Attachment studies mostly follow the Western middle-class model in theory and methods. To demonstrate that the assessment of children's caregiving context is an often neglected, but crucial prerequisite for attachment studies, we (a) conducted a literature analysis of attachment research in non-Western contexts and (b) empirically investigated the…

The study compares mothers' conversation with their 4-year-old children about two past events in two autonomy-oriented (35 German and 42 Swedish families), one relatedness-oriented (22 Cameroonian Nso families) and one autonomy-relatedness oriented (38 Estonian families) contexts. German mothers were rather similar to Swedish mothers in talking a…

This study examines the similarity of socialization goals of a group of mothers with different cultural backgrounds and their children's respective preschool teachers in Germany. Additionally, the researchers were interested in the relationship between the degree of mother-teacher similarity and maternal satisfaction with child care. Questionnaire…

This study examines mother-child reminiscing conversations with respect to variation in use and function of mothers' elaborations, the nature of children's memory elaborations, and the connections between the two, in three Western middle-class cultures where autonomy is valued over relatedness. Mothers participated with their 4-year-old children…

This paper is aimed at analyzing verbal and nonverbal strategies in terms of body contact, face-to-face contact, and discourse style during the first three months of life in two cultural communities that have been characterized as embodying different cultural models of parenting: German middle-class, and Nso farmer families. It can be demonstrated…

The overarching goal of the present study was to trace the development of mirror self-recognition (MSR), as an index of toddlers' sense of themselves and others as autonomous intentional agents, in different sociocultural environments. A total of 276 toddlers participated in the present study. Toddlers were either 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21 months…

In this cross-cultural study, we tested 2 main hypotheses: first, that an early self-concept along with self-other differentiation is a universal precursor of prosocial behavior in 19-month-olds, and second, that the importance attached to relational socialization goals (SGs) concerning interpersonal responsiveness (obedience, prosocial behavior)…

Cultures differ with respect to parenting strategies already during infancy. Distal parenting, i.e., face-to-face context and object stimulation, is prevalent in urban educated middle-class families of Western cultures; proximal parenting, i.e., body contact and body stimulation, is prevalent in rural, low-educated farmer families. Parents from…

This study relates parenting of 3-month-old children to children's self-recognition and self-regulation at 18 to 20 months. As hypothesized, observational data revealed differences in the sociocultural orientations of the 3 cultural samples' parenting styles and in toddlers' development of self-recognition and self-regulation. Children of…

Videotaped 10 West African Nso and 10 German mother-infant interactional sequences and conducted discussion groups about videotaped mother-infant interactions to investigate conceptions of motor stimulation and developmental goals. Results highlighted different perceptions of good parenting. Nso women focused significantly more on motor handling,…

The present study compares conceptions about parenting in two cultural communities that may be expected to hold different views on parent-child relationships. Sociodemographically diverse samples of 46 Northern German and 39 West African Nso women evaluated parenting behavior observed in 10 Nso and 10 German videotaped mother-infant interaction…

Analyzes components of the concept of intuitive parenting in cultural samples of 10 German, 20 U.S. and 6 Greek mothers with first-born infants. Although results indicate general parenting programs that are not culturally specific, quantitative cultural differences are found in verbal behavior. (SLD)