Aka parents are reasoned to maintain closer proximity to infants because the group moves in search of food more frequently than do Ngandu. For example, young infants among the nomadic hunter-gatherer Aka are more likely to be held and fed in close proximity to their caregivers than are infants from Ngandu farming communities who are more likely to be left by themselves, even though these two traditional groups live close to one another in central Africa ( Hewlett, Lamb, Shannon, Leyendecker, & Schoelmerich, 1998). Moreover, culture-specific patterns of childrearing can be expected to adapt to each society’s specific setting and needs. For example, in the United States personal choice is firmly rooted in principles of liberty and freedom, is closely bound up with how individuals conceive of themselves and make sense of their lives, and is a persistent and significant construct in the literature on parenting ( Tamis-LeMonda & McFadden, 2010). For example, parents in most societies speak to babies and rightly see them as comprehending interactive partners long before infants produce language, whereas parents in some societies think that it is nonsensical to talk to infants before children themselves are capable of speech ( Ochs, 1988).Ĭultural cognitions and practices instantiate themes that communicate consistent cultural messages ( Quinn & Holland, 1987). Indeed, culturally constructed beliefs can be so powerful that parents are known to act on them, setting aside what their senses might tell them about their own children. Parents normally organize and distribute their caregiving faithful to indigenous cultural belief systems and behavior patterns. For example, European American and Puerto Rican mothers of toddlers believe in the differential value of individual autonomy versus connected interdependence, a contrast that in turn relates to mothers’ actual caregiving ( Harwood, Schoelmerich, Schulze, & Gonzalez, 1999): Where European American mothers use suggestions (rather than commands) and other indirect means of structuring their children’s behavior, Puerto Rican mothers use more direct means of structuring, such as commands, physical positioning and restraints, and direct attempts to recruit their children’s attention. Children’s experiences with their parents within a cultural context consequently scaffold them to become culturally competent members of their society. Culture helps to construct parents and parenting, and culture is maintained and transmitted by influencing parental cognitions that in turn are thought to shape parenting practices ( Bornstein & Lansford, 2010 Harkness et al., 2007). Thus, having experienced unique patterns of caregiving is a principal reason that individuals in different cultures are who they are and often differ so from one another. These beliefs and behaviors shape how parents care for their offspring. It concludes with an overview of social policy implications and future directions of cultural approaches to parenting.Ĭulture is usefully conceived of as the set of distinctive patterns of beliefs and behaviors that are shared by a group of people and that serve to regulate their daily living. universals, specifics, and the form-versus-function distinction. It first takes up philosophical underpinnings, rationales, and methodological considerations central to cultural approaches to parenting, describes a cross-cultural study of parenting, and then addresses some core issues in cultural approaches to parenting, viz. This article addresses the rapidly increasing research interest in cultural differences in parenting. Cultural variations in parenting beliefs and behaviors are impressive, whether observed among different, say ethnic, groups in one society or across societies in different parts of the world. Central to a concept of culture, therefore, is the expectation that different cultural groups possess distinct beliefs and behave in unique ways with respect to their parenting. These beliefs and behaviors tend to persist over time and constitute the valued competencies that are communicated to new members of the group. Cultural groups thus embody particular characteristics that are deemed essential or advantageous to their members. Cross-cultural study affirms that groups of people possess different beliefs and engage in different behaviors that may be normative in their culture but are not necessarily normative in another culture. Every culture is characterized, and distinguished from other cultures, by deep-rooted and widely acknowledged ideas about how one needs to feel, think, and act as a functioning member of the culture.
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