Cultural Contributions to Parental Psychology: a Multilevel Analysis From the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC)

Ela Sehic

doi:10.7273/000005192

Cross-cultural research in child psychology provides a more in-depth understanding of factors that are universal in the stages of human development, versus the myriad social differences that can result in individual variation along culture-specific lines (Brislin, 1983; “Cross-cultural”, 1979; Karasz & Singelis, 2009). Furthermore, cross-cultural research introduces a unique complexity, given the difficulty of extracting the impact of a single element from the nested nature of social and cultural variables (Brislin, 1983; “Cross-cultural”, 1979; Karasz & Singelis, 2009). The present study develops a greater understanding of the manner in which culture may impact parenting, and thus child development, by examining the relationship between cultural values, socialization goals, and parental ethnotheories. Specifically, this study examined the ways in which cultural value dimensions (i.e., individualism/collectivism, power distance, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, indulgence/restraint, and long-/short-term orientation)proposed by Hofstede et al. (2010) shape autonomous and relational socialization goals and parental ethnotheories. Using data collected via the Early Child Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ) of toddlers (N=865) from 14 nations represented in the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC), we hypothesized the following: 1) Cultural value dimensions consistent with independent cultural ideals will be positively associated with socialization goals and parental ethnotheories representative of a greater emphasis on autonomy and independence; 2) Cultural value dimensions consistent with interdependent cultural ideals will be positively associated with socialization goals and parental ethnotheories representative of greater interrelatedness; and 3) Cultural values/orientation variables are not expected to significantly account for within-culture variance and are associated primarily with between-culture effects, as these are culture-level variables. Multilevel modeling (MLM) was used to regress parental psychology (Socialization Goals and Parental Ethnotheories) on Hofstede’s cultural values, controlling for potentially relevant covariates: child age and gender. Results support the importance of parental psychology and cultural values in early development across cultures and highlight that differences in cultural values can explain both individual- and country-level variations in aspects of parental psychology.

Cultural Contributions to Parental Psychology: a Multilevel Analysis From the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC)

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