This document discusses cultural influences on parenting. It defines culture and describes two main cultural models of parenting - the interdependent/collectivist model and the independent model. The interdependent model, practiced in Asia and Africa, emphasizes the importance of the social group over the individual. The independent model, practiced in Europe and North America, emphasizes independence and individual agency. Cultural transmission occurs through habituation, social interactions, emotional and cognitive processes. Socioeconomic status and poverty can also influence parenting beliefs and behaviors.

1. Cultural Influences
on Parenting Lecture 2

2. Definition of Culture
• A system of values, beliefs, ways of thinking, routines,
rituals, and institutions established by a group
• Group may be large, like a country, or small like a
family or a classroom
• Provides a way of seeing the world, analyzing
problems, what we talk about, what we remember

3. Culture provides a Developmental
Niche that Prescribes:
• Physical and social settings for parents and children
• e.g., where children sleep, play
• Psychological characteristics valued in parents and
children
• Recommended parenting practices and behaviors for
family members

4. Two Main Cultural Models
Interdependent/Collectivist Model
• Developed from early hunter/gatherer societies
• Widely practiced in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South
America
• Older model, more widely used
•Independent Model
• Developed from Greek civilization
• Primary emphasis on the individual and individual agency
• Widely practiced in Europe, North America, Australia and New
Zealand

5. Interdependent/Collectivist
Model
• Emphasizes importance of the social group
• Self is defined by membership in the social system,
especially the family and the community
• e.g., being a son or daughter
• Independent self does not exist apart from group
• Individual’s role is to understand others’ needs and
adjust to them

6. Child-Rearing in Interdependent
Model
• Rear socially responsible person
• Emphasis on learning through observation,
participating in activities
• Verbal messages are primarily given for directives,
corrections, little praise
• Parents have obligations to help children even when
grown

7. Advantages/Stresses of
Interdependent Model
• Individual has stress of restraining own thoughts and
feelings
• Individual has stress of accommodating behavior to meet
others’ needs
• However, individual is secure that others will help in times
of need

8. Variations in Culture
Interdependent Model
• Is interpreted in slightly different ways in different
culture
• For example: China pressures often come from
authority figures
• Another example: Japan pressures may come from
peers at work or at home

9. Independent Model
• Emphasizes importance of the independent individual
• Social system is a collection of independent individuals
striving to achieve goals
• Social relationships are mainly interactions to encourage to
cooperate with your goals
• one feels connected to others as one influences them
• Emphasis on self and achievement encourages analysis of
situations into parts and logical strategies to achieve goals

10. Child Rearing in Independent
Model
• Rear independent individual, able to make decisions
• Learning is through verbal means of asking questions,
listening to directions, negotiating, frequent praise for
child
• Child is encouraged to express opinions
• Parents help grown children if they want to

11. Advantages/Stresses of
Independent Model
• Individual is free to have own wishes, pursue own
goals
• But anxiety comes from fear of failure and lack of
guaranteed help in times of need

12. Variations in Culture
Independent Model
Family time has different meanings in each country
•In the Netherlands
• Family time is spent with the whole family together
• Parents believe in importance of daily schedules and long
hours of sleep
•In the US.
• Family time is often one parent with one child
• Parents are more permissive with sleep time resulting in
more irregular sleep

13. Dynamic Nature of Culture
• Culture can shift as living circumstances change
• For example, descendants of Japanese who migrated and
settled on remote island had scores on tests of cultural
orientation more similar to those of Americans who settled
frontiers
• As countries have become more industrialized and urbanized,
they shift to a more independent model
• When cultures shift, it is important to keep some of the ties to
the traditional roots

14. Transmission of Culture
Konner – 4 General Ways
• Cultural habituation
• living the culture
• Learning through social interactions
• people explain culture, give instructions what to do
• Emotional enculturation
• identifying with the actions of loved ones and copying them
• Cognitive enculturation
• learning ways of perceiving from language, stories,
narratives that shape how we think

15. Other Ways of Learning Culture
• Rituals and celebrations
• Stories parents and children tell
• Conversations between parents and children from young ages
• Play with other children often leads to rehearsing roles
important in the culture
• Religious and spiritual activities convey group’s most important
values

16. Everyday Activities Around the
World That Teach Children Cultural
Values
• Parents care for babies in many different ways
• But all contain necessary elements so babies around the world
become attached to parents
• But all contain necessary elements so babies walk at about the
same age
• But all contain necessary elements so babies develop language
at about the same age

17. Tudge’s Overall Conclusion
• Children absorb culture from the intersection of their
country’s values, the values of their social status group,
and their own personal interests
• Children in all cultures revealed individual differences,
some pushing for conversations or work, some wanting
lessons
• So learning cultural values included these three major
influences

18. Similarity of Problem Behaviors
Reported by Parents
in 24 Countries
• Although countries varied in number of problems,
parents of young children were concerned about three
problems in 22 of 24 societies:
• Can’t stand waiting
• Demands must be met immediately
• Wants a lot of attention

19. Older Children
• Biggest factor shaping behaviors of older children around
the world is the level of industrialization in the country
• In industrialized countries, children’s major block of time
is spent away from parents in school
• In non-industrialized countries children spend time in work
with parents

20. Influence of Socioeconomic
Status (SES) on Parenting
• SES is based on occupation, education, and income that
can change from time to time
• When families have average incomes, income is less an
influence on parenting beliefs and behavior than parents’
education and occupational status
•
• When income is low, at the poverty level, it has a greater
impact on parents’ behavior than any other variable,
e.g., ethnic background

21. Middle Class Parents
• More child-centered, talk to children, listen to feelings, give
choices, engage them in solving joint problems
• Use more positive words – young child in professional family
hears positive statement about his behavior or questions, 30
times an hour, and prohibitions about 5 times an hour
• Demand much of children’s time in terms of activities that are
designed to develop skills
• Teach children to approach other adults in self-assertive way
so children feel confident outside home and family

22. Working Class Parents
More parent-centered, see selves as authorities, more likely to
give directives, less interested in child’s feelings or input, more
likely to be harsh and punitive when child does not comply
Less language directed at children and more critical in
comments but still, less so than parents living in poverty
Have less confidence in dealing with school officials and outside
professional people, and their children often share parents’
uneasiness with authority figures
Place fewer constraints on leisure activities so children are freer
to play with friends

23. Effects of Poverty Status on
Children
• Poor children are at higher risk for:
• Physical health problems with higher risks of infant
mortality, low birth weight, greater exposure to lead
poisoning, toxic waste
• Neighborhoods with poorer day care and schools, greater
risk for violence and aggressive peers
• Fewer toys, less verbal stimulation, less affection and
attention

24. Influence of Poverty Status on
Children
• Cognitive delays that appear as early as age 2 and persist
to school years leading to learning disabilities and grade
retention
• Higher levels of neuroendocrine arousal that may
underlie health problems and some learning problems
• Greater family instability with more moves, separations,
more exposure to abuse

25. Interventions
• Preschool programs
• Parenting programs
• Community programs like Better Beginnings Better
Futures – communities decide how they want to spend
money to provide services that pay for themselves by the
time children are 15
• Increasing mothers’ education and awareness

26. Race
• Considered a social construct rather than a biological
category
• Numerous genetic variations within races
• Few biological differences between races
• Most individuals carry markers of more than one race
• Is a category people use to identify with

27. Ethnic Groups
• Ethnicity refers to
• “an individual’s membership in a group sharing a common
ancestral heritage based on nationality, language, and
culture”
• Psychological attachment to the group is described as
“ethnic identity”
• Most racial groups are now described as ethnic groups

28. Two-Factor Theory of Ethnic
Group Identity
• William Cross described a system in which individuals form
a sense of personal identity, (PI)
• Special qualities, self-esteem, self-confidence
• Cross also believes individuals have a Reference Group
Identity (RGO)
• Gender identity, ethnic identity
• Each person’s RGO differs depending on experiences

29. Two-Factor Theory (continued)
• Members of ethnic groups may have sense of ethnic identity
but their RGO differs
• RGO may be prominent in some groups and not in others,
• e.g., some European Americans may not have much sense of an
ethnic identity but others strongly think of themselves as Irish
Americans or Italian Americans and keep strong attachments to
their European culture
• RGO can change based on experiences
• e.g., new experience of discrimination or helpfulness on part of
others and reevaluate their RGO

30. Values of Different Groups
• European Americans value individual achievement, vigorous
expressions of strong opinions on part of all family members,
working out solutions together
• African American value closeness with extended family members
and fictive kin who are friends described as auntie or uncle, have
strong attachments to church activities, more directive and strict
• Asian American families are close units with strong emphasis on
hard work to improve and studying to achieve and honor family

31. Values of Different Groups
(continued)
• Latino/a families emphasize family closeness, loyalty and
obligations, children are kept close to family and spend most
of their time in the presence of a family member
• Contrast between Asian American and Puerto Rican American
families in this country, pages 331-333
• Puerto Rican families emphasize keeping children close to
parents
• Asian American families encourage sending children out of area
for better schools to achieve more education and work success

32. Self-Esteem of Children in
Different Ethnic Groups
• Self-esteem scores reflect a variety of factors and do not
mirror society’s positive/negative view of group; they
reflect:
• Group’s focus on individualistic goals and willingness to make
positive self-statements
• Length of time in US as people come to resemble American
behavior of making positive statements
• Age – as young children of all groups make positive statements
until they take on cultural messages of their group about making
positive statements

33. Self-Esteem of Children in
Different Ethnic Groups (cont.)
• Support from social movements that emphasize group’s
achievements and increased presence of other group
members in geographic area increase scores
• Individuals of high status (high education and good jobs) in
all groups resemble each other
• Can speculate that one way to increase self-esteem among
groups is to increase education

34. Immigrants’ Experiences
• About 1 in 4 children in US live in immigrant families
• Most were born here but have immigrant parent or parents
• Acculturation to new culture is the process of learning
about a new culture and deciding how to integrate the
new with the old culture
• Many aspects of culture to pay attention to: language, food,
customs, social adaptation

35. Ways to Adapt to New Culture
• Integration
• Features of old culture are combined with new
• Separation
• Old culture is maintained as much as possible
• Assimilation
• New culture is adopted with abandonment of old culture
• Marginalization
• Immigrants strongly pressured to give up old culture but hindered
because of discrimination

36. Bicultural identity
• Immigrants or ethnic group members who have
attachments to a majority cultural group as well as their
own

37. Integrated Model of Ethnic and
Immigrant Experiences
• Coll and Szalacha – these two groups experience discrimination
which leads to inadequate resources in neighborhoods with
greater violence, poorer schools, fewer community resources
• Example – Even though both European Americans and African
Americans are low income, African American children had more
social risks with lower quality childcare, poorer schools; poorer
schools related to lower grades
• This Model illustrates how discrimination can affect every
aspect of life

38. Sleep Is Influenced by Ethnic
Background
• Chicago study found European Americans slept 7.4 hours per night,
Asian Americans and Latinos, 6.9, and African Americans, 6.8,
• Even when education, income, and employment are controlled, race
differences in sleep persist
• Possible reason could that many members of ethnic groups
experience stress with cortisol production interfering with smooth
transitions to sleep
• poorer communities and neighborhoods have more noise, making it
harder to sleep
• African American and Latino/a children less likely to have regular
bedtime with relaxing reading routine prior to bed

39. Positive Influences on Ethnic and
Immigrant Groups’ Experiences –
• Schools, though poor, can be great resources for children by
providing a warm class climate, helping children learn and
protecting them from discrimination
• Neighborhoods, though poor, can bring immigrant families
together, support customs and family values
• Children are often seen through the lens of deficits
• Though children are overrepresented in groups having problems,
most children are not having problems

40. Positive Strengths of Families
• Strong sense of ethnic pride
• Strong sense of family obligation
• High family cohesion

41. Parents’ Tasks in Dealing with
Discrimination
• Many children fear exclusion because of race, or ethnic
group
• Feeling discriminated against by racial slurs or insults,
physical threats and false accusations related to
increases in depressed feelings and aggressive conduct
problems

42. Protective Factors
• When children had warm relationships with parents,
prosocial friends, and were engaged in school feelings of
discrimination decreased but did not eliminate
completely
• African American mothers who experienced
discrimination had increased depression and stress-
related physical problems but when they learned
sensitive parenting techniques, their moods improved
and children’s behavior became more compliant

43. Actions Parents and Schools Can
Take to Promote Fairness and Justice
• Exposing young children to peers of different ethnic
backgrounds in joint activities in sports or in nursery and
elementary schools
• Expressing interest in customs of all ethnic groups, foods,
histories, holidays, and histories of groups
• Research suggests that when children learn of hardships of
other groups, they have greater empathy and more positive
feelings for those groups

44. Additional Programs
• In US, Teaching Tolerance program helps students
become aware of discriminating behavior and ways to
counteract it
• Sesame Street has designed programs for preschoolers in
the US and Europe, particularly in areas of conflict like
Northern Ireland, teaching importance of inclusion,
mutual respect for all groups

45. Children’s Level of Reasoning
• All programs have to take into account children’s level of
reasoning
• Even children in preschool years understand moral rules
of fairness and equal treatment for all, and social
inclusion can be presented as a fair rule for everyone,
and exclusion, an unfair act