The social worlds of 8‐ and 12‐month‐old infants: Early experiences in two subcultural contexts

Abstract

In this study, we explored the everyday experiences of 40 infants from families who migrated recently from Central America to the US. Another 42 infants from middle class families of Euro-American background were included to facilitate the evaluation of our methodology and findings. Detailed descriptions of the previous 24 hours were obtained by interviewing the mothers when their infants were 8 and 12 months of age. The infants' experiences and activities were very similar in both groups, and the effects of the mothers', fathers' or others' presence on ongoing activities were similar, too. The groups differed with regard to (1) the circadian distribution of activities, (2) opportunities for interactions with various people, and (3) the differences between weekdays and weekends. Overall, the social worlds of the Central American children were characterized by the simultaneous presence of several people and thus by multiple social partners. The social worlds of the Euro-American children were characterized by more opportunities for dyadic interactions and by exposure to fewer partners.

Attachment, culture, and the caregiving system: The cultural patterning of everyday experiences among Anglo and Puerto Rican mother–infant pairs

“…In addition, despite Ainsworth's careful efforts to operationalize the concept of sensitivity, several researchers have suggested that observer judgments regarding the "appropriateness" of maternal responses are based in part on cultural and other contextual factors, and have recommended adding measures of a variety of maternal and contextual variables (level of social support, personal attachment history/integration, cultural beliefs about parenting and child development) to investigations of the caregiving antecedents of attachment quality (Barnett, Kidwell, & Leung, 1998;De Wolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997;Fisher, Jackson, & Villarruel, 1998;Harwood, Miller, & Irizarry, 1995;Jackson, 1986;Leyendecker, Lamb, Schölmerich, & Fracasso, 1995;Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake, & Morelli, 2000;Waters, Bailey, Pederson, & Moran, 1999). Indeed, Ainsworth's meticulous naturalistic studies in Uganda led her to caution future researchers that caregiving must be understood in cultural and historic context (Ainsworth, 1967).…”

Everyday experiences of 18‐ to 36‐month‐old children from migrant families: the influence of host culture and migration experience

“…For the social contexts, several studies have found that Latino children are more likely to spend time with relatives rather than with family friends and peers, and that their families' social networks are more likely to be comprised of relatives when compared to their European-American counterparts (Feng, Harwood, Leyendecker, & Miller, 2001;Garcia, 1993;MacPhee, Fritz, & Miller-Heyl, 1996;Miller-Loncar, Erwin, Landry, Smith, & Swank, 1998;Schaffer & Wagner, 1996;Zambrana, Silva-Palacios, & Powell, 1992). In contrast, European-American children are more likely to spend time alone with their mothers (Leyendecker, Lamb, Schölmerich, & Fracasso, 1995).…”

“…Because recall data seems most reliable when restricted to a 24-hour period (Juster, 1985), we limited ourselves to this time frame. We also limited our focus to broad descriptions of ongoing activities and to the identification of those present in order to ensure the reliability of this data (Lewis, 1987;Leyendecker et al, 1995;Parke & Tinsley, 1987;Pleck, 1983). Time diaries are effective for obtaining estimates of time use and assessing children's performance versus non-performance of general activities, as well as the presence of other people (Leyendecker, 1993;Leyendecker et al, 1995;Pleck, 1983).…”

Child Care and Development across Cultures

“…In contrast, structured child-focused activities require that an adult caregiver provides the learning opportunities and structured teaching situations, e.g., teaching a child how to insert wooden blocks of different shapes into a box with openings that match these shapes. Parents in Western cultures who are more likely to provide child-focused activities are also more likely to provide a daily schedule for their infants and young children with fixed times for sleeping, napping, and eating, and more opportunities for dyadic one-on-one interactions (Leyendecker et al, 1995). In contrast, children in non-Western cultures are more likely to participate in shared activities with the members of their community, their daily schedule is likely to be centered around an individualized schedule, and they are likely to have more opportunities for interactions with multiple members of their family and other people who make up their daily social environment (Leyendecker et al, 1995;Rogoff, 2003).…”

“…Parents in Western cultures who are more likely to provide child-focused activities are also more likely to provide a daily schedule for their infants and young children with fixed times for sleeping, napping, and eating, and more opportunities for dyadic one-on-one interactions (Leyendecker et al, 1995). In contrast, children in non-Western cultures are more likely to participate in shared activities with the members of their community, their daily schedule is likely to be centered around an individualized schedule, and they are likely to have more opportunities for interactions with multiple members of their family and other people who make up their daily social environment (Leyendecker et al, 1995;Rogoff, 2003). All developmental niches include participation in adult activities, guided participation, and specialized child-focused activities, yet the likelihood that children are presented with these different learning opportunities is likely to vary across developmental niches.…”