Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures

Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures

Parental Burnout Around the Globe: a 42-Country Study

High levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children. It is not yet clear, however, whether parental burnout varies by culture, and if so, why it might do so. In this study, we examined the prevalence of parental burnout in 42 countries (17,409 parents; 71% mothers; M_{age} = 39.20) and showed that the prevalence of parental burnout varies dramatically across countries. Analyses of cultural values revealed that individualistic cultures, in particular, displayed a noticeably higher prevalence and mean level of parental burnout. Indeed, individualism plays a larger role in parental burnout than either economic inequalities across countries, or any other individual and family characteristic examined so far, including the number and age of children and the number of hours spent with them. These results suggest that cultural values in Western countries may put parents under heightened levels of stress

Agroforestry, water and soil fertility management to fight erosion in tropical mountains of Rwanda

African tropical mountains are often overcrowded because the climate is healthy and favorable to intensive agriculture. Consequently the density of population in the mountains of Rwanda and Burundi has reached an exceptional level (150 to 800 inhabitants/km2) that leads to delicate problems of soil protection against runoff and various types of erosion on steep cultivated hillslopes. Previous measurements on runoff plots have shown that sheet and rill erosion risks have reached 300 to 700 t/ha/year on 20 to 60% slopes with regional rainfall erosivity (R(USA)=250 to 700), very resistant ferrallitic soils (K=0.01 to 0.20) and traditional farming systems (C=0.8 to 0.3). Curiously, the runoff rate (10 to 30%) is relatively moderate so that it is possible to restrict erosion with a natural or leguminous fallow, a pine plantation (litter effect) or by mulching coffee, banana or cassava plantations. The problem is now to produce enough biomass to mulch the whole surface with the help of agroforestry. A new strategy (GCES = land husbandry) was suggested to meet the major farmer problems : what should be done to increase the soil productivity rapidly and protect the rural environment ? A part of the answer is to be found in the efficient management of water, organic matter and soil fertility restoration (Roose et al., 1988). This strategy was first tested in 9 runoff plots (5 X 20 cm) on a 23% slope of a very acid ferrallitic soil (pH=4). Three types of living hedges (leucaena, calliandra, calliandra + setaria) twice replicated, were compared with the international bare standard plot and with the regional farming system (maize + beans during the first season, and sorghum during the second season). After 2 years, living hedges reduced runoff to less than 2% and erosion to 2 t/ha/year : they produced fire wood and high quality leguminous forage (3 to 8 kg/m) and return to the soil as much as 80 to 120 kg/ha/year of phosphorus, 30 to 60 kg/ha/year of calcium and potassium, 10 to 20 kg/ha/year of magnesium... (D'après résumé d'auteur

Spécial érosion : réhabilitation des sols et GCES

Le Rwanda connaît depuis une cinquantaine d'années une phase active d'érosion parce que la pression démographique pousse les paysans à cultiver des pentes toujours plus raides et plus hautes, des sols épuisés et fragilisés. De nombreux projets ont tenté de lutter contre l'érosion : leur succès est de courte durée car les processus d'érosion sont multiples, le référentiel technique n'est pas au point, les conditions écologiques sont très variées (altitude de 800 à plus de 3000 m) et les implications foncières, sociologiques, politiques et économiques sont complexes. Les résultats de la recherche sur de nombreuses parcelles confirment les risques graves de décapage (1 à 3 cm par an) des horizons humifères (par l'érosion en nappe et en rigole et par le travail du sol) sur les pentes raides (20 à 60%) des collines cultivées. Cependant, les recherches suggèrent quatre solutions pour stabiliser les versants : le paillage, les haies vives alternant avec de gros billons couverts en permanence, les terrasses radicales (risques de glissement) et la végétalisation permanente (forêt avec sous-bois, prairie ou verger avec plantes de couverture). Mais la "conservation des sols" pour elle-même ne satisfait pas les paysans car elle n'augmente pas la productivité de la terre ni du travail. Une nouvelle série d'essais a été mise en place pour vérifier s'il est possible non seulement de stabiliser le sol et la production, mais encore d'améliorer sensiblement celle-ci avec les amendements organiques disponibles sur place. Les résultats confirment que la culture entre des haies d'arbustes permet de maîtriser le ruissellement (Kram < 2% mais Krmax = 35% en cas d'orage sur sol humide) et l'érosion (E < 2 t/ha/an au bout de deux ans). Les haies produisent 3 à 9 t/ha/an de biomasse fourragère et 2 à 4 t/ha/an de petit bois, matière organique qui jointe aux résidus de culture forme une biomasse équivalente à la litière déposée par la forêt naturelle. (Résumé d'auteur

Gender Equality and Maternal Burnout: A 40-Country Study

In Western countries, recent decades have witnessed a revolution toward gender equality. Inequalities have been greatly reduced in areas such as education or employment. Because inequalities lead to distress, this development has largely benefited women. One notable exception is the realm of parenting, which has remained rife with inequalities even in the most egalitarian countries. We hypothesized that experiencing inequality in parenting when one holds egalitarian values and raising a child in a country characterized by a high level of gender equality in other areas, increases mothers’ psychological distress in the specific area of parenting. Multilevel modeling analyses computed among 11,538 mothers from 40 countries confirmed this prediction: high egalitarian values at the individual level and high gender equality at the societal level are associated with higher burnout levels in mothers. The associations hold beyond differences in sociodemographic characteristics at the individual level and beyond economic disparities at the societal level. These findings show the importance of egalitarian values and gender equality and their paradoxical effect when inequalities are still present in specific areas as parenting. This study reveals the crucial need to act not only at the micro level but also at the macro level to promote gender equality in parenting and prevent parental burnout