Commentary: Recognizing our similarities and celebrating our differences – parenting across cultures as a lens toward social justice and equity

Abstract

Lansford (2022) has aptly and eloquently reviewed the vast scholarly research on cross‐cultural parenting and concludes that similarities in parenting norms and behaviors across cultures reflect universally adaptive behaviors for children’s development. Culture‐specific differences are due largely to environmental constraints and affordances as well as cultural norms for expected behavior. This is an exemplar review that tells a clear story of what we have learned from the decades of research on this topic and lays the foundation for future scholarship. Specially compelling is Lansford’s argument that we need to take stock of what we know and conduct more of this type of research because the majority of what we have now is biased and does not represent the parenting practices of an increasingly diverse population. In this commentary, I provide some context for the value and potential pitfalls of cross‐cultural research; discuss the importance of theoretically driven research; discuss the benefits of cross‐cultural research; and conclude with some ideas for future investigations.

Editorial: The times they are a‐changin’: paradigm shifts in child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry

“…In describing the typical samples in developmental psychology studies, Lansford writes, 'research participants in studies published in high-impact developmental journals in 2015 represented less than 8% of the world's children (Nielsen et al, 2015)'. Cabrera (2022), in her commentary on the Lansford paper, amplifies this point. She observes that not only are most research participants in developmental psychology studies from WEIRD (Western Educated, Industrial, Rich, Developed) countries, but these studies often conflate race and social class; White research participants tend to be middle-class or wealthy and participants of colorwhen they are studied at alltend to be working class or poor.…”

A meta-analysis of child–parent attachment in early childhood and prosociality.

“…For example, samples were too similar with respect to child sex assigned at birth, minoritized status, SES, and geographical location to examine these moderators. While we were able to test geographical location as a moderator, the test only compared North America and Europe, and thereby could not be informative about children who are not raised in these countries, who make up the majority of children worldwide (Cabrera, 2022). More research is needed to address how child–parent attachment may foster prosociality in children in diverse sociocultural contexts (Eisenberg et al, 2015).…”

“…In terms of parent gender, a past meta-analysis on attachment and social competence identified a larger effect for child–mother than child–father attachment (Groh et al, 2014), suggesting the need to consider parental gender as a potential moderator. Given that parenting practices and values may vary as a function of ethnocultural factors (Cabrera, 2022), we also considered whether the geographical location and the ethnic composition of the sample are moderators.…”

Erratum for ‘Commentary: Recognizing our similarities and celebrating our differences – parenting across cultures as a lens toward social justice and equity’ by Cabrera (2022)

“…In Cabrera (2022), reference details for Lansford (2022) was missing. This has been added in the article.…”