Poster #165 - Maternal Socialization Goals in Canada, Poland, and Singapore: Variation by Culture, Education, and Child Gender

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - International Section

Integrative Statement

The relative strength of the independent and interdependent self is known to vary across cultures (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). As early socialization agents, parents transmit values of the overarching culture, thereby fostering aspects of the self that are adaptive to local conditions (Chao, 1995). In order to understand the diversity that exists in this process, this study examined variation in mothers’ independent and interdependent socialization goals for their children in three countries: Canada, a prototypically individualistic country; Poland, a moderately individualistic country; and Singapore, a traditionally collectivistic country that has undergone recent, rapid societal change (Hofstede, 2004; Teo et al., 2003). The effect of maternal exposure to formalized education, considered a powerful source of enculturation, and child gender was also examined.

Samples of Canadian (n=89), Polish (n=352), and Singaporean (n=461) mothers of children aged 5-12 reported their intentions to foster the development of independence (i.e., assertiveness, personal autonomy) and interdependence (i.e., respect for authority, deference to others) in their child using an adapted version of the Self-Construal Scale (Singelis, 1994). In addition to scale scores, concordance scores were generated for each scale by calculating the extent to which a participant’s set of responses correlated with their country’s group average, thereby indicating the extent to which they conformed to the cultural norm (De Leersnyder et al., 2011). General linear models were run with country, maternal education, and child gender as predictors of independent and interdependent scale (Table 1) and concordance scores (Table 2).

Independent socialization scores differed significantly by country, with both Canadian and Singaporean mothers endorsing more independent socialization goals than Polish mothers. Interdependent socialization scores also differed significantly by country, with Singaporean mothers endorsing the most interdependent socialization goals, followed by Polish mothers, and then Canadian mothers. In addition, mothers, overall, desired to foster more interdependence in sons than daughters. Concordance on independent socialization goals was significantly higher among Canadian and Singaporean mothers compared to Polish mothers. Concordance on interdependent socialization goals was highest among Canadian mothers, followed by Polish mothers, and then Singaporean mothers. Concordance with the group norm on both interdependent and independent socialization goals was significantly related to maternal education, with more educated mothers being more concordant with their respective group. This effect for concordance in interdependent socialization goals, however, was qualified by an interaction with child gender, applying only to mothers of daughters, but not sons.

Variation in socialization goals across the three samples were generally consistent with large-scale cross-cultural research (Hofstede, 2004). Simultaneous endorsement of higher interdependent and independent socialization goals among Singaporean mothers is consistent with an autonomous-related model of self (Kagitcibasi, 2011), which is characteristic of traditionally collectivistic cultures that have undergone shifts in urbanization and material affluence. Associations between maternal education and concordance scores implicate the role of formalized schooling as a major source for the acquisition of shared cultural knowledge and group norms. Finally, the interaction between education and child gender on concordance scores for interdependent goals may indicate the more socially prescribed nature of female gender roles.

Authors

• Jeffry QUAN, University of Ottawa
  Presenting Author

• Jean-Francois Bureau, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Paulina Pawlicka, University of Gdansk
  Non-Presenting Author

• Audrey-Ann Deneault, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kok Hian Tan, KK Women's & Children's Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yap-Seng Chong, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anne Rifkin-Graboi, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences
  Non-Presenting Author