This study conceptualizes a cultural model of parenting. It is argued that cultural models are expressed in the degree of familism, which informs socialization goals that are embodied in parenting ethnotheories. Three cultural models were differentiated a priori: independent, interdependent, and autonomous-related. Samples were recruited that were expected to represent these cultural models: German, Euro-American, and Greek middle-class women representing the independent cultural model; Cameroonian Nso and Gujarati farming women representing the interdependent cultural model; and urban Indian, urban Chinese, urban Mexican, and urban Costa Rican women representing the autonomous-related model. These a priori classifications were confirmed with data that addressed different levels of the cultural models of parenting. The authors further confirmed that socialization goals mediate between broader sociocultural orientations (familism) and parenting ethnotheories concerning beliefs about good parenting. The data reveal that the model of autonomous relatedness needs further theoretical and empirical refinement. Problems with empirical studies comparing participants with very different lifestyles are discussed.

Children's socialization environments reflect cultural models of parenting. In particular, Euro-American and Chinese families have been described as following different socialization scripts. The present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los Angeles and Beijing. Euro-American parents' behaviors towards their children, as well as their parental ethnotheories are assumed to express the cultural model of autonomy; whereas Chinese parents' socialization strategies are assumed to be shaped by the cultural model of relatedness. The results reveal that Euro-American and Chinese mothers embody different cultural models in their verbal parenting behaviors and verbalized parenting strategies. However, the differences are not consistent and there are no differences with respect to non-verbal parenting behaviors. The results are discussed as illustrating the complexity of cultural models of parenting, where cultural messages are expressed differently in different domains.

This prospective longitudinal study is aimed at contributing to the understanding of cultural diversity concerning maternal parenting behaviors and conversational styles on one hand and continuity in parenting strategies on the other hand. It could be demonstrated that German middle-class families from Berlin and Indian Hindu middle-class families from Delhi represent two different cultural environments embodying different parenting strategies. The Berlin mothers focus on the cultural model of independence, whereas the Delhi mothers focus on the cultural model of autonomous relatedness. These different orientations are expressed in nonverbal and conversational behaviors with 3-month-old babies as well as in the play styles with 19-month-old toddlers. It could also be demonstrated that the parenting styles form continuous socialization environments. Especially the conversation styles that mothers use while talking to their 3-month-old babies were good predictors for the play styles with their 19-month-old toddlers. The results are discussed with an emphasis on parenting strategies as continuous and consistent cultural projects.

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The aim of this study was to examine sociocultural influences on the development of specific sociocognitive developmental milestones. The self-recognition and self-regulation skills of 2-year-old children were assessed in two autonomous-relational cultural contexts: educated, urban, middle-class families from Costa Rica (N= 19) and Mexico (N= 15). These two cultural groups are representative of a consistent pattern of an autonomous-relational Latin American cultural model; there were no differences between the two groups in mothers’ socialization goals, maternal behavior during mother–child play, and toddlers’ self-recognition and self-regulation. As predicted by ecocultural models of development, consistent cultural models emerged: Sociodemographic factors were associated with mothers’ relative emphasis on autonomous socialization goals and lower levels of directive and didactic play. There were also significant correlations between facets of mothers’ cultural models and toddlers’ development of self-regulation, but not self-recognition. This study provides further evidence that the sociocognitive development of children’s self-regulation during the second year is dependent on the “ecological imprint” that is provided by their mothers’ cultural model. Furthermore, the same mechanisms that account for cross-cultural differences also seem to account for intracultural variation in maternal behavior and toddlers’ development.