Two separate studies examined the following hypotheses: (a) that maternal responsiveness is affected by cross-cultural differences in conventions of conversational interaction, and (b) that maternal responsiveness is affected by intracultural differences in mothers' levels of formal education. The first study compared mother-infant interactions among the Gusii of Kenya with those in suburban Boston, Massachusetts. The second study, carried out in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca, examined variations in mother-infant interactions by maternal schooling within a local sample of low-income mothers of similar cultural backgrounds who had attended school from 1 to 9 years. The 2 studies together indicate that maternal responsiveness during infancy, particularly in the verbal mode, is influenced by the mother's cultural background and school attendance, that is, by factors that reflect her history of participation in institutionalized systems of communication and education.

This study examines the relationship of perceived workplace flexibility and supportive workÁlife policies to employee engagement and expectations to remain with the organization (expected retention). It also explores the association of formal and occasional (informal) use of flexibility with these outcomes. Data are from a multiorganization database created by WFD Consulting of studies conducted between 1996 and 2006. Results revealed that perceived flexibility and supportive workÁlife policies were related to greater employee engagement and longer than expected retention. Employee engagement fully mediated the relationship between perceived flexibility and expected retention and partially mediated the relationship between supportive workÁlife policies and expected retention. Both formal and occasional use of flexibility were positively associated with perceived flexibility, employee engagement, and expected retention. These analyses provide evidence that workplace flexibility may enhance employee engagement, which may in turn lead to longer job tenure.Este estudio examina la relació n de la flexibilidad laboral percibida y la política de calidad de vida y trabajo con el compromiso del empleado y las expectativas de permanencia en la organizació n (expectativas de retenció n). También explora la asociació n de la flexibilidad formal e informal (ocasional) con estos resultados. La informació n proviene de una base de datos creada por WFD Consulting, de estudios realizados entre 1996 y 2006. Los resultados indican que la percepció n de flexibilidad y una política de apoyo a la calidad de vida y trabajo están relacionadas con un aumento del compromiso del personal y una expectativa de retenció n superior. El compromiso de los empleados arbitra en pleno la relació n entre una percibida flexibilidad y la expectativa de retenció n y determina parcialmente la relació n entre el apoyo de la relació n calidad de vida trabajo y la esperanza de retenció n. Ambos usos de la flexibilidad formal o informal se asocian positivamente con la percibida flexibilidad, el compromiso personal y la expectativa de retenció n. Estos análisis son evidencia de que la flexibilidad en el trabajo aumenta el compromiso del empleado y resulta en una intenció n de permanencia más prolongada en la organización. Palabras

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In this chapter we compare the behavior of mothers to their own infants at three to four and nine to ten months of age in five of the societies described in the previous chapters-namely the Gusii of Kenya, Yucatec Mayan of Mexico, Italian, Swedish, and suburban Bostonian. Mothers and infants were observed naturalistically at home. To explain the differences in frequencies of maternal behavior, we examine the demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural contexts of infant care in these societies, asking: Is maternal behavior adaptive, and if so, to which aspects of the environment? Previous ResearchDuring the last decade, several observational studies comparing mother-infant interaction in culturally diverse samples have been published (Leiderman, Tulkin, and Rosenfeld, 1977;Field, Sostek, Vietze,

Psychologists are increasingly aware that infant development takes place within a social context. Studies of fathers' involvement in childrearing (Lamb, 1987) and sibling relationships (Dunn, 1983;Dunn and Kendrick, 1982) represent efforts to look at the larger family system in order to understand the developing child. However broadly the social context is defined, rarely are the influences of our own cultural beliefs and values on the parent-child relationship considered. In this chapter we will examine the role of parental values in determining childrearing practices among middle-class families in the Boston area.Many aspects of parent-child relationships are in fact affected by cultural values. For example, Super and Harkness (1981) suggest that the notion of "difficult" temperament represents an interaction between certain characteristics of the infant and characteristics of the cultural context in which the infant develops. Just as we can think of a potential mis- 65

The goal of this study was to test the effectiveness of a workplace intervention targeting work-life stress and safety-related psychosocial risk factors on health and safety outcomes. Data were collected over time using a randomized control trial design with 264 construction workers employed in an urban municipal department. The intervention involved family- and safety-supportive supervisor behavior training (computer-based), followed by two weeks of behavior tracking and a four-hour, facilitated team effectiveness session including supervisors and employees. A significant positive intervention effect was found for an objective measure of blood pressure at the 12-month follow-up. However, no significant intervention results were found for self-reported general health, safety participation, or safety compliance. These findings suggest that an intervention focused on supervisor support training and a team effectiveness process for planning and problem solving should be further refined and utilized in order to improve employee health with additional research on the beneficial effects on worker safety.

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