A Cross-Cultural Examination of Parental Approaches towards Science: Evidence from the US, Iran and China

• In Event: 1-133 - A Window into Diverse Learning: Exploring Cultural Variation in Parent-Child Discussions about Science

Integrative Statement

Parental beliefs about science can shape children’s informal learning experiences. For example, previous research has demonstrated that parents’ epistemological stance (e.g., the extent to which they value reasoning about evidence) is linked to how children independently consider scientific evidence (Luce et al., 2013). In the present work, we sought to shed light on the social and cultural factors that may be involved in how parents think about the role of science in their child’s lives. Since it is often argued that religious beliefs inherently compete with views about science, we specifically focused on the influence of religiosity on parental scientific approaches.

We investigated this relation across three different countries with markedly distinct public relationships between scientific and religious institutions: the US (clear separation between church and state), China (a predominately secular society) and Iran (a religious theocracy). If an inherent epistemological conflict exists between these domains, we would expect religiosity to negatively impact on parental stances towards science, and be especially apparent within the most religious cultural context (i.e., Iran).

Four hundred and thirty-seven parents of 4- to 11-year-old children living in the United States (n = 126; 61% mothers), Iran, (n = 77; 95% mothers), and China (n = 234; 80% mothers) completed a questionnaire as part of a broader cross-cultural study examining parental scientific and religious discourse. Participants were asked about their personal and parental valuation of science (e.g. item = “It is important for children to be raised with a scientific outlook in life”) and more open-ended questions about the development of their child’s scientific beliefs (e.g., “Do your views about science influence your child’s scientific views? If so, how?”). Religiosity level (ranging from 0 to 2) was calculated for each participant based on 1) self-identification as religious or not and 2) how frequently they engaged in religious worship.

For valuation of science, the results revealed a negative association with religiosity both in the United States, = -4.74, SE = 0.57, p < .001, and China, = -1.77, SE = 0.39, p < .001, however, there was no association between these variables in Iran, = .27, p = .75. Significant interaction coefficients confirmed that all countries differed significantly from each other in terms of this relation, with the strongest relationship among US parents (see Figure 1). Preliminary analyses on a subset of the open-ended responses showed that a significantly higher percentage of Iranian parents consider themselves to be a source of scientific influence in their child’s lives (90% responded “yes”) compared to US parents (71%), = 1.30 SE = 0.45, p = .004, but not compared to parents in China (80%). Religiosity did not interact with country in this case. Further planned coding and analyses will look at these responses in more detail and examine other aspects of parental approaches (e.g., how parents react when children dissent from their views).

We discuss these interesting cross-cultural findings in light of debates surrounding how religious environments may or may not influence children’s informal science learning.

Authors

• Ayse Payir, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Niamh McLoughlin, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Telli Davoodi, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yixin Kelly Cui, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer M. Clegg, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathleen Helen Corriveau, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author