Culture and Parenting Xinyin Chen, Rui Fu, and Wai Ying Vivien Yiu

Shaming. Fung (2006) found that parents in Taiwan often used shaming practices to help children develop prosocial and other socially appropriate behaviors. Similarly, Wu and colleagues (2002) found that shaming was perceived more favorably by Chinese parents than U.S. American parents and that Chinese parents were more likely than U.S. American parents to use shaming in parenting. Fung (2006) argued that feelings of shame can activate the processes of self-examination and self-criticism, which make individuals recognize the discrepancies between their behaviors and social standards and motivate individuals to improve their performance. Parents in Chinese culture tend to believe that shaming practices can be used effectively to help children learn social responsibility, self-control, and other group-oriented behavioral qualities. Thus, Chinese parents use shaming strategies to teach children right from wrong, including verbal markers (e.g., name-callings, threats of abandonment, social comparisons), paralinguistic cues (e.g., emphatic stress, angry intonation), vocal cues (e.g., sighs, making disapproving sounds), nonverbal techniques (e.g., staring, frowning), and silence (Fung, 1999; Schoenhals, 1993).
Shaming practices seem to be used commonly in socialization in other non-Western cultures as well. For example, Cole, Bruschi, and Tamang (2002) found that, in response to situations in which a child received unjust treatment or made a mistake (e.g., “You’re outside your house, playing with everyone. Suddenly, everyone is shouting and running to see something. You run after them but then you fall down and get mud all over you. Your mother and all the others laugh at you.”), whereas U.S. children were more likely to express anger, Tamang Nepali children were more likely to report that they would feel ashamed. Keller and Otto (2009) also found that rural Nso mothers expected to see the expression of shame in their children earlier than German mothers (at approximately 26 versus 34 months). Unlike their Western counterparts, parents in these cultures do not seem to be concerned that using shaming or similar psychological control may have harmful effects on children’s development of autonomy and self-worth.
Behavioral control. Cross-cultural researchers have examined extensively parental behavioral control, or parental control in general, and found differences between parents in Western and non-Western societies. For example, Louie and colleagues (2013) found that, based on parental reports, South Korean and other Asian American parents of preschool-age children were higher on parental control than their European American counterparts. Chao and Aque (2009) found that Chinese American adolescents rated their parents as more strict and controlling (e.g., “Insists that I do exactly as I’m told.”) than European American adolescents, which was consistent with findings from other studies using similar assessments (Lin and Fu, 1990).
Based on observations of family interactions, Jose et al. (2000) found that Chinese American parents displayed higher directiveness (e.g., parent made the decision and child followed without question; parents quickly corrected child’s errors) than European American parents. Bornstein, Cote, and colleagues (2012) observed mother-infant interactions in the home setting and found that, whereas U.S. American mothers were more likely than their infants to display responses to social initiations, perhaps in an attempt to foster child independence, Japanese mothers were more likely than infants to lead and direct interactions, which might reflect a controlling parenting style. Japanese American immigrant mothers appeared to be in-between, with later generation immigrant mothers being more similar to European American mothers. Lamborn, Nguyen, and Bocanegra (2013, p. 54) conducted interviews with Hmong American adolescents regarding their perceptions of mothers’ parenting practices. A salient finding was that adolescents frequently talked about mothers’ assertions of authority that included supervision (e.g., “She keeps track of us . . . I have a cell phone, so I either call her and tell her where I’m at, or I’m safe and stuff. Or either she’ll call me and ask me where am I, or what am I doing, am I safe and all this stuff.”).
Keller and colleagues (2004) observed mother-child interactions in Nso families in rural Cameroon, Costa Rican families, and middle-class Greek families. A major focus of the study was on proximal parenting (body contact, body stimulation), which was believed to reflect parental control that facilitates child obedience and regulation. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results indicated that Cameroonian Nso mothers displayed more proximal parenting than did Costa Rican mothers, who in turn displayed more of such behavior than Greek mothers. Keller and colleagues (2004) argued that parental behavioral control may be viewed as detrimental to the development of autonomy in individualistic cultures but as conducive to the child’s development of competence in group-oriented cultures.
Relatively high levels of parental control and directiveness have been found in multiple studies with Latin and African American families. Ispa and colleagues (2004) examined, in samples of Mexican American, African American, and European American families, maternal intrusiveness in mother-toddler interactions at home, which was defined as the degree to which the mother controlled the child’s play instead of allowing for the child’s preferences. Typical maternal intrusive behaviors included grabbing toys, taking charge of the activity, and imposing her own agenda without letting the child shape the focus or pace of play. The results showed that Mexican American mothers, including those who were acculturated toward American values, and African American mothers scored higher on intrusiveness than European American mothers. Similarly, Carlson and Harwood (2003) found that Puerto Rican mothers in San Juan, Puerto Rico, were more likely than European American mothers in the United States to display parenting behaviors that limited and directed the movements and activities of their infants at 4, 8, and 12 months in mother-child interactions at home. Relatively high parental control has also been found among Latin American and African American parents of adolescents. For example, Blair, Blair, and Madamba (1999) found that Hispanic and African American high school students rated their parents as exerting greater control than European American counterparts (e.g., "How often do your parents check on your homework?” “How often do your parents limit you going out with friends?”); the former two groups were similar to Asian Americans students.
According to Ispa and colleagues (2004), Latin and African American mothers might engage in more intrusive behaviors because they might consider these behaviors less intrusive than European American mothers. It is also possible that the higher directiveness of Latin and African American mothers indicates their greater effort to raise well-behaved children with self-control and other qualities that are crucial for group functioning (Carlson and Harwood, 2003). For example, the values of familismo and repeto in Latino cultures are likely to promote parental monitoring and strictness in parenting (Halgunseth et al., 2006; White et al., 2013).
Authoritative and Authoritarian Parenting Styles
Baumrind’s model of parenting (1971), particularly the notion of authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles in the model that are derived from different levels of warmth and control, has often been used as a conceptual framework to interpret findings of cross-cultural studies. Parents in Western and non-Western cultures have been found to differ on these parenting styles. Authoritative parenting, based on high warmth and high control, is regarded as ideal in most Western cultures because it is believed to promote child autonomy and social initiative. Authoritative parents are described as supportive of children’s exploration and independence and respectful of their rights while, at the same time, monitoring their behaviors and activities. In contrast, authoritarian parenting, based on low warmth and high control, focuses on child obedience and the use of coercive and punitive strategies in parent-child interactions. This parenting style is typically viewed as undesirable for child development in Western cultures because it may undermine children’s independence and initiative-taking abilities.
Relative to parents with a North American or Western European background, Asian, African American, and Latino parents have been found to use more “adult-centered” and power-assertive parenting strategies (e.g., “I do not allow my child to question any decisions I make.”), which appear to fit into Baumrind’s authoritarian parenting style. For example, compared with European American parents, Asian parents in Asia or other regions are found to be less likely to use inductive reasoning and engage in equalitarian communication with children and more likely to express coercion and punishment orientation in parenting (Dornbusch et al., 1987; Jose et al., 2000; Lin and Fu, 1990; Porter et al., 2005; Rudy and Grusec, 2006). However, it has been argued that the coercive and high-power parenting that Asian parents use is typically associated with parental care and warmth (Chao, 1995), which would be conceptually categorized as authoritativeness, although it may be indeed the case that Asian parents tend to display relatively few prototypical “authoritative” parenting behaviors, such as listening to the child, encouraging the child to express opinions, providing explanations, and engaging in affect communication with the child. For example, Jose et al.’s (2000) observational study revealed that Chinese American parents and Taiwanese parents were more directive, exerting more parental control, than European American parents, but they were equally warm with their children. Therefore, labeling Asian parenting as authoritarian may be incorrect and misleading. There is also evidence indicating that, although Latino parents tend to be more restrictive and directive than European American parents in their interactions with children, Latino parents display similar levels of sensitivity and affection and thus may not necessarily be “authoritarian” (Carlson and Harwood, 2003; Varela et al., 2004). Similarly, it may not be appropriate to characterize African American parents, who tend to use more harsh discipline than European American parents (Deater-Deckard and Dodge, 1997), as authoritarian if their parenting is based on acceptance of, and concern for, the child.
In short, cross-cultural differences have been found in major parenting behaviors or strategies. However, broad categories, such as authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles, as described in the Western literature (Baumrind, 1971) may not be adequate or appropriate for characterizing parents in Asian, Latin, or African American societies. It may be useful to examine specific parenting behaviors or aspects in different societies, to avoid confusion resulting from the broad parenting categories, especially in terms of their relations with children’s developmental outcomes.