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Poster #144 - Adults’ Perceptions of Socialization of Children in Mexico, Mozambique, and Nepal

Fri, March 22, 7:45 to 9:15am, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Children’s socialization experiences influence developmental outcomes, including social competence, emotion regulation, and coping (Baker et al., 2011; Eisenberg et al. 1996; Kliewer et al., 2006). Cross-cultural research points to several universal parenting behaviors (e.g., warmth, control) that help form socialization practices (Bornstein et al., 2017; Deater-Deckard et al., 2011). However, culture may influence parents’ exhibition and interpretation of socialization behaviors (Frias-Armenta & McCloskey, 1998; Keller & Otto, 2009). The goal of the present study was to explore adults’ ideas about socialization in three countries underrepresented in the socialization literature—Mexico, Mozambique, and Nepal.
Focus-group interviews were conducted in two rural areas in Jalisco, Mexico, a rural (Malehice) and an urban (Chibuto) area in Mozambique, and the western Chitwan Valley of Nepal. Participants included 113 parents and caregivers (ages = 18 – 59 years, M = 38.55, SD = 8.69; 51.3% female). Each participant was asked to describe how they encourage desirable, and discourage undesirable, behaviors in 5- to 17-year olds. Interviews were transcribed into English. Transcriptions were independently coded by two individuals into 17 themes. Their coding was compared and discrepancies were resolved through consensus. Themes were collapsed into eight global themes informed by the socialization literature (Table 1).
Participants from all countries described socialization strategies consistent with findings in other countries, such as behavioral and environmental control, modeling, positive parenting, negative control, and promoting learning by doing (e.g., Deater-Deckard et al., 2011; Gunzenhauser et al., 2014). Participants sometimes emphasized different aspects of universally described strategies across sites. 1) Participants’ descriptions of control in Nepal and in Malehice, Mozambique, emphasized supervision over children’s peer relationships to ensure their friends were good children. 2) Mexican and Nepali participants described the negative effect of punishment; some Mozambican participants also discussed ambiguity and changing attitudes toward the social acceptability of using punishment. 3) Permissive parenting was mentioned in Nepal and in Mozambique, but inspection of the data showed the description was infrequent. Permissive parenting was not described in Mexico. 4) Neither group in Mozambique mentioned reinforcement (Table 2).
Socialization strategies may reflect parental beliefs. For instance, Nepali and Mozambican adults underscored peers’ (in addition to families’) influence on children’s behaviors. In addition, punishment descriptions indicated normative use across countries (Frias-Armenta & McCloskey, 1996; Kandel et al., 2017), although punishment is not necessarily seen as effective (Mulvaney & Mebert, 2007). Changing beliefs about punishment may reflect the westernization of developing countries, and that people are less conforming to traditional cultures and developing an individualistic worldview. Mozambican participants did not discuss reinforcement. Physical reward may be an uncommon socialization strategy in Mozambique. The lower GDP of Mozambique (UNSD, 2017) may also impede adults’ ability to provide physical rewards.
These data, although preliminary, provide unique insight given their qualitative nature. Results are being used to develop of culturally appropriate measures. Future directions should include investigations of how culture and parental personality interact to determine socialization strategies as well as the efficacy of socialization strategies in producing children’s positive social outcomes.

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