1. Is the ideal mother a sensitive mother? Beliefs about early childhood parenting in mothers across the globe
- Author
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Isabel Soares, Kiyomi Kondo-Ikemura, Miriam Steele, Jailan Heidar, Magaly Nóblega, Abraham Sagi-Schwartz, Lamei Wang, Rosanneke A. G. Emmen, Jenny Amanda Ortiz, Kazuko Y. Behrens, Olga Alicia Carbonell, Ghadir Zreik, Francis Sichimba, Judi Mesman, Haatembo Mooya, Christian de la Harpe, René van der Veer, Hatice Ekmekci, Rodrigo A. Cárcamo, Cindy Mels, Melis Yavuz, Joost R. van Ginkel, Marloes Pape, Howard Steele, Sylvia Murtisari, Inbar Cohen-Paraira, Bilge Selcuk, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, [et al.], and Universidade do Minho
- Subjects
Social Psychology ,Ethnic group ,Social Sciences ,050109 social psychology ,Maternal sensitivity ,Family income ,Education ,Developmental psychology ,Developmental Neuroscience ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,Parenting styles ,Attachment theory ,Mother-infant relationships ,Psicologia [Ciências Sociais] ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Early childhood ,Life-span and Life-course Studies ,Socioeconomic status ,Child rearing ,05 social sciences ,16. Peace & justice ,Cross-culture ,Ciências Sociais::Psicologia ,Psychology ,Social psychology ,Social Sciences (miscellaneous) ,050104 developmental & child psychology - Abstract
In this paper we test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal mother are convergent across cultures and that these beliefs overlap considerably with attachment theory’s notion of the sensitive mother. In a sample including 26 cultural groups from 15 countries around the globe, 751 mothers sorted the Maternal Behavior Q-Set to reflect their ideas about the ideal mother. The results show strong convergence between maternal beliefs about the ideal mother and attachment theory’s description of the sensitive mother across groups. Cultural group membership significantly predicted variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores, but this effect was substantially accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors. Mothers living in rural versus urban areas, with a low family income, and with more children were less likely to describe the ideal mother as highly sensitive. Cultural group membership did remain a significant predictor of variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores above and beyond socio-demographic predictors. The findings are discussed in terms of the universal and culture-specific aspects of the sensitivity construct., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
- Published
- 2016