Cross-Cultural Study Of Mother-Child Interactions And Child’s Intelligence

Abstract

The article presents the results of a cross-cultural analysis of the structure of the relationship between primary school age children's perception of maternal attitude and children's intelligence on the Russian and Kyrgyz samples. These countries are characterized, on the one hand, by similarities in the organization of the national education system, and, on the other hand, differences in socioeconomic status and effectiveness of public education. The sample comprised 1334 early school age children: 690 students (52.5% boys) from Russian Federation (Moscow District), and 644 students (45.5% boys) from Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek city). The age of Russian participants ranges from 6.8 to 11.7 years (M=9.3, SD=1.03); the age range of Kyrgyz participants is from 6.8 to 11.8 years (M=9.2, SD=1.16). The perceived maternal attitude was assessed with The Children's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory, mother version. A statistically significant effect of the country was observed for intelligence and three aspects of the maternal attitude -Acceptance, Positive involvement and Hostile detachment. On average, Kyrgyz children perceive mothers' attitude as more emotionally accepting and less rejective, compared to Russian peers. Regression analysis revealed predictors of intelligence: on the Russian sample -children's perception of the maternal attitude as emotionally rejecting; on the Kyrgyz sample -the degree of maternal hostile detachment. It was shown that the contribution of these perceived aspects of the maternal attitude to child's intelligence depends on the complexity of the intelligence test items.