The influence of cultural orientation on associations between Puerto Rican adolescent mothers’ parenting and toddler compliance and defiance.

Abstract

Objectives It is imperative that individual differences in the cultural contexts of adolescent mothers, whose parenting is often linked to poor child outcomes, be better understood, especially amongst Puerto Rican-origin mothers who experience high rates of poverty. Behaviors that mothers use to elicit compliance from their children are important to investigate, because children’s ability to engage in regulated, compliant behavior has long term consequences for their adjustment. This study tested whether mothers’ orientation to both American and Latino cultures influenced the associations between such maternal behaviors and compliant and defiant child behaviors. Method The sample included 123 young, Puerto Rican-origin mothers and their 24-month old toddlers. Behaviors coded from a toy clean-up task measured maternal guidance and control and child compliance and defiance, and acculturation and enculturation were measured with a self-report questionnaire. Results Maternal guidance predicted more child compliance, with no significant variations by cultural orientation; however, mothers who were more enculturated had children who were more compliant. As predicted, mothers’ more frequent use of control was related to more child defiance for mothers reporting high levels of acculturation, and not for less acculturated mothers. Conclusions Findings support the hypothesis that individual differences in cultural orientation influence variations in associations between certain maternal and child behaviors.

Online Validation of a Battery of Questionnaires for the Assessment of Family Functioning and Related Factors

“…The questionnaires we validated represent an extensive battery that can allow clinicians and researchers to understand the relational dynamics of each family nucleus better. Indeed, family is a complex, dynamic system, the functioning of which relies on different factors such as individual characteristics of each member, the social context in which the family nucleus is integrated, and interpersonal family relationships (Patterson and Garwick, 1994;McFarlane et al, 1995;Martinez and Forgatch, 2002;Walsh, 2003;Wood et al, 2017). The Brief FAM-III, DAS, IPPA, TAS-20, HADS, and MSPSS represent valid instruments that can be employed to evaluate each of these factors to conduct an in-depth analysis of the features of family functioning.…”

“…Family is a complex, dynamic system that continuously evolves in search of a balance between the complementary tendencies of stability and transformation (Malagoli Togliatti and Catugno, 1996;Skinner et al, 2000;Pellerone et al, 2017). The functioning of this complex and delicate system relies on different factors, which are related with both the individual characteristics of each member and the social context in which the family nucleus is integrated, as well as with internal and interpersonal family factors, such as communication, cohesion, adaptability, quality of marital/parental-child relationships, and problem-solving abilities (Patterson and Garwick, 1994;McFarlane et al, 1995;Martinez and Forgatch, 2002;Walsh, 2003;Wood et al, 2017). Specifically concerning the internal factors, the Process Model of Family Functioning provides a conceptual framework to understand and assess these aspects within the family unit (Steinhauer et al, 1984).…”

Associations between maternal control and child defiance among Puerto Rican-origin adolescent mothers and their toddlers: A person-centered examination.

“…For these mothers, guidance was related to higher child compliance regardless of differences in cultural orientation. In contrast, controlling behaviors were associated with higher child defiance only when mothers endorsed high levels of U.S. acculturation (Wood et al, 2017). The amount of controlling behaviors utilized by mothers did not vary by cultural orientation; therefore, similar levels of control showed different associations with child defiance depending on U.S. acculturation level.…”

“…Second, the types of child outcomes studied have also differed, with some assessing child functioning within the mother-child relationship and others focusing on broader aspects of functioning, such as behavior problems. Third, most studies have conceptualized cultural orientation from a unidimensional perspective, failing to capture the variation that exists along the two separate dimensions of acculturation and enculturation (Cuéllar et al, 1995; Wood, Grau, Smith, Duran, & Castellanos, 2017). Moreover, studies have generally relied on proxy measures of U.S. acculturation (e.g., language use, nativity), rather than more directly assessing the attitudes, behaviors, and experiences associated with exposure to a new culture.…”

“…The second goal was to examine whether the sub-groups that emerged would differentially relate to outcomes of poorly regulated child defiance, a marker of long-term behavioral difficulties (Ispa et al, 2004; Kuczynski & Kochanska, 1990; Wood et al, 2017). Based on prior research and conceptualizations of use of control within the Latina culture, we predicted that a combination of high U.S. acculturation, low PR enculturation, and high use of control would relate to higher child defiance when compared to other constellations of parenting and cultural orientation, especially those including high PR enculturation levels (Halgunseth et al, 2006).…”