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The present study examined conversations of 164 mothers from seven different cultural contexts when reminiscing with their 3-year-old children. We chose samples based on their sociodemographic profiles, which represented three different cultural models: (1) autonomy (urban middle-class families from Western societies), (2) relatedness (rural farming families from non-Western societies), and (3) autonomy-relatedness (urban middle-class families from non-Western societies). The results showed that mothers from the autonomous contexts predominantly adopted an elaborative-evaluative reminiscing style (variable-oriented approach) and pattern (person-oriented approach). Mothers from the relational contexts mainly adopted a repetitive reminiscing style and pattern. There was greater heterogeneity for style variables among mothers from autonomous-relational contexts; in addition, the person-oriented approach revealed that the majority of mothers from autonomous-relational contexts showed hybrid style patterns. Thus, the cultural models, and their respective orientations towards autonomy and relatedness, were reflected in the way mothers reminisced with their children. The children's provision of memory elaborations was high in the autonomous contexts, low in the relational contexts, and moderate in the autonomous-relational contexts. Across contexts, maternal evaluations prompted children to contribute memory elaborations. Maternal elaborations were an additional predictor for children's memory, but only for families from the relational cultural model. (Contains 7 tables and 2 footnotes.)

Child rearing is a universal task, yet there are differing solutions according to the dynamics of socio-cultural milieu in which children are raised. Cultural models of what is considered good or bad parenting become explicit in everyday routine practices. Focusing on early mother-infant interactions in this article we examine the discursive practices and strategies that foster cultural values such as autonomy and relatedness. Drawing on micro-analysis of videotaped mother-infant interactions from middle-class families in Muenster, Germany and farming Nso families in Kikaikelaki, Cameroon, we aim at illustrating how diverse discursive strategies construct alternative versions of the child's experience of self and self-in-relation-to-others. In each case, mothers draw on discursive practices that convey cultural norms and values that fit the relevant cultural context. (Contains 1 table and 6 notes.)

This study analyzed German and Nso mothers' auditory, proximal, and visual contingent responses to their infants' nondistress vocalizations in postnatal Weeks 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Visual contingency scores increased whereas proximal contingency scores decreased over time for the independent (German urban middle-class, N = 20) but not the interdependent sociocultural context (rural Nso farmers, N = 24). It seems, therefore, that culture-specific differences in the modal patterns of contingent responsiveness emerge during the 2nd and 3rd months of life. This differential development was interpreted as the result of the interplay between maturational processes associated with the 2-month shift that are selectively integrated and reinforced in culture-specific mother-infant interaction.

Cultures differ with respect to parenting strategies already during infancy. Distal parenting, i.e., face-to-face context and object stimulation, is prevalent in urban educated middle-class families of Western cultures; proximal parenting, i.e., body contact and body stimulation, is prevalent in rural, low-educated farmer families. Parents from urban educated families in cultures with a more interdependent history use both strategies. Besides these cultural preferences, little is known about the relations between these styles as well as the behavioural systems constituting them. In this study therefore, the relations between the styles and the constituting behaviours were analysed in samples that differ with respect to their preferences of distal and proximal parenting. The hypothesized differences between the samples and the negative relationship between distal and proximal parenting, as well as between the respective behavioural systems can clearly be demonstrated. Furthermore, the impact of the sociodemographic variables with respect to the parenting strategies can be shown. Results were discussed as supporting two alternative parenting strategies that serve different socialization goals. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

This study compares German urban middle class with Cameroonian rural Nso mothers interacting with their 4-, 8-, and 12-week-olds on two dimensions of parenting: sensitivity and responsive control. Although the first concept is well-established in the literature, we suggest responsive control as the essence of good parenting leading to optimal development according to Nso mothers' ethnotheories. Although the two concepts differentiate between the two samples, the validity of responsive control in terms of developmental implications still has to be established. Keywords: culture; mother-child interaction; parenting quality

A study to examine the increasing knowledge concerning cultural models of parenting, with special emphasis on generational changes by analyzing four mothers and grandmothers of different cultural environments is conducted. Results show that there is transmission of parental beliefs from one generation to the next and also variation in adaptation to changing environments.

This study analyzes how autonomy and relatedness manifest in mothers' accounts of their ethnotheories regarding child care. Mothers came from two independent samples from urban middle-class in Germany and California, two autonomous-relational samples from urban middle-class in India and Cameroon, and one interdependent sample from rural Cameroon. Transcriptions of picture-based interviews are coded for discourse elements indicative of both orientations. Mothers from independent and autonomous-relational samples use more I statements and direct references to themselves. Mothers from interdependent and autonomous-relational samples contextualize and refer to authorities more often. Generally, differences between the urban and rural samples in terms of discourse elements related to autonomy are less pronounced than differences in associated socialization goals. This indicates that consciously held beliefs are more sensitive to changes in the families' sociocultural environment than their discourse. Keywords: discourse content; autonomy: relatedness; cross-cultural differences

The development of self-regulation has been studied primarily in Western middle-class contexts and has, therefore, neglected what is known about culturally varying self-concepts and socialization strategies. The research reported here compared the self-regulatory competencies of German middle-class (N = 125) and rural Cameroonian Nso preschoolers (N = 76) using the Marshmallow test (Mischel, 2014). Study 1 revealed that 4-year-old Nso children showed better delay-of-gratification performance than their German peers. Study 2 revealed that culture-specific maternal socialization goals and interaction behaviors were related to delay-of-gratification performance. Nso mothers' focus on hierarchical relational socialization goals and responsive control seems to support children's delay-of-gratification performance more than German middle-class mothers' emphasis on psychological autonomous socialization goals and sensitive, child-centered parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is based on the assumption that the figure size of young children’s drawings of themselves is mediated by cultural conceptions of the self. It was hypothesized that Cameroonian rural children, developing predominantly an interdependent self-conception, draw themselves alone and in a family picture smaller than urban German children, who predominantly develop an independent self-conception. A total of 570 preschool children were recruited from Cameroonian Nso-farmer families and German middle-class families. Drawings of 76 Cameroonian and 72 German children, matched for age, graphical competence, developmental stage, and structural level of human figure drawing (tadpoles, transitional drawings, and conventional human figure drawings), were entered into final analyses. According to our hypothesis, the figure size as well as the head size of Cameroonian children’s drawings are substantially smaller compared to the drawings of German children. Results are discussed in regard to the cognitive size of the self, which is mediated differently by different cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]