Assessing Mothers’ Developmental Parenting Capacity in Chinese, Chilean, and Spanish Cultures

• In Event: The Covid-19 pandemic impact on parenting of young children in the U.S., China, and Israel

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated health, social and economic stressors that may disrupt parents’ capacity to engage in developmentally supportive interactions with their young children, as socioeconomic and racial disparities amplifying risk (Shonkoff & Willams, 2020; Yoshikawa et al., 2020). Practitioners need tools to promote positive parent-child interaction that are culturally responsive, practical, and flexible across home and early education settings (e.g. face-to-face, virtual, video feedback). Developmental Parenting is a research-based facilitative approach that promotes warm, responsive, encouraging and communicative parent-child interactions that provide the developmental support children need to form secure relationships, explore the environment, communicate and experience, regulate and express emotions (Roggman, Boyce, & Innocenti, 2008). The Parents’ Interaction with Children: Checklist of Observation (PICCOLO; Roggman et al., 2013) tool is a practical, brief, strengths-based observation of developmentally supportive parent-child interaction. The PICCOLO was developed with families experiencing social and economic risk factors, shows stronger effects for children experiencing a disability (Innocenti et al., 2013), and has been used to support face-to- face, video feedback (Schindler, Fisher, & Shonkoff, 2017), and virtual interventions. The PICCOLO has also been adapted for use in a variety of cultures (e.g. Bayoğlu et al, 2013; Vilaseca, 2019; Qiu & Andersin, 2018). HYPOTEHSIS: Based on prior findings, the PICCOLO tool is expected to be suitable for identifying a wide variety of parenting strengths across different sociocultural contexts and playful observational settings. STUDY POPULATION: Mothers with toddlers 26 - 35 months from three culturally distinctive countries: China (n = 50), Chile (n = 72), and Spain (n = 42). METHOD: The PICCOLO four parenting domains (Affection, Responsiveness, Encouragement, and Teaching) were observed using video recorded, play interactions. Spanish mothers recorded their own interactions with toddlers in their homes. Chilean and Chinese mothers were recorded by researchers at the child care centers the children attended. Recordings were completed prior to COVID-19. RESULTS: The PICCOLO showed good interrater agreement (average r =.77) and variation (SD range 1.73 - 2.79 on 14-16 point scales) across all four domains. ANCOVA analyses showed no statistically significant mean differences for Encouragement domain scores (M range 11.19 – 11.82), despite wide differences in observational contexts. There were significant between group differences in Affection (F(2) = 9.79, p < .001), Responsiveness (F(2) = 3.81, p = .024) and Teaching F(2) = 14.01, p < .001 domains suggesting these aspects may be more susceptible to contextual influence. Means for all domains were on the upper end of the scales (M range 9.78 - 13.13), suggesting suitability for identifying parenting strengths. The similarities in Encouragement may reflect a relationship-centered cultural style or embeddedness, which is defined by Schwartz (2006), focusing on positive emotional wellbeing in the mother-child relationship, with some concerns about teaching but fewer about supporting the children’s interests in exploring the world outside of the mother-child relationship. Overall, these findings suggest that the PICCOLO tool is suitable for identifying a wide variety of parenting strengths across different sociocultural contexts, in flexible home or early education settings.

Authors

• Shelia Anderson, Weber State Uni
  Presenting Author

• Wei Qiu, Weber State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chamarrita Farkas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rosa M. Vilaseca, Universitat de Barcelona
  Non-Presenting Author

• Magda Rivero, University of Barcelona
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lori A Roggman
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mark S Innocenti, Utah State University
  Non-Presenting Author