Autonomy Orientation in the Socialization of Estonian Children

The purpose of this article is to examine the tendency to express and promote autonomy in the socialization of children in Estonia, a society with rapid ongoing social, political and economical changes. Autonomy has been regarded as being self-initiating in actions, feeling ownership of them, and expressing one’s opinion, preferences and feelings. This contribution reviews the findings from our previous research on childrearing practices and values in Estonia with focus on the promotion and support of children’s autonomy. Conclusions about the extent of autonomy promotion in the socialization of children across cultures will be discussed along with consideration of the possible reasons for cultural variability

Adolescents and their mothers as conversational partners across socio-cultural contexts

This paper presents some findings of a crosscultural research project on everyday family interactions with teenagers in Estonia, Finland, and Sweden – North European cultures that have all been traditionally characterized as relatively silent and reserved in comparison with other European nations. The three monocultural groups consisted of 17 Estonian, 19 Swedish, and 18 Finnish families living in their country of origin; the two bicultural and bilingual groups consisted of 18 Estonian and 18 Finnish families residing in Sweden. The results revealed that little talk characterizes all Estonian and Finnish families, whereas the Swedish mothers living in Sweden talked a lot. The Estonian mothers living in Estonia tended to be more concerned with controlling their children’s behavior, and elicited conversation from teenagers more frequently. At the same time, the Swedish mono-cultural teenagers were more talkative and more active in controlling their mothers’ behavior than their counterparts, exhibiting a higher degree of symmetrical mother-child interaction than their Estonian and Finnish counterparts. Finally, the discussion focuses on possible reasons and consequences of cultural variability in teenagers’ and their mothers’ conversational style

Eesti laste esimesed sõnad: MacArthuri-Batesi suhtlemise arengu testi tulemused

Eesmärgid. Uurida 8 kuni 16 kuu vanuste eesti laste sõnavara suurust ja koostist; kirjeldada selles vanuses laste sõnavara vanusekuude kaupa ning otsida võimalikke erinevusi poiste ja tüdrukute sõnavara suuruses ja koostises. Meetod. Uurimuses kasutati MacArthuri-Batesi suhtlemise arengu testi „Sõnad ja suhtlemisliigutused“eesti adaptatsiooni (ECDI). Testi täitsid 593 lapse vanemad.Tulemused. Lapsevanemate taidetud testide tulemuste kohaselt utlevad eesti lapsed esimese sona 10 kuu vanuselt, 12 kuu vanuselt utlevad lapsed keskmiselt 11 sona. Hüppeline kasv laste sõnavara suuruses toimub 14. elukuul, mil senine sõnavara kahekordistub. Teine sarnane järsk sõnavara suurenemine leiab aset 16. elukuul. Igas vanuses oli lapsi, kelle sõnavara oli keskmisest oluliselt erinev. Eesti laste esimeste sõnade hulka kuuluvad nimetused oluliste inimeste kohta (nt ema, isa, tita), korduvate sotsiaalsete tegevustega kaasnevad sõnad (nt aitäh, nämm-nämm, aidaa) ning mõnede esemete ja elusolendite kohta kasutatavad sõnad (nt auto, lamp, koer, kass, karu).Järeldused. Eesti väikelapse kõne arengumuster on nii sõnavara suuruse kui ka koostise poolest võrreldav teisi keeli rääkivate laste sõnavara arenguga. Eesti Arst 2013; 92(1):21–2

Influence of internal and external factors on early language skills : A cross-linguistic study

Cross-linguistic studies can provide information about general and language specific features of language development, but relatively few such studies are available in literature. The main aim of the present study was to investigate, from a cross-linguistic perspective, the roles of the internal factor of gender and external factors of birth order and parental education level on the development of language in 2-year-old children. We examined 351 children growing up in three European language contexts: Croatian (N = 104), Estonian (N = 141) and Finnish (N = 106). Information on lexical skills and word combination ability was collected using the short form of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories and the influence of background factors on these aspects of language development was investigated. No significant differences were found in lexical skills or word combination ability among the three language groups. These aspects of language development varied significantly with gender, but not with external factors. Our findings suggest that internal factors may influence early language development more than external factors.Peer reviewe

Konditsionaali omandamisest eesti lapsekeeles

Peer reviewe

Independence and Interdependence Values in Changing Societies: A Three-Generation Comparative Study in Estonia, Germany, and Russia

Independent and interdependent self-construal values of three generations and the intergenerational similarity of self-construal was compared in three countries. The participants were 837 adolescents, their mothers (227 from Russia, 311 from Germany, and 299 from Estonia) and 293 maternal grandmothers. In Germany, all three generations displayed higher scores on independence than participants from other countries. Russian participants had higher scores on interdependence compared to participants from other countries. Adolescents scored significantly higher on the interdependent self-construal than the two older generations, and higher than the mothers’ generation on the independent self-construal. Grandmothers’ self-construal was related to mothers’ in all three countries. In Germany and Estonia, mothers’ interdependent self-construal was related to adolescents’ interdependent self-construal. Grandmothers’ (but not mothers’) independent self-construal predicted adolescents’ independent self-construal. The results are discussed in light of the Family Change Theory and the different roles the participants have

Association of the COMT Val108/158Met genotype with professional career and education: The Val-allele is more frequent in managers and in enterprising occupations

Catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) is a key player in neurotransmission by catecholamines, and the functional COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism is strongly related to prefrontal reactivity and to dopamine levels. As dopamine is a critically important neurotransmitter in cognition, emotion and motivation, we addressed the potential impact of this genotype on life course by examining its association with being in enterprising professions. The parents (n = 1410) of the target subjects in the Estonian Children Personality Behaviour and Health Study reported their current occupation, and those classified as enterprising (n = 197; 18%) were compared with the remaining group. Additionally, the subjects self-classified themselves according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations and the group of managers (6.2%) was compared to other groups. We found that the COMT Val108/158Met Val/Val homozygotes were overrepresented among enterprising occupations and the Val-allele carriers among self-classified managers. While several measures associated with the Val/Val homozygosity were also associated with enterprising occupation, no simple path from the genotype to enterprising occupations emerged from structural equation models, suggesting that the COMT Val108/158Met genotype contributes to choices of profession via multiple interactive features. We also reproduced a previous finding that the COMT genotype is associated with educational attainment in a gender-dependent manner

Adolescents and their mothers as conversational partners across socio-cultural contexts

This paper presents some findings of a crosscultural research project on everyday family interactions with teenagers in Estonia, Finland, and Sweden – North European cultures that have all been traditionally characterized as relatively silent and reserved in comparison with other European nations. The three monocultural groups consisted of 17 Estonian, 19 Swedish, and 18 Finnish families living in their country of origin; the two bicultural and bilingual groups consisted of 18 Estonian and 18 Finnish families residing in Sweden. The results revealed that little talk characterizes all Estonian and Finnish families, whereas the Swedish mothers living in Sweden talked a lot. The Estonian mothers living in Estonia tended to be more concerned with controlling their children’s behavior, and elicited conversation from teenagers more frequently. At the same time, the Swedish mono-cultural teenagers were more talkative and more active in controlling their mothers’ behavior than their counterparts, exhibiting a higher degree of symmetrical mother-child interaction than their Estonian and Finnish counterparts. Finally, the discussion focuses on possible reasons and consequences of cultural variability in teenagers’ and their mothers’ conversational style

Mothers' Regulation of their Two-Year-Olds' Behavior in Two Settings

: This study is concerned with the effect of activity settings on the mothers' regulation of their two-year-old children's activities. Ten mother-child dyads were videotaped in two settings: at mealtime and during joint puzzle solving. Attention was paid, first of all, to the mothers' regulative utterances, operationally defined as utterances that required the child to look, to speak, or to do something. The results revealed some significant differences between the two settings: during puzzle solving, the children's attention and physical activities were regulated significantly more often than at mealtime, whereas regulation of verbal activities did not differ significantly. The sentence type preferred by the mothers for regulating their children's behavior, was imperative. Finally, mealtime setting was analysed as a socialization context where the children learn to eat according to social norms and rules. Introduction The aim of the present study is to examine more thoroughly the dif..