Conceptions of Parenting in Different Cultural Communities: The Case of West African Nso and Northern German Women

Abstract

The present study compares conceptions about parenting in two cultural communities that may be expected to hold different views on parent-child relationships. Sociodemographically diverse samples of 46 Northern German and 39 West African Nso women evaluated parenting behavior observed in 10 Nso and 10 German videotaped mother-infant interaction sequences. The individual evaluations were assessed in group contexts. The statements were analyzed with respect to their reference to parenting systems and interaction mechanisms as conceptualized in the component model of parenting. As expected, the Nso respondents addressed primary care, body contact and body stimulation more often than the German respondents who focused more on face-to-face communication and exclusive attention. Contrary to our expectations, distress regulation was addressed more often by the German respondents. Quantitative analyses are combined with the qualitative elaboration of the respondents' evaluative comments. The identified ideas about parenting are discussed as reflecting the conscious nature of parenting as a shared cultural activity and related to cultural goals.

Cultural Models, Socialization Goals, and Parenting Ethnotheories

“…Mothers of these groups had achieved a high level of education, are relatively older, and have fewer children than the mothers in the other groups. This sociodemographic profile has been confirmed as characteristic for women with an independent cultural model in different studies (Keller, 2003a;Keller et al, 2005;Keller, Lohaus, et al, 2004;.…”

“…The parenting ethnotheories were assessed with a list of 10 statements describing parenting practices. These 10 statements were assigned to an autonomous (5 items) or relational (5 items) Parenting Ethnotheories subscale based on earlier studies on cultural conceptions of parenting (Keller, 2003a;Keller et al, 2002;Keller et al, 2005) 160 JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY as well as cultural differences in parenting styles (Keller, 2003a;Keller, Lohaus, et al, 2004;. The mothers were asked to express their agreement on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from not agree at all (1) to agree completely (5).…”

“…On the basis of earlier studies, we can relate the preference of face-to-face contact, object play, and responsivity to positive infant signals to the development of autonomy, whereas the preference of body contact, body stimulation, and responsivity to negative signals relates to the development of relatedness (Keller, 2003a;Keller et al, 2002;Keller et al, 2005;. We therefore expect participants with an independent cultural model to emphasize parenting practices relating to face-to-face contact and object play in their parenting ethnotheories; we expect participants with an interdependent cultural model to emphasize parenting practices relating to body contact and body stimulation in their parenting ethnotheories.…”

Culture, Parenting, and the Development of Jealousy

“…When asked to comment on videotaped mother-infant interactions being presented by dyads from their own and other cultural backgrounds, German middle-class women reacted with criticism when viewing Cameroonian Nso farming mothers directing their attention too frequently to targets other than their 3-month-olds, and felt that the mothers should be completely involved with their infants (Keller, Völker, & Yovsi, 2005). Despite the popularity of such views in Western societies, in most of the world's child-rearing contexts exclusive attention is a resource that caregivers cannot afford to provide to large degrees.…”

“…Whereas the urban infants received exclusive attention about half of the time, the rural infants received exclusive attention only approximately 20% of the time. In the same vein, focus groups with rural Cameroonian Nso women revealed preferences for shared attentional strategies (Keller, Völker, & Yovsi, 2005). Even Nso sibling caregivers emphasized this strategy of providing co-occurring care (Lamm, 2008).…”