Links Between Maternal Emotion Socialization Goals and Practices in an Urban Indian Context

Socialization goals and practices are shifting and changing in countries like India due to modernization, particularly in urban context. Given the shift, mothers may endorse balanced socialization goals over traditional relational goals and that may influence their emotion regulation behavior with the toddlers. This paper aims to test whether mothers’ emotion socialization practices toward their toddlers differ with reference to their socialization goals for both positive and negative socially disengaging and engaging emotions. Fifty mothers of toddlers (M = 25 months) from Vadodara, India, participated in the study. They answered the Emotion Socialization Goals Questionnaire (Chan et al., 2006) and were interviewed about their emotion regulation practices. Results indicated that the majority (58%) of Indian mothers showed clear preference for endorsing balanced goals. As expected, mothers with relational goals endorsed more non-supportive strategies like training, especially for negative socially disengaging emotions. No differences occurred for positive emotions. The findings are discussed with respect to the various emotion competence models that are present in the Indian cultural context

A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Social Motivation and Social Cognition in Young Children

The evolutionary success of our species is bound to our sociality—the tendency to engage in and benefit from social interactions. On a conceptual level, this sociality has been parsed into two facets, namely the proclivity to like and seek social interactions (social motivation) as well as the cognitive abilities needed to coordinate with others socially (social cognition). While numerous studies have assessed social motivation and social cognition in young children, our current understanding of both facets is still far from conclusive. First, the exact ontogeny of social motivation and cognition remains largely unclear. Second, the degree to which either facet of sociality is shaped by cultural input remains poorly understood. Finally, interindividual variation in social motivation and cognition has yet to be examined, without which we can neither understand the construct validity of either facet, nor their potential interplay. In this dissertation, I present three studies addressing these issues by focusing on developmental, cross-cultural, and interindividual variation in three phenomena previously linked to sociality: Overimitation and collaboration as indicators of social motivation, as well as Theory of Mind as a proxy for social cognition. In the first study I assessed whether children’s overimitation would be shaped by age, culture, and the social presence of an adult model. I found that children across three diverse populations showed more overimitation with age and selectively in the presence of the model. I also documented cross-cultural variation in children’s overimitation. On an individual level, children’s overimitation did not predict their tendency to reengage a co-player in a collaborative activity. In study 2, I found children’s overimitation to vary systematically between two populations utilizing a procedure with reduced cognitive task demands. Here, age did not predict children’s overimitation and variation across populations was only observed in how much, but not whether, children would overimitate. In study 3, I documented systematic variation in children’s social motivation for collaboration as well as their Theory of Mind across three populations and across the age range tested. On an individual level, indicators of social motivation were ontogenetically linked and predicted children’s Theory of Mind. In the general discussion, I propose an integrative model of social motivation and cognition to embed and expand the current findings. Accordingly, the interplay of socialization goals and practices, social motivation, and social cognition builds the foundation for children’s social learning within social interactions

Emotion Socialization in the Indian Cultural Context

The social cultural norms that guide parental practices regarding emotion socialization are determined by cultural meanings ascribed to emotion, emotion expression, regulation, and larger socialization goals. The majority of the empirical research on emotion socialization has been carried out in the US and in Western European countries. The current article aims at understanding emotion socialization in the Indian context interweaving broader views on parenting and socialization, socialization goals, and ancient and modern emotion concepts that shape emotion socialization in India. The heterogeneity of the Indian culture as well as modernization processes that influence these practices suggest heterogeneity of emotion socialization across contexts (e.g., rural-urban; multiple caregiver models)

Exploring the Land of Dracula: Personal Reflections on the Romanian Experience

In this article I reflect on my learning experiences with Kennesaw State University’s Year of Romania Faculty Development Community. The yearlong program, including a two-week trip to Romania, contributed a great deal to my professional and personal growth. I have since incorporated Romanian contents into my cross-cultural psychology class to enhance the student’s learning experience. In observing contemporary Romanian society, I make references to China and briefly discuss similarities and differences during each country’s transition to a market economy

Różnice kulturowe w podejściu rodziców do trudności w uczeniu się ich dzieci oraz sposoby radzenia sobie z nimi – wprowadzenie do badania

The main aim of the article is to identify and explain the issues of parents’ attitudes and ways of coping with their situation as parents toLearning Disability children, in relation to the differentCultural parents. This article stems from a deep and extensive dissertation research on parents’ attitudes toward their child Learning Disability in Israel and it is presented as an outline of the research study. Studying the parents attitudes and coping with their child’s Learning Disability, is an important area that should generate interest among researchers. The family is the source of the child’s development, and the parents are responsible for the creation of his values and beliefs. In summary, the connections between Learning disability, society and culture, attitudes, stress and coping concerning the parents of children diagnosed as having Learning was discussed in this article. There is an urgent need to explore these parents’ varied cultures, their different beliefs, attitudes, and their characteristics. It is important to remember that the family is a supportive framework that protects the child. The best way to help the L.D. child and his family is through understanding the way in which they experience the disability at home, and in the community

Raising children in a new culture

Master's thesis in global studies. VID Specialized University, Stavanger, May 2017MV 17 S

Profiles and Developmental Goals in Different Families of Rio de Janeiro

O estudo das metas de desenvolvimento infantil tem sido alvo de interesse na psicologia há décadas, no entanto, pouco se sabe sobre as metas de famílias não nucleares. O objetivo desse estudo foi analisar diferenças inter e intragrupos nos perfis de autonomia, interdependência e autonomia relacionada de casais em diferentes arranjos familiares na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, assim como investigar a associação destes perfis com as metas de desenvolvimento que estes possuem para os seus filhos. Foram entrevistados pais e mães de crianças de até dois anos em 50 famílias (10 monoparentais, 20 reconstituídas e 20 nucleares). Os resultados indicaram associação entre autonomia e valorização de metas de heteronomia em famílias reconstituídas e os escores mais elevados de interdependência em famílias não nucleares. Conclui-se que a configuração familiar pode influenciar a relação entre autonomia e metas, e que as trajetórias de autonomia variam entre os arranjos familiares.The study of child development goals has been of interest in psychology for decades, however, little is known about the goals of non-nuclear families. The objective of this study was to analyze inter and intragroup differences in the profiles of autonomy, interdependence and related autonomy of couples in different family arrangements in the city of Rio de Janeiro, as well as to investigate the association of these profiles with the development goals they have for their families’ children. Fathers and mothers of children up to two years old were interviewed in 50 families (10 single-parent, 20 reconstituted and 20 nuclear). The results indicated an association between the autonomy and valorization of heteronomy goals in reconstituted families and higher interdependence scores in non-nuclear families. It is concluded that the family configuration can influence the relationship between autonomy and goals, and that the autonomy trajectories vary between family arrangements.El estudio de las metas de desarrollo infantil ha sido objeto de interés en la psicología desde hace décadas, sin embargo, se sabe poco sobre las metas de familias no nucleares. El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar diferencias inter e intragrupos en los perfiles de autonomía, interdependencia y autonomía relacionada de parejas en diferentes tipos familiares en la ciudad de Río de Janeiro, así como investigar la asociación de estos perfiles con las metas de desarrollo que poseen para sus niños. Se entrevistaron a padres y madres de niños de hasta dos años en 50 familias (10 monoparentales, 20 reconstituidas y 20 nucleares). Los resultados indicaron asociación entre autonomía y valorización de metas de heteronomía en familias reconstituidas y las puntuaciones más elevados de interdependencia en familias no nucleares. Se concluye que la configuración familiar puede influenciar en la relación entre autonomía y metas, y que las trayectorias de autonomía varían entre los arreglos familiares

Efficiency of Executive Function: A Two-Generation Cross-Cultural Comparison of Samples From Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

Although Asian preschoolers acquire executive functions (EFs) earlier than their Western counterparts, little is known about whether this advantage persists into later childhood and adulthood. To address this gap, in the current study we gave four computerized EF tasks (providing measures of inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning) to a large sample ( n = 1,427) of 9- to 16-year-olds and their parents. All participants lived in either the United Kingdom or Hong Kong. Our findings highlight the importance of combining developmental and cultural perspectives and show both similarities and contrasts across sites. Specifically, adults' EF performance did not differ between the two sites; age-related changes in executive function for both the children and the parents appeared to be culturally invariant, as did a modest intergenerational correlation. In contrast, school-age children and young adolescents in Hong Kong outperformed their United Kingdom counterparts on all four EF tasks, a difference consistent with previous findings from preschool children.A joint-council award to the authors funded this research (ES/K010225/1:Economic and Social Research Council, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong). Thinking Games website development supported by the Institute of Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A110932 to the University of Cambridge. Electronic access to dataset: http://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/851984/

Parent–Child Cultural Value Gaps and Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican American Youth

Cultural value gaps between Mexican American parents and their children are hypothesized to place youth at risk for poor mental health outcomes. While most studies examine these gaps on broad measures of acculturation, the present study examined value gaps in affiliative obedience, a cultural value that has at its core the belief that respect and deference must be shown to parents and adults. The present study hypothesized that adolescents would exhibit greater depressive symptoms when youth demonstrated lower levels of affiliative obedience than their mothers. Moreover, we examined whether gender, nativity status, and age predicted cultural value gaps and moderated the relationship between gaps and depressive symptoms. These questions were evaluated in a school-based sample of 159 Mexican American families whose children were either US born (n = 82) or foreign-born (n = 77). Twenty-five percent of the sample demonstrated a cultural value gap where youth endorsed lower levels of affiliative obedience than their parents, and this group reported the greatest depressive symptoms. Age moderated this relationship, and the greatest association between cultural value gaps and depression was found among the older group of early adolescents