Measurement invariance of discipline in different cultural contexts

Child Psychology Psychiatry

Kanacri

et al. 2015

Self Cite

133

Background Research supports the beneficial role of prosocial behaviors on children’s adjustment and successful youth development. Empirical studies point to reciprocal relations between negative parenting and children’s maladjustment, but reciprocal relations between positive parenting and children’s prosocial behavior are understudied. In the present study reciprocal relations between two different dimensions of positive parenting (quality of the mother-child relationship and the use of balanced positive discipline) and children’s prosocial behavior were examined in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Method Mother-child dyads (N = 1105) provided data over 2 years in 2 waves (Mage of child in wave 1 = 9.31 years, SD = .73; 50% female). Results A model of reciprocal relations between parenting dimensions, but not among parenting and children’s prosocial behavior, emerged. In particular, children with higher levels of prosocial behavior at age 9 elicited higher levels of mother-child relationship quality in the following year. Conclusions Findings yielded similar relations across countries, evidencing that being prosocial in late childhood contributes to some degree to the enhancement of a nurturing and involved mother-child relationship in countries that vary widely on sociodemographic profiles and psychological characteristics. Policy and intervention implications of this study are discussed.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior in eight countries

Pastorelli

Child Psychology Psychiatry

Kanacri

et al. 2015

Self Cite

133

“…Country coordinators and the translators reviewed the discrepant items and made appropriate modifications. Given the complexities of testing for and establishing measurement invariance on so many variables and in 12 cultural groups (see Huang et al, 2012, for an example involving just one variable), we decided not to analyze and present measurement invariance tests.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Within‐ and between‐person and group variance in behavior and beliefs in cross‐cultural longitudinal data☆

Deater‐Deckard

Godwin

et al. 2017

Journal of Adolescence

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a b s t r a c tThis study grapples with what it means to be part of a cultural group, from a statistical modeling perspective. The method we present compares within-and between-cultural group variability, in behaviors in families. We demonstrate the method using a crosscultural study of adolescent development and parenting, involving three biennial waves of longitudinal data from 1296 eight-year-olds and their parents (multiple cultures in nine countries). Family members completed surveys about parental negativity and positivity, child academic and social-emotional adjustment, and attitudes about parenting and adolescent behavior. Variance estimates were computed at the cultural group, person, and within-person level using multilevel models. Of the longitudinally consistent variance, most was within and not between cultural groupsdalthough there was a wide range of between-group differences. This approach to quantifying cultural group variability may prove valuable when applied to quantitative studies of acculturation.

“…Second, international researchers are challenged by the need to demonstrate measurement invariance, which tests whether quantitative measures operate in the same way in each group . Rigorously establishing invariance can be difficult even with two groups, and it becomes more complicated when dealing with many groups . We have used a meta‐analytic approach as an alternative to demonstrating measurement invariance because meta‐analyses do not assume that the same measures have been used in all studies, making it possible to obtain an overall effect as well as variance of the effect that might be attributable to measurement .…”

Section: Challenges and Directions In International Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

How International Research on Parenting Advances Understanding of Child Development

Bornstein

Deater‐Deckard

et al. 2016

Child Dev Perspectives

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International research on parenting and child development can advance our understanding of similarities and differences in how parenting is related to children's development across countries. Challenges to conducting international research include operationalizing culture, disentangling effects within and between countries, and balancing emic and etic perspectives. Benefits of international research include testing whether findings regarding parenting and child development replicate across diverse samples, incorporating cultural and contextual diversity to foster more inclusive and representative research samples and investigators than has typically occurred, and understanding how children develop in proximal parenting and family and distal international contexts.