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In this study, the early social experiences of infants from two agricultural societies, Indian Rajput and Cameroonian Nso are compared to each other and to German urban middleclass families. Using spot observations, infants' social experiences were assessed when they were between 2.5 and 3 months. The parenting styles in the three communities are distinctly different from each other. However, the Nso and the Rajputs share a parenting pattern that can be regarded as supporting, the development of communion. Differences between the two agrarian communities are related to different emotional expressivity and different health and nutritional status. The German caregiving pattern can be regarded as oriented towards the development of agency. In the discussion the question of the cultural interpretation of parenting behaviors is raised, emphasizing that the analysis of both shared practices as well as shared ideas is important in order to understand the dynamics of parenting in cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, based on Levy's Distinguished Lecture at the 2001 meeting of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, summarizes his views on how the psychologies of actors and the community forms and structures in which they are embedded, dancers and their dances, are mutually constituted. In particular, he contrasts two distinct communities where he did field research: Piri, a small village in French Polynesia; and Bhaktapur, a religious city in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, suggesting that the particular cultures of these two places give rise to different forms of public life and childrearing, resulting in differing kinds of learning during childhood and ultimately in distinctive experiences of the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The self-perceived competence of 750 Korean children in kindergarten through the seventh grade was investigated using adaptations of Harter's scales for younger and older children. Measures of family characteristics and the home environment were collected to explore the determinants of variation in self-perceived competence. Adaptations of the competence scales yielded maximum similarity of content across the full age span, and also reflected the Korean emphasis on collectivist, intergenerational social skills and on early, direct training in academic cognitive skills. The results replicate two findings reported for North American and European samples; namely, increasing differentiation of domains of self-perceived competence with age, and decreasing levels of self-perceived competence in the opening years of primary school. In addition, the present study also finds two phenomena not evident in previous reports. First, a significant statistical interaction of grade and sex in the cognitive and physical domain was found, such that girls’ self-perceived competence decreased more with age than did that of boys. Second, two social domains were differentiated, one reflecting peer acceptance (like the Harter scales) and the other tapping intergenerational and collectivist social skills that are valued in Korean society. Structural equation modeling revealed different patterns of influence for the four outcome measures. Both the analysis of internal variation and comparison with previous reports highlight the importance of a social and cultural perspective in understanding the development of children's self-perceived competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What do teens with disabilities believe about their conditions, and what do they understand to be the causes, correlates, and consequences of disability? We elicited a cultural explanatory model (EM) of disability from a longitudinal sample of 23 European American adolescents with varied cognitive disabilities and delay. We asked teens how they were similar to or different from others; the name of this difference; its causes, severity, course, effects, associated problems and benefits; and need for treatment. IQ and type of disability strongly affected quality of responses only from the lowest functioning teens. A majority of teens had a reasonably rich and coherent EM, blending typical and disability themes of cultural knowledge and identity. The EM is a window into social context (schools, services, parents, and peers) as well as personal experience. Eliciting explanatory models from teens with disabilities is not only possible but also can enhance understanding of identity, family influence, and appropriate services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a discourse analysis of a family dinner conversation in which the participants are a father, a stepmother and a teenage daughter. Such analysis has social relevance insofar as roles within the stepfamily have not been either socially reshuffled or academically defined. The age-old myth about the wicked stepmother has provided the symbolic and discursive placement of stepmothers in contemporary American society in lieu of societal efforts to realistically define such a role. Thus, each case must define itself. My research examines a stepfamily's discourse about food as a window through which to view discursive strategies of inclusion and exclusion. I find that, in a situation where the child is a female teenager, a stepmother's identity is defined by positioning actively undertaken through the stepdaughter's discourse. Integrating a new parent into an existing unit is made far more difficult if the stepmother is seen as an outsider, who may be admitted to membership of the household, but not necessarily to the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The minutes of the first meeting of the U.S. Society for Research in Child Development, held in Washington in 1934, a year after its founding, convey the excitement of the new venture. There was a consciousness of purpose, of dedication, of enthusiasm, of high hopes for the then new discipline of child development and the contribution it could make to the welfare of children and the nation. There was indeed a sense of mission. The society rapidly acquired its journals, held biennial meetings in 1936 and 1938, freely debated and defined its nature and functions, and held many interim meetings. Starting with 125 members, their numbers grew rapidly so that by the 1938 biennial meeting they reached 519. From the beginning, however, the cost of maintaining the society and its publications presented severe problems. The dues of $3.00, which included membership and subscriptions to the three journals, were insufficient, and only grants and favors from the U.S. National Research Council and the General Education Fund sustained the society.

Discusses the cultural context of gender segregation in children's peer groups in Kenya. Absence of gender segregation in peer groups until around age six; Changes that occur in the life of members of peer groups who reach the age of six; Contrast with the adult pattern of gender segregation.

Although variability in ideas and practices related to children is a traditional focus of anthropology, the concept of socially organized individual differences in thinking presents new challenges for the field of developmental psychology. Three sets of questions are key to progress in this area. Hence, the six chapters in this volume address these questions through studies of parents and others in a variety of cultural contexts. The theme of individualism versus collectivism is discussed in all but one of the chapters, offering a greater appreciation of both the strength and the complexity of this concept as it applies to particular cultures. It notes that the social construction of the child, as a concept, has matured rapidly since its introduction to developmental psychology two decades ago. Understanding variability in the social construction of the child, as this volume proposes, is key to interpreting the relationships between thought and action in a wide variety of contexts.