Child-rearing Goals Research Articles

Co‐sleeping as a window into Swedish culture: considerations of gender and health care

The purpose of this study is to examine the Swedish practice of co-sleeping and relate it to the cultural discourse on the gendered family and health. The Swedish study, part of the International Study of Parents, Children and Schools, focuses on some Western parents' ideas about health, child development, child-rearing goals and parental practices. It also addressed specific questions regarding parents' theories about the nature, gender and frequency of co-sleeping in Swedish families. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected with five cohorts of parents and their 60 children who ranged in age from 6 months to 8 years. The sample was balanced for sex and birth order. Parents completed batteries of standardized questionnaires and they were interviewed about their beliefs and practices related to child rearing and child development. A questionnaire about co-sleeping was sent post hoc to the families. The results showed that Swedish children often co-sleep with both their parents until school age, when more boys than girls cease the practice. This is an important finding, because much of the literature suggests that this practice exists primarily for infants in non-Western cultures who co-sleep with their mothers. Co-sleeping in Sweden is perceived as a normal family activity, which differed from the other societies studied. Thus, the study of practice has important methodological implications. When a family practice is studied, carefully documented and understood in its many dimensions, it provides a window into the culture in which the practice is embedded and may explain how gender relates to the practice. For health-care professionals who encounter families from diverse cultural backgrounds, this methodological approach illustrates how parenting practices relate to health-care issues.

Russian child care goals and values: from Perestroika to 2001

Salient goals and values of early childhood educators in six Moscow child care centers were compared to those of a decade ago (before the collapse of the USSR). Current goals and values were determined from interviews, observations, and recent Russian pedagogical books. Educators’ opinions about changes in children and parents were also ascertained. Good health, kindness, politeness, and appreciation of beauty continue to be important childrearing goals. Changes include more emphasis on goals with an individualistic flavor (happiness and self-confidence), more attention to fostering appreciation for Russian history and culture, and more focus on academic preparation for school. Early childhood educators view today’s children as more relaxed, more spontaneous, more noncompliant, less idealistic and innocent, and less skilled at the time of enrollment than their predecessors. They view today’s parents as more assertive and more knowledgeable about the potential of child care to contribute to children’s development, and yet as investing less time in their children than parents of a decade ago. These changes are related to change in the wider society.

Ethnic Category Labels, Parental Beliefs, and the Contextualized Individual: An Exploration of the Individualism - Sociocentrism Debate

Objective. Research has suggested that parenting practices reflect cultural meaning systems. Recent debate regarding the use of individualism and sociocentrism as broad constructs that describe parents' cultural meaning systems have centered on the adequacy of such terms to capture the multiplicity of individual orientations that exist within any group. Concomitantly, concerns have been raised that ethnic category labels may be combined with the use of such constructs in a stereotypical way. Design. This study examines group differences and similarities in the relative importance of individualistic versus sociocentric childrearing values as expressed in the long-term socialization goals of 106 middle-class European American and Puerto Rican mothers of infants aged 8 through 18 months. Analyses were conducted using both conventional statistics and statistical tools developed within the field of anthropology. Results. Analyses indicate the existence of coherent belief patterns across the 2 groups, as well as of considerable heterogeneity within both groups. In particular, a majority of European American mothers express long-term goals that emphasize more individualistic goals, such as the child's maximization of the self, whereas a majority of Puerto Rican mothers articulate beliefs that focus on more sociocentric goals, such as the child's proper demeanor. However, within each group considerable heterogeneity exists as well. Conclusions. Additional research is needed regarding factors associated with differing childrearing goals and their implications for the organization of parent - child interactions among diverse groups.

Feeding Practices and Expectations among Middle-Class Anglo and Puerto Rican Mothers of 12-Month-Old Infants

Beliefs and practices regarding infant feeding were examined among middle-class Puerto Rican and Anglo mothers of 12-month-old infants. In particular, Anglo mothers in Connecticut and Puerto Rican mothers in San Juan were interviewed regarding their expectations for the attainment of selected feeding-related milestones and observed in an actual feeding situation with their infants. Results indicate that the two groups of mothers demonstrate coherent clusters of beliefs and practices with regard to infant feeding at 12 months. In particular, Anglo mothers reported earlier attainment of self-feeding milestones and a greater emphasis on child-rearing goals related to self-maximization, whereas Puerto Rican mothers reported later attainment of self-feeding and a greater emphasis on child-rearing goals related to proper demeanor. Findings are interpreted as providing evidence for the existence of coherent patterns of beliefs and behaviors within each group, with Puerto Rican mothers’ patterns differing from those more commonly found among Anglo, middle-class mothers.

A family ecological analysis of child care use in Hong Kong

This study examines the views on and use of day care for young children among white‐collar working women from a family ecological perspective. Discrepancies between perceived ideal and actual choice of child care were observed. Care provided by family kin was an ideal used with reservation, the employment of foreign domestic helpers was a reluctant choice, while the use of formal care was largely unexplored. The findings of this study demonstrate how individual families' child‐rearing goals are supported and constrained by contextual factors within the ecology. Implications for policies on child care in Hong Kong are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ethnic Identity Beliefs of Young Adults and Their Parents in Families of Mexican Descent

Goodnow’s (1992) two-step model of intergeneration agreement was applied to parental socialization of ethnic identity. Young adults of Mexican descent (M = 20.3 years, SD =3.1) completed questionnaires on their ethnic beliefs, their perceptions of their parents’ beliefs, and their relationships with their parents. Parents of the young adults answered questions about their own ethnic beliefs and their childrearing goals and practices. The relation between parents’beliefs and young adults’beliefs was mediated by young adults’ perceptions of their parents’ beliefs. The difference between young adults’ beliefs and their mother’s beliefs was a function of the accuracy of young adults’perceptions of their mother’s beliefs and their desire to be like their mothers. The difference between young adults’beliefs and their father’s beliefs was a function of the accuracy of young adults’ perceptions of their father’s beliefs.

A Comparison of the Child-Rearing Goals of Russian and U.S. University Students

Russian and U.S. university students rated the importance of four child-rearing goals. Compared to U.S. students, Russian students placed lower value on rule conformity and higher value on peer orientation and neatness/cleanliness. Russian students rated inquisitiveness as most important, peer orientation as second, neatness/cleanliness as third, and rule conformity as least important. U.S. students also rated inquisitiveness as most important but rated rule conformity and peer orientation equally as second and neatness/cleanliness as least important.

Socialization of Religious Beliefs

The authors applied Goodnow's 1992 two-step model of intergeneration agreement to parental socialization of religious beliefs. Young adults (18–25 years) completed questionnaires on their religious beliefs and their perceptions of their parents' beliefs, their parents' child-rearing goals and behaviors, and their relationships with their parents. Parents of the young adults answered questions about their own religious beliefs and their child-rearing goals and practices. The relationship between parents' beliefs and young adults' beliefs was mediated by young adults' perceptions of their parents' beliefs. Accuracy of young adults' perceptions of parents' beliefs was related to the degree to which parents' wanted their children to adopt their faith, modeled engagement in religious activities, and used multiple approaches to encourage the development of their children's faith. Young adults' beliefs were a function of parents' beliefs, accuracy of their perceptions of parents' beliefs, and desire to share parents' beliefs.

The Role of Parental Religious Fundamentalism and Right-Wing Authoritarianism in Child-Rearing Goals and Practices

Two studies assessed how people's religious orientation and their endorsement of right-wing authoritarian attitudes are linked to the kinds of goals they establish for their children, and their approval of corporal punishment. In Study 1, a survey of 204 undergraduate students revealed that their religious fundamentalism was linked indirectly to greater emphasis on obedience in a hypothetical child-rearing situation through the desire to keep their children in their religious faith; and to greater approval of corporal punishment through greater valuation of obedience. In Study 2, 83 mothers and 71 fathers of university students responded to a questionnaire designed to examine the hypotheses that while parents' religious fundamentalism would be negatively related to their endorsement of child autonomy, it would be positively linked to stronger desires to keep children in their religious faith, to greater emphasis on obedience and to greater approval of corporal punishment in child-rearing. Also, it was expected that parents' right-wing authoritarian attitudes would be linked to their fundamentalist religious orientation, as well as to greater emphasis on obedience and approval of corporal punishment. Results from the zero-order correlations were in keeping with the hypotheses. However, a mediation (regression) analysis indicated that parents' right-wing authoritarianism was a better predictor of their child-rearing attitudes than was religious fundamentalism. Fundamentalism, however, proved important in predicting parents' goal of socializing their children to accept their religious faith.

Family Ecologies of Ethnic Minority Children

This article discusses a proposed interconnectedness between the ecologies of ethnic minority families, adaptive strategies, socialization goals, and child behavioral outcomes. The ethnic minority groups included are African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian Pacific Americans, and Hispanics. Demographic information on population size, geographic area of concentration, and preferred identity terms is provided. It is argued that adaptive strategies, including extendedness of families and role flexibility, biculturalism, and ancestral worldview, emerge from the ecological challenges of ethnic stratification status. These adaptive strategies foster the child-rearing goals of positive orientation to the ethnic group and socialization for interdependence, which in turn enhance the developmental outcomes of cognitive flexibility and sensitivity to discontinuities among ethnic minority children.

Class Differences in the Socialization Practices of Negro Mothers

Class differences in the socialization practices of Negro mothers were investigated in the context of their child-rearing goals. Direct observation of mother-child interactions in the homes and a card-sorting method of studying child-rearing goals led to the conclusion that middleand lower-lower-class Negro mothers do not differ fundamentally in their goals, but they differ considerably in their socialization practices. The relationship of these practices to the development of anaclitic identification, internal controls, and subsequent conformity to society's norms was discussed, along with the implication of these conclusions for education.