Concepts of Adaptive and Maladaptive Child Behavior

Abstract

Maternal concepts of desirable and undesirable child characteristics were compared across two contrastive cultures: Japan and the United States. Sixty mothers of preschool-age children, half from Japan and half from the United States, were asked to describe the behavioral characteristics they found most desirable and undesirable in young children and to choose one characteristic in each list that they considered most highly positive or negative. In describing positive characteristics, mothers in both cultures tended to emphasize social cooperativeness and interpersonal sensitivity. However, concerns about positive emotional adjustment were more salient among U.S. than Japanese mothers. Comparisons of negative behaviors revealed striking cultural contrasts. U.S. mothers were far more likely than Japanese mothers to designate aggressive and disruptive behaviors as negative, whereas Japanese mothers tended to highlight social insensitivity and uncooperativeness. Moreover, qualities of emotional maladjustment were described by U.S. mothers, but did not appear in the Japanese protocols.