Parenting attitudes and children's understanding of mind: A comparison of Korean American and Anglo-American families
Introduction
Cross-cultural literature (e.g., Harkness & Super, 1996, Whiting & Edwards, 1988) has suggested that child-rearing practices are influential in child development. Cultural values guide parental beliefs and attitudes, and these beliefs in turn shape the parent's response to the child, maintaining and modifying the developmental process. This study explores the relationship between parenting attitudes and one area of child development, young children's understanding of mind, through a comparison of Korean American and Anglo-American families. The aim was to see whether different attitudes toward mother–child interactions are related to the development of children's understanding of people as intentional beings whose behavior is driven by an inner, mental life.
Section snippets
Korean and Anglo cultural differences
That Asian American and Anglo-American parents have different ideas about childcare is well documented. Kim, Kim, and Rue (1997) note that traditional Korean values include family orientation, interdependency, authoritarian structure, and family loyalty, whereas mainstream American values include individual orientation, independence, democratic structure, and autonomy. While some traditional Korean values may be mitigated among immigrants, Farver, Kim, and Lee (1995), in an analysis of 16
Parenting styles and cultural difference
Since the landmark work of Baumrind in the early 1970s, her distinction between authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parents has charted the course for the study of parenting styles. Generally, findings provide evidence for Baumrind's original contention that authoritative parenting, with its emphasis on the child's autonomy within a structured family setting, is associated with prosocial behavior and strong academic performance. Yet as studies have begun to look at different ethnic
Parenting style and a developing understanding of mind
Why might parenting style have some effect on a young child's developing understanding of mind? The adult–child interaction is the major locus of child development. For the child to reach the point where she is able to independently predict the thoughts and behavior of others, she must have been involved in activities where this was modeled for her repeatedly. She must have been provided with the kinds of structured contexts in which she gradually participated in increasingly complex ways.
Participants
Forty-five Korean American families were recruited from a city in northern California. Fifty-two Anglo-American families were recruited from a city in northern California and from two cities in central Massachusetts.1
Results
For some of the analyses below children are grouped into three age groups: 3's, 4's and 5's. The 5's group includes all children 5 and over. For purposes of comparing Korean and Anglo children, the term culture is used. This does not imply, however, that the author believes that culture is a discrete, unified variable; it is merely a shorthand way distinguishing between the two groups of children and mothers in this study.
Discussion
The hypothesis that Korean mothers would be more authoritarian in their attitudes than Anglo mothers was partially supported by this study. Korean mothers did score higher than Anglo mothers on the authoritarian factor that focused on the child's conforming to the parent's wishes with strict obedience. Anglo mothers scored higher on authoritative parenting, particularly in the area of encouraging their children's autonomy. There was not, however, a clear split between authoritative and
Acknowledgements
This research was funded in part by a postdoctoral grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The author wishes to thank the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley and its members, especially Alison Gopnik, for hosting me during the initial stages of this research. I am grateful to the mothers and children who participated in this research, and also to a group of Berkeley and Clark undergraduates who assisted in data collection,
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