Poster #55 - Cross-cultural differences in early caregiving: comparative levels of mind-mindedness and instruction in UK and India

• In Event: Poster Session 09

Abstract

Introduction
Most studies on the parenting and its role on child development are conducted in Western countries and they suggest that child-focussed practices such as mind-mindedness foster positive outcomes. However, some existing qualitative and quantitative evidence seems to indicate that these practices are not typical of non-Western contexts and so it cannot be assumed that characteristics of parental practices are similar in non-Western settings. Research characterising cultural differences in parenting is required to inform the focus of studies designed to test differential outcomes from such practices in children over time and across cultures.

Hypotheses
This cross-cultural study examines four differences in maternal speech during mother-child interactions, and, specifically, in the use of mind-mindedness, instruction and control, and the expression of warmth (i.e., positive comments). We hypothesised that Indian mothers would use parental practices aimed to guide the children as evidenced by higher levels of instructions to a greater extent than mothers from UK, who, by contrast we hypothesised would use practices aimed to understand their infants’ motives as evidenced in higher numbers of mind-minded comments. We did not make predictions for the direction of any differences in levels of control, nor of positivity across Indian and UK families

Study population
The sample comprises 100 dyads (50 from the UK and 50 from India) from two population-based birth cohorts, the Wirral Child Health and Development Study (UK) and the Bangalore Child Health and Development study (India).

Methods
Maternal speech from observations of mother-infant play interactions at 7 months was transcribed and translated, and independently rated to ensure blindness of coders to cultural group. Transcripts were coded using established measures of mind-mindedness, positive comments and maternal control together with a new measure to rate ‘Instructions’. Group differences in parental practices were analysed using transformed percentage scores for each of the parenting dimensions as dependent variables and using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA); the analysis was performed controlling for maternal age, whether mothers left education at 18 or under, and child age at the time of the assessment.

Results
After accounting for socio-demographic differences, very large differences in parenting between UK and Indian mothers were observed. Compared with UK mothers, Indian mothers made fewer mind-minded comments about their infants, and they issued more instructions and made more controlling and positive comments. Findings from this study might reflect cultural differences in how parental style is expressed according to cultural priorities and values. The implications of these very large differences in parenting across cultures on child development remain to be investigated.

Authors

• Laura Bozicevic, University of Liverpool
  Presenting Author

• Jonathan Hill, University of Reading

• Prabha Chandra, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences

• Nicky Wright, Manchester Metropolitan University

• Helen Sharp, University of Liverpool