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

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology • Vol/Iss. 54(1) • Sage Journals • • Published In • Pages: 4-24 •
By Lin, Gao-Xian, Mikolajczak, Moïra, Keller, Heidi, Akgun, Ege, Arikan, Gizem, Aunola, Kaisa, Barham, Elizabeth, Besson, Elaine, Blanchard, M. Annelise, Boujut, Emilie, Brianda, Maria Elena, Brytek-Matera, Anna, César, Filipa, Chen, Bin-Bin, Dorard, Géraldine, Dos Santos Elias, Luciana Carla, Dunsmuir, Sandra, Egorova, Natalia, Escobar, Maria Josefina, Favez, Nicolas, Fontaine, Anne Marie, Foran, Heather, Furutani, Kaichiro, Gannagé, Myrna, Gaspar, Maria, Godbout, Lucie, Goldenberg, Amit, Gross, James J., Gurza, Maria Ancuta, Hatta, Ogma, Heeren, Alexandre, Helmy, Mai, Huynh, Mai-Trang, Kaneza, Emérence, Kawamoto, Taishi, Kellou, Nassima, Kpassagou, Bassantéa Lodegaèna, Lazarevic, Ljiljana, Le Vigouroux, Sarah, Lebert-Charron, Astrid, Leme, Vanessa, MacCann, Carolyn, Manrique-Millones, Denisse, Medjahdi, Oussama, Millones Rivalles, Rosa Bertha, Miranda Orrego, María Isabel, Miscioscia, Marina, Mousavi, Seyyedeh Fatemeh, Moutassem-Mimouni, Badra, Murphy, Hugh, Ndayizigiye, Alexis, Ngnombouowo, Tenke Josué, Olderbak, Sally, Ornawka, Sophie, Oyarce Cádiz, Daniela

Hypothesis

Different cultures have different ideas of the traits of an ideal parent.

Note

Five parenting culture zones were identified across the 37 countries studied -- Asian, African, Hispanic-Italian, Western I and Russian, and Western II. The specific emphases of parenthood were slightly different between groups: 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.”

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Semantic network analysesSupportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Ideal parenting behaviorDependentSocialization