Parenting beliefs and behaviors: Initial findings from the International Consortium for the Study of Social and Emotional Development (ICSSED)

Abstract

The chapter is focused on the ways by which cultures impart meanings to behavior and determine how individuals (i.e. parents and peers) perceive, evaluate and react to behavior, regulating, at the same time, its developmental process. Specifically, the behavior under examination is behavioral inhibition defined as a pattern of responding or behaving such that when unfamiliar and/or challenging situation are encountered, the child show signs of reactive anxiety, distress or disorganization and the child has difficulties to calm down. Data were collected in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, India and Korea. The goal of the study was to explore cultural differences among countries regarding childrearing practices and parenting beliefs that mantain or foster behavioral inhibition. In the more Western cultures, the extent to wich toddlers are rated as socially fearful and shy is associated with more authoritarian parenting styles. In Eastern cultures the emphasis shift frm the promotion of independence, sociability and assertiveness to obedience, compliance and a collettivistic spirit.