginativeness, encouraged self-reliance and exploration during mealtimesand delighted in infants' intentional acts-particularly when these violatedexpected forms-encouraging rule-violations. JA mothers (n26), with statedprosocial and ethical goals, were most attentive and responsive toward theirinfants and carefully shaped infant-initiated moves until they conformedwith group-desired forms.It is concluded that from early experiences such as these: FA children learnto wait for authorities to shape goal-directed actions; HA children learn toengage in prosocial actions and to develop personal goals in the socialdomain; CA children learn to develop distinct goals for action which deviatefrom group expectations and JA infants learn to shape personal goals toclosely match those of the attentive, benevolent adults.