Mother-infant interaction and acculturation: I. Behavioural comparisons in Japanese American and South American families

Abstract

This study examined similarities and differences in mothers' and infants' activities and interactions among 37 Japanese American and 40 South American dyads. Few relations between maternal acculturation level or individualism/collectivism and maternal parenting or infant behaviours emerged in either group. However, group differences were found in mothers' and infants' behaviours indicating that culture-of-origin continues to in uence parenting behaviour in acculturating groups.

Mothers' Parenting Cognitions in Cultures of Origin, Acculturating Cultures, and Cultures of Destination

“…Japan was isolated from the world until relatively modern times and developed insular and unique ways of thinking and learning (Chao & Tseng, 2002;DeVos, 1993;Stevenson, Azuma, & Hakuta, 1986). Finally, consistent with previous research (Hofstede, 1991), the South American immigrant mothers rated themselves as more collectivist than did the Japanese immigrant mothers (Bornstein & Cote, 2001), although of course individuals in a culture are not uniformly individualist or collectivist (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). The role of other people is more central to self-conceptions in collectivistic than in individualistic cultures (Bochner, 1994;Triandis, 1989).…”

Child and mother play in cultures of origin, acculturating cultures, and cultures of destination

“…Furthermore, consistent with previous research on mothers in Japan and South America (Hofstede, 1991;Marín & Marín, 1991) themselves as more collectivist than individualist (Bornstein & Cote, 2001). Of course, no culture is uniformly collectivist or individualist; collectivism and individualism vary within cultures (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002).…”

“…Collectivism-individualism describes the balance between the collectivity and the individual that predominates in a given society (see Kagitcibasi, 1994;Smith & Bond, 1994;Triandis, 1995). People living in collectivist cultures tend to hold predominantly allocentric values and engage in allocentric behaviours, whereas people living in individualistic cultures tend to hold predominantly idiocentric values and engage in idiocentric behaviours (Bornstein & Cote, 2001;Greenfield, Keller, Fuligni, & Maynard, 2003). The degree of societal collectivism or individualism is believed to affect conceptions of human nature that are part of a society.…”

Family and Socialization Factors in Brazil: An Overview

“…We need to develop research comparing process of child socialization in different collectivist-individualist groups from the perspective not only to discover how cultural variations influence communication styles, child-rearing practices, cultural values and beliefs systems, but also to explore whether these factors differentially shape the nature of parenting and child behavior in Brazil. As pointed out by Bornstein and Cote (2001):…”