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Assessing Parenting Behaviors in Euro-Canadian and East Asian Immigrant Mothers : Limitations to Observations of Responsiveness Chan, Kathy; Penner, Kailee; Mah, Janet W. T.; Johnston, Charlotte

Abstract

The use of parenting measures that are developed for use with Western families without testing their validity among families from Non-Western cultural backgrounds may not be appropriate. Similar parenting behaviors may affect child outcomes in different ways across different cultures. This study examined the cross-cultural validity of an observational Maternal Responsiveness coding system and of self-reports of lax/inconsistent parenting in Euro-Canadian (n=23) and East Asian immigrant mothers (n=23) of 4 to 7 year old sons. In Euro-Canadian mothers, observed parenting responsiveness was associated with less lax/inconsistent parenting and fewer child behavior problems. In East Asian immigrant mothers however, observations of greater responsiveness were not related to reports of lax/inconsistent parenting, and were associated with greater child behavior problems. Implications for the use of these parenting measures across culture groups are discussed.

Item Metadata

Title
Assessing Parenting Behaviors in Euro-Canadian and East Asian Immigrant Mothers : Limitations to Observations of Responsiveness
Alternate Title
Culture and maternal responsiveness
Creator
Chan, Kathy; Penner, Kailee; Mah, Janet W. T.; Johnston, Charlotte
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Date Issued
2010
Description
The use of parenting measures that are developed for use with Western families without testing their validity among families from Non-Western cultural backgrounds may not be appropriate. Similar parenting behaviors may affect child outcomes in different ways across different cultures. This study examined the cross-cultural validity of an observational Maternal Responsiveness coding system and of self-reports of lax/inconsistent parenting in Euro-Canadian (n=23) and East Asian immigrant mothers (n=23) of 4 to 7 year old sons. In Euro-Canadian mothers, observed parenting responsiveness was associated with less lax/inconsistent parenting and fewer child behavior problems. In East Asian immigrant mothers however, observations of greater responsiveness were not related to reports of lax/inconsistent parenting, and were associated with greater child behavior problems. Implications for the use of these parenting measures across culture groups are discussed.
Subject
cross-cultural validity; maternal responsiveness; observation; East Asian immigrant families; parent-child interaction
Genre
Article; Postprint
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2016-05-06
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0300475
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/58095
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Psychology, Department of
Citation
Chan, K., Penner, K., Mah, J., & Johnston, C. (2010). Assessing parenting behaviors in Euro-Canadian and East Asian immigrant mothers: Limitations to observations of responsiveness. Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 32, 85-102.
Publisher DOI
10.1080/07317101003776423
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International