Annual Research Review: Cross‐cultural similarities and differences in parenting

Abstract

This article reviews contemporary research on cross-cultural similarities and differences in parenting. The article begins by providing a definition of culture and how both parenting and culture can change over historical time. The article then presents some classic theoretical frameworks for understanding culture and parenting before considering why parenting may be similar across cultures and why parenting may be different across cultures. The article next turns to a review of cross-cultural similarities and differences in several aspects of parenting, including physical caregiving, cognitive stimulation, warmth and acceptance, control and monitoring, and discipline. Cultural normativeness and beliefs on the legitimacy of parental authority are then considered as potential moderators that contribute to cross-cultural similarities and differences in relations between parenting and child outcomes. The article then considers implications for parenting interventions and laws and policies related to parenting. Finally, the article suggests directions for future research.

Commentary: Recognizing our similarities and celebrating our differences – parenting across cultures as a lens toward social justice and equity

“…Lansford (2022) has aptly and eloquently reviewed the vast scholarly research on cross‐cultural parenting, situating parents in a cultural context; grounding the literature firmly in classic theoretical frameworks to assess universals and culture‐specific behaviors; and highlighting the mechanisms that might explain cross‐cultural similarities in the associations between parenting and child outcomes. Lansford concludes that similarities in parenting norms and behaviors across cultures reflect universally adaptive behaviors for children’s development and that culture‐specific differences are due largely to environmental constraints and affordances as well as cultural norms for expected behavior.…”

Editorial: The times they are a‐changin’: paradigm shifts in child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry

“…Specifically, these authors note that the inclusion of under-represented groups challenges our assumptions about what is normative. For example, in her review of cross-cultural similarities and differences in parenting, Lansford (2022) observes that a growing number of studies of parents from around the world challenge assumptions in developmental psychology that parenting practices, beliefs, and values are universal. As another example, Hinshaw and colleagues (2022) review decades of prospective, longitudinal research on girls with ADHD.…”

A Comparison of Non-verbal Maternal Care of Male and Female Infants in India and the United Kingdom: The Parent-Infant Caregiving Touch Scale in Two Cultures

“…Before apparent differences in reported behavior across cultures can be attributed to real differences in the levels of underlying constructs, we must first show that the measuring instrument being used performs equivalently in those cultures. While this may be obvious, in comparisons with parenting it is also rarely highlighted as requiring serious methodological investigation (e.g., Lansford, 2021 ). It is all too easy to assume not only that the familiar constructs from the considerable literature on parenting in developed western societies are universal, but that these constructs are both understood and made evident in behavior in the same way.…”