Mothers' Socialization of Children's Emotion in India and the USA: A Cross‐ and Within‐culture Comparison

Abstract

Parent responses to children's emotions vary within and across cultures. The present study compared mothers' reports of their emotional and behavioral responses in hypothetical situations depicting their children experiencing anger, sadness, or physical pain in two communities in India (traditional old city, N = 60; suburban middle class, N = 60), with a suburban middle-class group in the USA (N = 60). Results showed that mothers in both groups in India reported more explanation-oriented problem-focused responses to their children's emotions than US mothers. US mothers reported the most solution-oriented problem-focused responses, followed by suburban Indian mothers, followed by old-city mothers. US mothers reported behaviorallyoriented punitive responses (i.e., time out, removal of privileges) towards child anger more than the other groups. Suburban Indian mothers reported briefly not talking to the child in response to child anger more than the other groups whereas old-city Indian mothers reported scolding/spanking more than the other groups.

Asian Indian Mothers’ Emotion Socialization and Child Emotion Expression as a Function of Situational Context

“…Comparison across different communities in India (e.g., Raval et al 2013) has shown variation in maternal emotion socialization between suburban middle class groups and traditional old city families. The salience of academic excellence may also vary across communities.…”

Does Mothers’ Self-Construal Contribute to Parenting Beyond Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Efficacy? an Exploratory Study of Turkish Mothers

“…Obedience is a highly valued child socialization goal given the relative importance of group needs over personal goals. Thus, to instill socially appropriate acts, caregivers foster restraint of behaviors and emotions that can be disruptive to interpersonal relations, primarily by obedience-demanding discipline (Raval et al, 2012). …”

“…With sociodemographic changes in the global context, a cultural shift toward autonomy and assertiveness emerged among highly educated, urban families in developing collectivistic societies like India, China, Japan, and Turkey (Kagitcibasi and Ataca, 2005; Mayer et al, 2012; Raval et al, 2012; Okur and Corapci, 2015). Kagitcibasi (2007) proposed that a dialectic synthesis of individual and group needs in developing collectivist societies would foster the development of autonomous-related selves: individuals who can balance self-directed and assertive acts within the context of close-knit relations to adapt to the competitive urban life.…”

“…Child socialization in these fast-developing collectivist societies draws on sensitive caregiving that entails warmth, explanations for proper behavior, and growing respect for autonomy (Raval et al, 2012). Increasing support for child’s agency is also reflected by mothers’ increasing preference for autonomy-oriented socialization goals (Keller et al, 2006).…”

“…Increasing support for child’s agency is also reflected by mothers’ increasing preference for autonomy-oriented socialization goals (Keller et al, 2006). For instance, middle-class, educated Indian mothers endorse scolding less often than traditional Indian mothers, yet endorse comforting responses to their distressed child at similar rates as US mothers (Raval et al, 2012). …”