Respeto, not Parenting Style, in Latino Mother-Child Interactions

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Introduction: Longstanding measures of parenting style rest on rating scales that were normed with middle-class non-Hispanic White families. Thus, traditional rating measures do not account for culturally informed childrearing practices. Often, higher proportions of ethnic minority families are categorized in the stigmatized authoritarian category, defined by cold, harsh, directive parenting with expectations of child obedience. However, empirical evidence highlights the need to attend to the enormous variation that characterizes parenting within cultural groups, both the universal and culturally-specific associations from parenting to child outcomes by ethnicity, and the unique cultural features of parenting that characterize caregivers’ interactions with children from different groups. Indeed, cultural context infuses parenting and offers a powerful lens on differences among parents.

Latino parenting has been designated as authoritarian in nature, based both on maternal self-report as well as direct observation (Calzada et al., 2010; Halgunseth, 2006). Though Latinos are a diverse cultural group, respeto is a prevalent value that shapes how adults and children interact and emphasizes the typical authoritarian qualities of child obedience and parent directiveness. Here we examine how Latina self-reports of parenting style and respeto value statement endorsements relate to observational ratings of respeto and maternal sensitivity during mother-toddler interaction.

Hypotheses: We predict that observational measures of respeto will not relate to these self-reports of parenting style. Further, we predict that maternal sensitivity will be more highly correlated with culturally sensitive respeto ratings than with self-reports. Based on children’s young age, we predict that ratings of respeto may not relate to self-reports of respeto value endorsement.

Method: 128 Mexican-born mothers living in the US were observed in the Three Bag task with their toddlers (mean age = 29.7 months). See Table 1 for demographic information. Video records were rated for operationalized caregiver behaviors of respeto, Parent Calm Authority (PCA), as part of a larger corpus of rating items, including maternal sensitivity. Mothers also completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire and the Cultural Socialization of Latino Children (Calzada et al., 2010) to measure parenting practices and alignment with respeto values, respectively.

Results: As predicted, behavioral observations had low negative non-significant correlations with both self-report measures. As prior research supports, self-reports of parenting practices and authoritarian practice endorsement relate in a significant, medium and positive manner. Observational ratings of maternal sensitivity related significantly in a medium positive direction with ratings of respeto and negatively with self-reports of parenting values and authoritarian practices.

Discussion: Behavioral observations of respeto better captured the sensitive parenting style of Latina mothers than either of the self-report measures. This finding supports the need of culturally specific measures of parenting in Latino families. Further, ratings of respeto did not correlate with any traditional self-reported category of parenting style, indicating that it presents a unique way of measuring Latino parenting. Some consideration, and further research, should be given to the young age of the children as respeto norms shift as children become school-aged.

Authors

• Katharine Suma, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Margaret O'Brien Caughy, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Margaret Tresch Owen, University of Texas at Dallas
  Non-Presenting Author

• Catherine S Tamis-Lemonda, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author