Title: Parenting and Socialization in Japanese and American

Author: Bruce Frederick Randel

Title: Parenting and Socialization in Japanese and American

Families

Year: 1996

Committee Chair: Thomas D. Spencer

Committee member(s): Becky W. Loewy, Mary True

Abstract

Child-rearing practices of mothers and socialization outcomes in their preschool children were examined in a sample of 21 children (11 boys and 10 girls) from Japanese families and 18 children (8 boys and 10 girls) from American families. Mothers’ child-rearing was measured with the Parenting Dimensions Inventory (PDI) and children’s non-compliance and interdependence were assessed in the home as measures of socialization. Culture accounted for differences on five of the eight PDI scales: Nurturance, Responsiveness, Amount of control, Social Consequences, and Scolding. An interaction between sex and culture was found for socialization with American males and Japanese females scoring higher on interdependence than American females or Japanese males. Correlations between child-rearing variables and socialization outcomes were compared across the two groups. Overall results strongly suggest that culture has a profound influence on both child-rearing and socialization.

Subjects Info

The entire sample for the present study included 39 children and their mothers. Twenty-one children (11 boys and 10 girls) were from Japanese families, mean age 50.21 months, and 18 children (8 boys and 10 girls) were from European American families, mean age 48.94 months. Mean age of mothers from the Japanese families was 34.56 years; mean age of mothers in the European American sample was 34.33 years. For recruitment purposes, Japanese families were defined as those families in which Japanese is the primary language in the home and both mother and father were born and reared in Japan. European American families were defined as those families in which both parents are of European background, born and reared in North America, and speak English in the home as the primary language.

Participants were recruited from around the Bay Area in several ways. First, participants were recruited from preschools and language schools including several Japanese preschools. Japanese preschools are those preschools intended for Japanese children, taught by first or second generation Japanese teachers using Japanese as the primary language of the preschool. Letters describing the study were sent home with prospective children. Researchers contacted the parents by phone to discuss the study, answer questions, and recruit participation. In addition, several participating families were recruited through classified ads placed in a local parenting newspaper. Finally, a number of families were recruited through receiving letters describing the study from previous participants and receiving follow-up telephone calls from researchers.

Child behavior assessments were done on a total of 40 children. One of the Japanese males was not included in data analysis because he was much older than the specified age of participant children, age 68 months versus mean age 49 months, and his mother did not return the questionnaire. Of the 39 children who participated in the behavior assessments, video camera failure resulted in the loss of one non-compliance protocol and one interdependence protocol from different children. In addition, two other Japanese mothers failed to return to completed questionnaire. The behavioral data on the se children were used in the testing of the second hypothesis but not the third hypothesis.

Demographic data from the 39 mothers in the sample were collected for later analysis of group differences. For maternal employment, 5 European American and 14 Japanese mothers reported working 5 or fewer hours outside the home. Two European American and two Japanese mothers reported 6-10 hours, four European and one Japanese mother reported 11-20 hours, three European American mothers reported 21-30 hours, and four European American mothers reported working 40 or more hours outside the home. For maternal education, five European American and two Japanese mothers reported earning a high-school diploma, four European American mothers reported having some college, two European American and five Japanese reported have earned a 2 year college degree, eight European American and six Japanese reported have earned a 4 year college degree, two European American and one Japanese reported having a master’s degree, and one Japanese reported having a doctoral degree. For marital status, all mothers reported being married and except one European American mother reported being divorced, For father’s occupation, three Japanese reported graduate student, three European American and five Japanese reported service worker, three European American and two Japanese reported craft or trade, one European American and two Japanese reported clerical work, two European American reported technical trades, one European American and one Japanese reported small business owner, and eight European American and three Japanese reported professional occupations. Finally, for birth order, eight European American and 12 Japanese children were first born, six European American and five Japanese were second born, four European American children were third born, and two European American were fourth born.