The in¯uence of ecocultural context on parents' image of the adaptive adult is explored via a comparison between the child-rearing goals and ethnotheories of 20 immigrant mothers from the former Soviet Union and 20 Israeli-born mothers. It is assumed that parents' socializing practices are premised on developmental ethnotheories re¯ecting societal child rearing models and expectations for children' s development. The image of the``adaptive adult' ' in parents' country of origin is so fundamentally ingrained in their beliefs about child rearing that it is retained after immigration, and is integrated with aspects of the image of adaptive adulthood which prevails in the host culture.The current study explored (through semistructured interviews) mothers' developmental ethnotheories concerning the nature of development, how it can be in¯uenced, and why it should be in¯uenced, with regard to cognitive competence, autonomy, emotional regulation, and social understanding and behaviour of their 3± 4-year-old children. It also explored their goals and expectations for their children as adults.Analysis of the interviews with Israeli-born and immigrant mothers lends support to the main thesis of this study. Mothers of both groups would like their children to grow into intelligent, joyful, and independent adults, to be well educated and to hold prestigious occupations. All of the mothers assume, moreover, that much of child development should be promoted through the active involvement of parents. Israeli-born mothers, however, place a greater emphasis on social competence, autonomy, and leadership, whereas the emphasis of the Soviet-born mothers is on achievement, emotional control, ef® ciency, and organization. The differences and similarities between the two groups of mothers are discussed in the context of their respective ecocultural backgrounds. It is proposed that each group's ethnotheories, developmental goals, and aspirations for their children re¯ect their respective values, perceptions, and understanding of the reality in which they raise their children. These values and perceptions seem, in turn, related to the respective ecocultures in which they were raised, as well as the one in which they rear their own children.Cette e tude compare les buts e ducatifs et les ethnothe ories de 20 meÁ res ne es en Israel et de 20 meÁ res ayant immigre de l'ex-Union Sovie  tiqueen dans le but d'examiner l'in¯uence du contexte e co-culturel sur l'image que les parents se forment d'un adulte adapte . Elle postule que les pratiques de socialisation des parents sont base es sur les ethnothe ories de veloppementales qui re¯eÁ tent des modeÁ les d'e ducation sociale de l'enfant et des attentes envers son de veloppement. L' image de l'``adulte adapte ' ' dans le pays d'origine des parents est si profonde ment ancre e dans leurs croyances quant a Á l'e ducation de l'enfant qu' elle est maintenue apreÁ s l'immigration et inte gre e a Á certains aspects de l'image de l'adulte adapte qui pre vaut dans la culture d'acce...

In recent years increasing attention has been paid to the significant roles of culture and socialization in child development. The conceptual framework presented in this article is derived from the fields of cross-cultural child development, immigration, and ethnic minority studies. The article focuses on the relationship between cultural contexts and images of an "adaptive adult," which is proposed as a guiding metaphor in the organization of child-rearing ideologies and practices, which in turn are influenced by the values, experience, culture, and behavior of socializing agents within a given culture. The article explains how this concept is rooted in past and future time orientations and in the duality of public and private cultures. The article also explores changes in images of the adaptive adult in interaction with ecological components. Examples from the authors' research in Israel, as well as the research of others, are cited. The article concludes with a general discussion of the potential contribution that this framework can make to social workers dealing with immigrant, migrant, and ethnic minority children and families.

This paper analyses the cultural context of inquiry and research into the effects of out-of-home child care on children’s development. In particular, it attempts to show how the study of such child care has been shaped by a Western world view in which white, middle class values and social ideology are particularly salient. The effects of this cultural context can be seen in the basic assumptions of studies on out-of-home child care, in the questions these studies pose for investigation, and in the motivation of the investigators engaged in this line of research. These in turn determine the research designs, the units of analysis for the examination of children’s functioning and of the child care environment, the operational definitions of variables, and the statistical procedures employed in many of these studies. The analysis begins by examining cultural variations in societal attitudes to out-of-home child care as a function of cultural context and basic assumptions concerning childhood, development, and the role ascribed to the family and the community at large in children’s development. The paper then proceeds to examine the relationship between cultural context and its valued developmental goals and the developmental outcomes studied in child care research. The relationships between goals set for child care, cultural beliefs concerning child-rearing practices, the definition of “quality of care” and the study of the relationship of home and child care, in child care research, are also examined. It then explores the major research questions and methodology concerning the effect of child care on development in the Anglo-American child care research tradition. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for culturally sensitive routes to studying child care.

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