Childrearing Patterns in Japan and the United States: A Cluster Analytic Study

Abstract

To investigate cultural and individual differences in early socialisation patterns, middle class mothers of 3-to 6-year-old children from Japan and the United States (n = 282) completed a recently developed and validated parenting questionnaire. Results showed that mothers from the United States expected their children to follow more rules than did Japanese mothers, but also reported giving children more input into the socialisation process. Mothers from the United States reported responding more often to child misbehaviour with material/social consequences. Japanese mothers made many fewer demands at this early age, reported being less nurturant, and were more likely to report reasoning with and scolding their child. However, Japanese were more likely than U.S. mothers to report using physical punishment in situations where the child showed disrespect for adult authority. Cluster analyses revealed childrearing patterns similar to Baumrind's (1967) authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian styles among the mothers from the United States and predominantly indulgent and strict styles among the Japanese. The Westernisation of Japanese childrearing practices was evident upon inspection of the cultural make-up of the parenting clusters. Although less than 5% of U.S. mothers showed a Japanese child-rearing style, nearly one-quarter of the Japanese mothers showed a "U.S." style—generally either permissive or authoritative.