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If ."‘ {’6'} 2!. ”8549553 L M NH! - - - i 93 10792 2795/// ’ g ‘ A ‘ ‘ (.4 H Date 0-7639 This is to certify that the thesis entitled Parents' Perceptions of Actual and Ideal Parenting Practices: A Brazilian - American Comparison presented by Maria Ines Gasparetto Higuchi has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Arts degree in Child Development Major professor July 30th., 1986. MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution MSU RETURNING MATERIALS: Place in book drop to LIBRARIES remove this checkout from .—_—-. your record. FINES will be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. WNW I 8‘ “7% 'EEB 6 "19'9‘6 " ‘3‘ W w 5‘ / .. .gauu 2.01990 ”magi—52$— l / - v I“ I” “W” 5 $er 7.? 999 PARENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF ACTUAL AND IDEAL PARENTING PRACTICES: A BRAZILIAN - AMERICAN COMPARISON BY Maria Ines Gasparetto Higuchi A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of family and Child Ecology 1986 4 9749772. ABSTRACT PARENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF ACTUAL AND IDEAL PARENTING PRACTICES: A BRAZILIAN - AMERICAN COMPARISON 8"! Maria Ines Gasparetto Higuchi The study was designed to assess parents' perceptions of actual and ideal parenting behaviors among Brazilian and American parents, and examine whether differences exist between the two cultural groups in their parenting related to a child's physical, intellectual, social, and emotional . development. A Q-Sort methodology was used to assess parenting beliefs of 58 parents pairs of a first born child ranging from 29 to 51 months of age. Significant group cultural differences were found in the actual and ideal parenting practices. Additional investigation was conducted to assure that the cultural differences in the beliefs of actual parenting practices were not the result of differences in the education, occupation, and family income of the parents in the two cultural groups. Very few group cultural differences by sex of child were found. Results also indicated differences between actual compared to the ideal Q-sort responses. DEDICATION Dedico esta tese: A minha mae pelo incentivo. Ao Niro pelo apoio. A Inezita e Francisco pela inspiracao. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many individuals have meaningfully contributed to the educational process of my masters degree program as well as this thesis. Dr. Robert Boger, adviser, chairperson of my guidance committee and thesis director, has provided support, encouragement, and recognition of my professional growth efforts throughout my program. Dr. Robert Griffore, chairperson for the Department of Family and Child Ecology, has generously provided financial support during my graduate education. I also acknowledge Dr. Marjorie Keskelnik who graciously accepted to be in the guidance committee and served as a model of charismatic professional. I am especially grateful to Bruce Haas who helped me to run statistical analyses and gave his time and patience, and contributed with rich insights during my research work. I must also manifest my recognition to CVIP — Community Vollunteers for International Programs - for the grants and incentive provided by the volunteers of this institution. I would like to extend my appreciation to Aurea Menten for her contribution to the Portuguese translation of the research instruments for this study. The families who participated as subjects of this study are thanked for their cooperation. I thank Marirosa Gasparetto, Nilceia Souza, iii and Carmen Gasparetto who generously gave their time to help me collecting the Brazilian data. In addition, I had also invaluable support from very special friends. Fernanda and Josmar Verillo, to whom I learned to love as if they were part of my family, I thank them for given me encouragement and motivation during tough journeys. Finally, a very special thanks to my husband Niro Higuchi, who gave me the incentive to "start" and for his supportive love and comprehension. My lovely children, who shared their precious time with my "seek of knowledge". To my mother, Inez, Alcebiades and Angela, and my "Japanese" family, who despite the distance that have separated us. kept motivating, supporting, and praying during our time in the U.S.A. To all who have, in many different ways shared with me this experience I extend my sincere thanks. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. 1 Statement of The Problem 2 Scope of The Problem . 2 Purpose of the Study . 5 Definitions. . . 6 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 9 Parenting Roles and Gender Effects . . . . 9 Parenting Beliefs and Behaviors. . . . . . 13 Cultural and Ethnicity Diversity on Parental Behaviors . . . . . . . . . 14 Cultural Diversity Research on Parental Attitudes and Perceptions . . . . 21 Socioeconomic Status and Education in Cross cultural Studies . . . . . . . . 26 III. METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Comparison of Q-items Placement for Groups of Individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Research Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The research Instruments . . . 37 Validity and reliability of the. Q— —Sort Inventory. . . . . . . . 38 Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Data Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 IV. RESULTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Hypothesis 1 43 Hypothesis 2 50 Hypothesis 3 56 Hypothesis 4 57 Hypothesis 5 59 Hypothesis 6 62 Hypothesis 7 63 Hypothesis 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Hypothesis 9 and 10 . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Hypothesis 11 and 12 . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Hypothesis 13 and 14 . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Hypothesis 15 and 16 . . . . . . . . . . . 79 V. DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Mothers' Perceptions of Actual Parenting Practices . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Fathers' Perceptions of Actual Parenting Practices . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Mothers' Perceptions of Ideal Parenting Practices . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Fathers' Perceptions of Ideal Parenting Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Differences Between Parents' Perceptions of Actual and Ideal Parenting Practices. 97 VI. SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Implications and Suggestions for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 APPENDICES A. NC 158 Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors: Form in Portuguese . . . . . . . . . 107 Form in English. . . . . . . . . . . 111 B. Family Demographic Information Instrument: Form in English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Form in Portuguese . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 C. Request letter to Brazilian Parents . . . . . . 118 REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 vi Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table LIST OF TABLES Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers in the physical domain. . . . . . . . . . . Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers in the intellectual domain. Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers in the social domain. . . . . . . . . . . . Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers in the emotional domain . . . . . . . . . . Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) fathers in the physical domain. Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) fathers in the intellectual domain. . . . . . . . . Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) fathers in the social domain. . . . . . . . . . . . vii Page 46 47 48 49 52 53 54 Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table 4. 4. 8: 9: .10: .11: .12: .12a: .13: .14: .15: .16: Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F-test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) fathers in the emotional domain Summary of the number of differences in Ideal Sort and Actual Sort for mothers and fathers groups with F test probabilities of 5.05. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Two-tailed t—test probrabability <.05 for mean differences between perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices. Number of significant differences at <.05 level among mothers and fathers from Brazil and The United States on actual and ideal sorts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mean scores and alfa probability levels for Brazilian and American parents' perceptions of actual parenting practices in relation to the factor sex of the child for significant (93.05) two-way ANOVA items. 69 Probability <.05 from two-way ANOVA for Q- Sort mean scores in relation to the factor cultural background and to the factor sex of child. F-test probabilities for analysis of covariance of perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American mothers by domain and covariate. F-test probabilities for analysis of covariance of perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers by domain and covariate. Summary of items comparing Brazilian and American mothers' perceptions 'of actual parenting practices while controlling for cultural background, sex of child, mothers' education and occupation, and family income. Summary of items comparing Brazilian and American mothers' perceptions of actual parenting practices while controlling for cultural background, sex of child, fathers' education and occupation, and family income. viii 55 61 66 7O 73 76 82 83 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Cross—cultural comparisons of both individual and group behaviors are, theoretically, carried out in an effort to delineate not only the cultural universality and generalizability of research findings, but also to establish particular ways in which a specific culture's ecosystems manifest the unique human behavior patterns of their own environments. Most research on factors influencing child development, however, have been limited to studies of people living in a single country and are often generalized beyond these national boundaries to include other cultural environments. From an ecological perspective, the family has to be conceptualized as a system of mutual transactions with the external environment in which they are embedded (Andrews, Bubolz, and Paolucci, 1980). Thus, the importance of particular environmental processes for parenting and the child's development may depend to a considerable extent on the particular context in which they are manifested (McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 1980). Many parent-child interactions studies conducted in the United States have been considered cross-cultural by nature because of the numerous ethnic groups living in communities that still preserve strong ties to their original cultural background (Field & Widmayer, 1981; Laosa, 1977, 1978, 1980a, 1980b. 1981). However,'some differences have been found between cultures that are geographically remote with regard to their specific milieu, language, political and economic structures, and social behaviors patterns including child rearing practices adopted by the parents from those particular cultures (Bronfenbrenner, 1970; Field and Pawlby, 1980; LeVine, 1970, 1977; Parke, Grossmann, and Tinsley, 1981). Statement 9; 3p; problem This study was. designed to investigate cultural differences upon parenting function through a comparison of the perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices of Brazilian mothers and fathers and American mothers and fathers. Scopg 9; the problem The- selection of the American and Brazilian cultural groups as the object of paired comparison was an attempt to profit from the contrasting perspectives provided by these two societies each of which is substantially different from the other. Brazil, as a developing country, has begun to face problems similar to any other industrialized nation with highly developed systems of technology, mass communication and education. Theoretically both Brazil and The United States have democratic political systems. In Brazil, however, the democracy was under military control .from 1964 to 1985. A significant movement toward political openness began in 1985, but is still in its very early stages. The most significant differences between the two societies, perhaps, has to do with their economies. The Brazilian Gross National Product (GNP) is approximatelly 10% of the American GNP. Considering the educational system, for example, Brazil is facing several problems in fulfilling all of the people's demands for basic formal education. There are still a great number of children that do not have the opportunity of elementary formal schooling. In the higher education sphere, Brazil drastically differs from the U.S.A.. Even though most Brazilian universities are supported by the federal government, they have restricted numbers of rooms available for those who wish to enroll and graduate with a college degree (Anuario Estatistico do Brasil, 1980). Although the two cultures are substantially different,. they also have many similarities. In terms of child rearing the family plays a decisive role for child nurturance in both societies. Other persons or groups outside the family play a secondary or supplementary role. In both countries the family has been confronted by new conditions and new social demands and consequently some parental functions for child rearing have shifted away from the family to other people or settings in the society. The family, however, still has the primary moral and legal responsibility for the development of the child (Belsky, 1984; Bronfenbrenner, 1970; Nerice, 1977). Yet, it is not well known if parents from these two cultures encourage similar or different aspects of overall child development in their child rearing practices and how they translate theoretical concepts into their actual parenting behaviors. In view of this, then, it is important to assess parents' perceptions of parenting in both cultures, in order to begin answering such questions as: 1) do parents from these two distinct cultures differ in their performance of parenting tasks?; 2) do they distinguish between actual child-rearing practices from the notion of ideal parenting behaviors?; and 3) to what extent to they differ in their endorsement of parenting behaviors aimed at stimulating their children's physical, social, intellectual and emotional development. Such knowledge has both theoretical and practical implication in situations where it is important to understand the manner by which parents perceive how they actually rear their children and how they think they should ideally raise them. In a practical vein, the findings may have useful implications for professionals involved in family planning counseling, family therapy. group-and-home based education programs, and family intervention efforts. In the American literature there appears a growing number of studies on parenting. Little research to date, however, has been aimed at investigating how today‘s new parents perceive their parenting tasks, or what their beliefs about parenting are (Gilbert and Hanson, 1983; Lawton et al., 1983). Most of the Brazilian literature on child rearing in families has relied on anedoctal and nonempirical descriptions of interactions and socialization of Brazilian children (Adrados, 1983; Doria, 1979; Maldonado, 1984; Nerici, 1977; Sistes e Moreira de Souza Freitas, 1983). Further empirical study of Brazilian child rearing is needed to enable a better scientific understanding of parents' beliefs about parenting. The fundamental importance of parental beliefs relies mainly on the hypothesized relationship to parental practices. What the parent believes about the processes of development in general and how they see the abilities of their own child in particular is likely to be a major influence on parental practices (McGillicudy-De Lisi,1980). As a whole, child rearing occurs within a set of physical, economic, and cultural circunstances that in many ways determine the manner parents develop their beliefs and behaviors regarding this task (Laosa, 1981). Insofar as environments differ parents may form distinct patterns of child rearing to cope with particular environmental demands. 211.1292 9.! _th0 __!$tud The purpose of this study was to assess the parenting perceptions of parents from two distinct cultures, Brazilian and American. Parents' beliefs were assessed through the use of NC-158 Inventory of Parenting Behaviors (Actual and Ideal Sorts) (Lawton, Coleman, Boger, Pease, Galejs, Poresky, and. Looney, 1983). Parents' assessment of their actual behaviors and their ideal beliefs about parenting from a physical. social, intellectual and emotional perspective were evaluated. Another objective was to investigate the extent to which the variability of parents' perceptions of actual parenting within American and Brazilian groups is related to demographic variables. The demographic variables were sex of 'the target (first born) child, mothers' and fathers' education, mothers' and fathers' occupation, and family income. Definitions Parenting andlor Epilg Rearing Practices were used interchangeably to refer to the care and guidance of the child by the parent. Parenting is defined in this study as "a set of organized constructs about the child's development, which underlie and provide the rationale for their discipline techniques" (Sutherland, Williams & Perry, 1979, p.133). They also were defined “as a means through which events were categorized and parents guide their own behaviors" (McGillicuddy-De L131, 1980, p.138). Parents' perceptions pg igggl parenting practices have been conceptualized as those behaviors parents believe to be "ideal" for use with their children. Operationally they were defined as the Q-Sort item scores obtained in the NC-158 0- Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors (IDEAL SORT). Parents' perceptions pg actual parenting practices have been defined as the constellation of behaviors parents perceive they actually employ to rear their children. Operationally for this study they were defined as the Q-Sort item scores obtained on the NC-158 Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors (ACTUAL SORT). Cultural Background, was defined as the body of typical behaviors, beliefs, values and standardized environmental characteristics peculiar to a specific societal group. American parents is a term used in this study to designate persons that are English-speaking United States citizens, actually living in the United States. Brazilian parents is a term which refers to persons that are Portuguese-speaking Brazilian citizens, actually living in Brazil. Parents' Education was defined as the highest degree or year of formal schooling the mother or father, as appropriate, has attended. Parents' Occupation was defined as. the work or profession on which the father or mother spent most time outside of the home according the Hollingshead's classification. The categories code used include the following: 0 - No answer 1 a Farm laborers/manual service 2 - Unskilled workers 3 a Machine operators/semiskilled workers 4 - Smaller business owners, skilled manual workers, craftsmen, tenant farmers 5 - Clerical and sales workers, small farmer and business owners 6 - Technicians, semiprofessionals, small businesses owners . 7 - Smaller business owners, farm owners, managers, minor professionals 8 I Administrators, lesser professionals, proprietors of medium-sized businesses 9 - Higher executives, proprietors of large businesses and major professionals Family Income was defined here as the amount of money received by both parents the preceding year, before taxes. The family income values were matched into common categories for both Brazilian and American parents. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Parenting has been considered the task that has as its fundamental objective to guide young children from stages of almost total dependency to becoming effective adults in the society (Bigner, 1979). Most parents want to accomplish this goal by doing what is most helpful in guiding, nurturing, and encouraging their children's growth (Wood et al.,1978). Much of later human development is related to the manner by which this is accomplished (Stern, 1977; White, 1975). Over the years, in an attempt to help parents, many methods promoted "ideal" ways to rear children disregarding backgrounds, socioeconomic factors, and other family characteristics. In recent years, however, child rearing methods employed by parents appear more individualized according to the parents' characteristics, the child's inherent nature, and other environmental aspects that may influence the nature and quality of parenting practice (Belsky et al., 1984). Parentipg roles and gender effects Before embarking upon an examination of parenting beliefs and behaviors in comparative studies, a brief 10 overview in parenting roles and gender effects seems appropriate. Historically, parenting was equated to mothering. It took longer for investigators to focus upon the father. In fact. fathers were ignored in research studies for a period of time, even though considered an important influence in the development of the child (Lynn, 1974) fathers were described as "forgotten contributors to child development" (Lamb, 1978). Recently, however, fathers have been gradually included in scientific formulations (Block, Block, and Morrison, 1981; Clarke-Stewart, 1978; Easterbrooks and Goldberg, 1982; Gilbert, Hanson, and Davis, 1982; Hubert and Wachs, 1985; Parke, Grossman, and Tinsley. 1981). Yet, most studies still rely on samples of mothers to generate research evidences on parenting, including cultural variations and ethnicity diversity. Several studies document differential use of parenting beliefs and practices that are related to the sex of the parent. Hubert and Wachs (1985) designed a study to investigate major behavioral components of infant easiness/difficultness based on the parent's perceptions. They found a substantial percentage of nonoverlapping responses between spouses, which suggests that mothers and fathers perceive different aspects of their child's behavior and, therefore, may react in different ways to the child. Contrasting evidences were found by Gilbert and Hanson (1983). They developed a comprehensive measure to assess perceptions of parental role responsibilities between 11 mothers and fathers employed full-time. The results showed that the “perceptions" of parental role responsibilities between the groups compared did not differ drastically; however, it could change if the parents were asked who performs or should carry out these responsibilities. A study that investigated the parents' perception of the tasks and problems of their parenting practices (Bartz,1978) supported the hypothesis that child rearing elicits the involvement and concern of both parents. But fathers more than mothers were perceived to be involved in tasks of discipline and developing values. This was also true for problems with money responsibility and sex-role behavior. Bartz observed that the definition of "involvement" was different for mothers and fathers, and. therefore, biasing the data. Parental role responsibilities seem to be affected by socioeconomic status as well. According to Kohn (1972), in middle-class families, mother's and father's roles usually are not sharply contrasted. Contrasting parental attitudes and behaviors toward boys and girls are pronounced only at lower-class levels and such disparities seem to decrease as socioeconomic status increase (Bronfenbrenner, 1972). Parenting patterns are also differently distributed by the sex of the child. Studies have shown that during the infancy years the quality of parent's behavior is susceptible to gender effects (Parke, 1978). Gender effects become more pronounced during the preschool years, when more 12 explicit efforts are made to have children behave in a manner consistent with cultural and traditional sex-roles (Belsky et al., 1984). A study conducted by Block, Block, and Morrison (1981) supported that parents' agreement on child-rearing orientations is positively related to the quality of psychological functioning in boys. For girls, however, parental agreement level is negatively associated with psychologiCal functioning. Similar findings were found by Gilbert, Hanson, and Davis (1982). Fathers and mothers reported significant high agreement in their perceptions of major parental role responsibilities for a male child; low agreement occurred for a female child. In general, mothers appeared to hold similar standards regarding important aspects of child rearing for both sexes. Fathers, in contrast, were reported to more likely endorse a differential pattern of parental role responsibilities for a female and a male, particularly with respect to teaching cognitive development, teaching norms and values, and teaching social skills. Fathers appeared to feel more responsibility towards a male child than a female child. More distinctions on the child rearing patterns regarding gender effects in comparison may appear. Along this review available data suggest that characterization of parenting values with respect to gender effects is certainly incomplete, thus in need of further research. 13 Parenting Beliefs gpg Behaviors While an abundance of research is available on parenting, little attention has been given to parents' assessment of their own perceptions with regard to the tasks of parenting especially among different cultural groups. Numerous child rearing studies have focused on observational methods of parental behaviors rather than on assessment of parental beliefs about parenting. It should be stressed that there is a substantial difference between the information provided by these two types of investigations. Research that relies upon observation of certain behaviors usually describes an actual respondent's behavior. 0n the other hand, belief assessments are investigations that elicit perceptions of a determined behavior. According to McGillicuddy-De Lisi (1980) and Lewis and Ban (1977), a person's beliefs lead to a wide variety of behaviors when he or she is interacting with others, and the outcomes of particular behaviors in different cultures may be serviced by different beliefs. Empirical attempts to relate parental beliefs about parenting to actual parental behaviors have been sparse (Lawton, Coleman, Boger, Pease, Galejs, Poresky, and Looney. 1983; Schuler, Lawton, Fowel, and Madsen, in press). There is some indication, however, that parents from different environmental contexts do evolve certain styles of parenting that may be related to their belief systems (McGillicuddy- De-Lisi, 1980). In order to provide a holistic review on the 14 topic of parents' perceptions of parenting, it is necessary first to rely upon studies that investigate parental behaviors through observational methods to consider the effects of cultural variations on parenting. Cultural gpg Ethnic Diversity Studies pp Parental Behaviors As a crucial and complex task, parenting has generated a substantial body of theory and research that has provided concepts and clues dealing with determinants of parenting behaviors and its consequences on child development (Baumrind, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1978; Bigner, 1979; Callahan, 1973; Sears, Maccoby, and Levin, 1957; Sears, Rau, and Alpert, 1965; Wood, Bishop, and Cohen, 1978). Some cross—cultural studies in parenting have suggested evidence of cultural variations and ethnicity diversity along several patterns of child rearing (Bronfenbrenner, 1970; Durret, O'Bryant, and Pennebaker, 1975; Field & Pawlby, 1980; Field and Widmayer, 1981; Laosa, 1977, 1978, 1980a, 1980b, 1981; LeVine, 1977; Kearns, 1970). Comparative studies across cultural and ethnic groups contribute to the convincing evidence that environmental context does have a crucial impact on parent~child interactions. Individuals are .usually placed in ethnic categories on the basis of their identification with one specific group of people which have certain attributes in common (Laosa, 1981). Culture has been defined by many social scientists as the way of life of a people including 15 their knowledges, beliefs, arts, customs, linguistic patterns, moral codes, cognitive styles, and. other characteristics common to one particular group. Ethnic background effects on parenting behaviors have//r been examined in several studies. Some of them, however, included groups of people that preserve strong characteristics of their original cultural background even though living in the United States. One of the most prominent studies that has dealt with. cross cultural influences on parenting among the Mexican subculture within the U.S.A. is Laosa's research. He has been an advocate of the importance of sociocultural contexts in which parents rear their children and the necessity to include such variables in empirical studies. Laosa (1977, 1978, 1980a, 1980b, 1981) developed a series of observational studies designed to investigate whether there were group differences in the way young children are taught by their mothers. Forty mothers (half of the mother-child dyads were Mexican-” American and half were Anglo-American) and their five-year- old children, all from intact families, participated in a study that investigated mothers' teaching behaviors (Laosa, 1977). The mothers were closely matched by pairs based on the husband's occupation. During home visits the mothers were asked to teach their own children how to solve problems_? involving perceptual-cognitive and motor abilities. i The results showed that when comparing both groups of mothers there were no ethnic group differences in the // 16 total number of teaching behaviors directed to the children. Both the Mexican-American and the Anglo-American mothers directed the same amount of teaching behavior to their children. Examination of the ratio of verbal to nonverbal behaviors for each group, however, showed that Anglo- American mothers provided more verbal type of interactions to their children. On the other hand, Mexican-American mothers provided more nonverbal type of interactions. When these interactions were analysed by the specific types of verbal and nonverbal behaviors, the findings demonstrated that Anglo-American mothers asked the children more questions while teaching than did the Mexican-American mothers. Additional evidence of ethnic differences was carried out by Field and Widmayer (1981). They investigated mother- infant interactions among lower SES Cuban, Puerto Rican, South American, and Black American ethnic groups living in Miami. The study consisted in observing the mother—infant feeding interactions and face-to-face interactions. The findings suggested differences in behaviors among the groups. For the Cuban/Puerto Rican dyads, the Cuban mothers tended to be more "instructional", i.e., counting, going through the A, B, Cs, asking "what is this?" questions in polysyllabic words and long utterances, while the Puerto Rican mothers were more frequently talking "baby talk" in very exaggerated intonations and brief phrases with very little instructional content. The South American mothers 17 appeared to use a mixture of infant games, whereas the Black mothers played infant games very infrequently. The authors suggested that the observed differences in behaviors may have been consistent with the mothers' objectives (or beliefs) for the face-to-face interactions - for instance, the Cuban mothers' primary .objective was "educating children" and the Black mothers' expressed concern that they do not “spoil her [their] child by giving him [them] too much attentions". In attempting to examine the effect of a country's specific environmental characteristics on child rearing patterns, Parke, Grossman and Tinsley (1981) conducted a research comparing those patterns across two geographically remote cultures: West Germany and the United States. Eighteen American and 19 German mother-father-infant triads were observed during feeding periods. The findings suggested that cultural environment has a significant impact on child rearing behaviors, even though in only a few areas. American parents were shown to be more physical in their style of interaction, while German parents used more auditory-visual modes of interaction. In their data they evaluated the roles of mothers and fathers across the two groups. In both American and German groups, mothers and fathers appeared to be very similar in their distribution of responsibility for early care and stimulation of the infant. Mothers in both cultures assumed a larger role in early feeding and demonstrated more affectionate (kissing, smiling) and 18 stimulatory behaviors (vocalizing, touching) than fathers. Even though mothers were holding and feeding more than fathers, fathers did not play a passive role; on the contrary, they looked, imitated, and explored their infants just as often as mothers. Similar evidences can be found in the cross national study of Ainsworth (1977). She conducted an investigation of mother-child rearing practices among Ghanda and American families. The results showed significant differences in maternal behaviors which in turn were linked to differences in the infant behavior. Most of the Ghanda mothers breast- fed their babies not only when they were hungry, but also to give mere comfort; while most American mothers bottle-fed, and in contrast to the Ganda group, their feeding practices were considered boring and scheduled activities. In the Ghanda sample the mothers were with their infants most of the time, even when working outside the home. The American mothers, on the other hand, showed least availability to their infants, even though most of them did not work outside the home. Additional considerations about maternal sensitivity and responsiveness to infant signal and physical contact were observed in the two groups, but were too complex and specific to each culture to draw definite comparisons. American and Yugoslavian mothers were observed in their parenting behaviors in an study of Lewis and Ban (1977). Inspite of the large differences between the two 19 nations, the mothers demonstrated more similarities than differences in their child rearing practices. Some of these differences were, for example, American mothers tended to hold their infants more than Yugoslavian mothers do, especially for male infants. On the other hand, Yugoslavian mothers rocked their infants more than American mothers. In addition, Yugoslavian mothers looked and smiled at their infants more than American mothers. It must be noted, however, that in this study the investigators found more obvious differences when comparing the groups by socioeconomic status than by cultural background. Another study comparing distant societies was done by Field and Widmayer (1980). They compared British and American mothers in their child rearing behaviors. Some significant differences emerged from these cultures. For example, British mothers played more instructional/cognitive games with their infants, while American mothers played more social games. British mothers engaged in more toy-related play, with attempt to elicit tracking, searching, reaching, and grasping responses from their infants. The American mothers attempted more often to elicit eye contact, smiling and cooing, and less on toy play. In general, British mothers appeared to be more "instructional" while American mothers appeared to be more involved in "conversations" with their infants. Such parenting behaviors caused the American infants to show more socially oriented behaviors, whereas the British infants engaged in more toy play. These findings 20 support the idea that the manner in which parenting behaviors are expressed have direct impact on later development of the child, not only in the socioemotional domains but also in cognitive and physical aspects as well. Some studies that investigated the patterns of child rearing reported remarkable influences on the child's cognitive development. When examining maternal teaching strategies and cognitive styles in Chicano families, Laosa (1980a) found that each mother teaches her young child by using the type of strategy that is likely to stimulate cognitive developmental styles in the child which closely resemble her own. Mothers who taught through modeling and visual one made the types of cognitive demands on the child that were likely to encourage reliance on external reference or to stimulate development of dependent cognitive functioning (field-dependent cognitive style). Maternal teaching strategies such as inquiry and praise were likely to influence the development of cognitive restructuring skills and autonomous functioning (field-independent cognitive style). These teaching strategies were also related to the mothers' years of formal schooling (Laosa, 1978). As was remarked earlier, cultural background can shape parenting patterns, which in turn can shape the child's behavior. However, if this variable alone is considered in a comparative study, it is very likely that only a partial picture of the problem will be provided. In order to have a 21 more reliable picture of parenting patterns it is necessary to look at a culture's belief systems and the consequence of such beliefs as revealed in behavior forms. legpgg; Diversigy Research pg ggggpggl Attitudes and Perceptions Much has been written about child rearing practices from a theoretical and empirical perspective, but studies on parents' beliefs about parenting have been scant. Parents' perceptions of parenting have been recognized as in need of more research. It is believed that “before research can describe exactly what it means to be a parent, parenting measures must do a better job of describing the parent's 'map,‘ that is, the reality of the parenting experience from the individual parent's point of view”. (Lawton & Coleman. 1983, p.357). The manner in which parents perceive and. define their role situations and child processes of development is likely to be the major influence on their parenting behaviors (McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 1980). Given the emphasis on the relevance of parental behaviors related to the socialization processes of children, it is surprising that so little attention has been given on the effects of parent's beliefs about parenting on other domains of the child's development (Lawton et a1. 1983; Lawton and Coleman, 1983). Seeking for parent's beliefs, Schuler et al. (in press) examined parents' perceptions of actual and ideal child rearing practices 22 among 62 middle-class Caucasian parents. They used a 0 Sort methodology to investigate parental perceptions in child's cognitive, physical, and social development. Perceptions of actual versus ideal parenting did not differ for parenting behaviors identified as "most like” and "least like". Parents were revealed to give more attention to parenting related to the child's social development, followed by intellectual and, finally, physical development. While there is a substantial body of research in socialization processes in both noncomparative and comparative studies, little research has dealt with cross cultural variations on perception of parenting behaviors with respect to the overall development of the child. There are a_few studies that investigate parenting attitudes among various subcultures within the United States. Durrett et a1.(1975) , examined cross cultural variations in, child rearing in three different ethnic groups. They interviewed both mothers and fathers from 29 white, 30 black, and 31 Mexican-American families about their child rearing orientations and techniques. The families each had a 5-year-old enrolled in Head Start and were from low income levels. A 91-item Q-Sort was individually administered to each parent in their homes with their preferred language of either Spanish or English. The Q-Sort items were arranged by each subject on a continuum of importance according to goals, methods, and perceived reactions to his or her child. Measures of child rearing 23 orientations were achievement, authority, protectiveness, stressing of individual responsibility, control of emotions, and the positivity of parent-child relationships. Measures of child rearing techniques were consistency or lack of it, use of positive reinforcement, use of guilt, use of aversive control, and physical punishment. The findings of Durrett's et a1. (1975) study showed significant differences among the three ethnic groups regarding ”orientations" in child rearing. White and Black parents reported being more authoritative than did Mexican- American parents. Mothers of both Black and white children reported being more achievement and success oriented than their Mexican-American counterparts. Mexican-American parents were, in addition, significantly more protective. stressed somewhat greater control of the emotions, and appeared to emphasize less individual responsibility than both of the other groups. On the other hand, only a few significant differences among groups in child rearing "techniques" were found. Mexican-American parents reported the most consistency in their methods of reward and punishment. Black parents favored the use of reward when the child displays good behavior, but they also claimed the use of more strict arbitrary rules. Mexican-American and white mothers reported using significantly more guilt in child rearing than did Black mothers. Overall, Durrett and her associates concluded that the data on self-reported techniques of child rearing were 24 similar among the groups; only the parents' desired ends differed. They did not explain the meaning of "desired ends", but one might deduce from their data that, for instance, Mexican-American parents reported using parenting practices or techniques that differ from their attitudes or orientations. Bartz and LeVine (1978) also compared the child rearing attitudes of 152 Chicano mothers and fathers with those of 143 Anglo-American and 169 Black parents of low socioeconomic levels to identify unique ethnic child rearing patterns. The child rearing patterns focused on seven attitudinal dimensions: control, support, permissiveness, strictness, equalitarianism, acceleration of development, and use of time. They administered a survey questionnaire in the homes of the subjects using either Spanish or English language according to their preference. They concluded that parents in general did not differ in their child rearing orientations, but in the degree of their emphases on particular attitudes or desired behaviors. Using the same data LeVine and Bartz (1979) found that the child rearing attitudes of Chicano parents differed from those of Anglo-American and Black parents. Chicano parents were reported to give more emphasis for early assumption of responsibility. This finding is in conflict with those of Durrett's et a1. (1975) on the same measure. Certainly, this aspect needs further investigation. Chicanos and Anglos reported to be less controlling and less pressed for wise 25 time use than Blacks. Chicanos were more likely to use permissiveness than Anglos; they also differed from the other group in being the least likely to stress equalitarianism. Anglos and Chicanos reported to offer less support than Blacks.- In addition, the findings indicated that all three groups valued strictness in child rearing. In this study the results showed high congruence in child- rearing attitudes of mothers and fathers within each ethnicity. Across ethnicity it was found that, as a whole, the Chicano fathers and not Chicano mothers depicted different child rearing attitudes from mothers and fathers of the other groups. Although the attitude of Chicano fathers and mothers did not differ significantly from one another, the fathers more than the mothers tended to differ from Anglos and Blacks in de-emphasizing support, equalitarianism, and control. While a self report instrument, such as the interview instrument employed by LeVine and Bartz (1979), - is appropriate as a measure of attitude, it is not considered an appropriate measure of actual child rearing practices (Baumrind,. 1971). Nevertheless, LeVine and Bartz concluded that the Chicano group was more permissive and less equalitarian than Anglo-American and Black parents in their parenting attitudes as well as practices. 26 Comparative studies in the United States have dealt with a critical aspect when 'searching for cultural comparisons: most of the ethnic groups in the United States are of low SES. As a characteristic of a particular group the SES did not discourage cultural comparisons between groups that differed in this variable. However, in order to encourage meaningful understanding and practical knowledge, studies are increasingly concerned with the importance of comparing cultural influences between groups that do not drastically differ in their socioeconomic and education characteristics. Studies that investigated influences of social class stratification on developmental patterns have stimulated a great deal of research regarding variations of cultural milieu and its influences on child rearing orientations (Bee, Van Egeren, Streissguth, Nyman, and Leckie, 1972; Hess, 1970; Laosa, 1978). Such previous studies provided a clear and consistent portrait of social class and educational level differences in particular parenting behaviors within the same cultural group. Hess and Shipman (1972) found that middle class Black mothers compared with lower class Black mothers relied less on physical feedback, used more orienting and motivating statements, and gave more positive reinforcement than negative reinforcement. Middle class mothers also used more specific language when requiring discriminations than 'lower 27 class mothers. An study conducted by Bee and her associates (1972) supported similar conclusions with a mixed sample of both Black and white mothers. More evidences on differences in parenting behaviors related to the SES were examined by Laosa (1978). He investigated maternal teaching styles within ethnic groups in relation to SES of the families. The results from a sample of 43 Mexican-American families revealed that the manner in which Chicano mothers taught their own child varied according to the mother's formal education. Mothers with more years of schooling (about a twelfth grade education) employed teaching strategies characterized by more frequent praise and inquiry instead of commands, and showed greater tendency to let the child perform the task on her or his own as compared to mothers who had fewer years of schooling (about a sixth grade education). Mexican- American mothers with fewer years of schooling used significantly less questions and more commands. These mothers also presented a greater tendency to perform the task for the child. For boys only, they appeared to use more control and physical punishment than mothers with more years of formal education. An interesting point that emerged from this research was, regardless of educational level, Mexican- American mothers rarely used teaching strategies that involved physical contact with the child. Cross cultural studies that compared middle SES groups to lower groups failed to provide accurate information on 28 cultural influences (for example, Field Widmayer, 1981). Basically, Field and Widmayer carried out a comparison between lower SES Hispanic groups and middle SES American groups. In this study, described elsewhere, not only culture may have influenced parenting'behaviors but also other demographic characteristics of the family. According to Laosa (1981) it is necessary to be very cautious when making broad generalizations based on cross cultural differences from narrow study design in order to avoid an incomplete and distorted picture of the effects of cultural and social contexts on patterns. of human interaction. He indicated that much of the available research on cross cultural and ethnic group differences has confounded purely cultural factors with differences in level of education and socioeconomic status. In attempting to account for these variables Laosa (1980b) first examined whether differences in maternal teaching strategies would exist in two cultural populations of different educational levels and socioeconomic statuses. Secondly, Laosa investigated whether such differences, if existing, would remain or disappear after removing the influence that educational and occupational inequalities might have had in sustaining or creating them. The subjects were 83 Mexican- American and Anglo-American mother-dyads. When both groups were compared prior to controlling for their own or their husbands' educational levels and occupational statuses, significant differences emerged for some variables of the 29 Maternal Teaching Observation Technique (MTOT). Among the Anglo-Americans group, the most frequent type of teaching strategy used was praise, followed by visual cue, inquiry, direction, modeling, and negative verbal feedback or disapproval. Among the Mexican-American mothers, modeling and visual cue were the most frequently observed teaching strategy, followed by directive, praise, inquiry, and negative feedback or disapproval. When the comparisons were made by holding constant either the mothers' or fathers' occupational statuses, the same patterns of cultural group differences were found. However, when controlling for the mothers' or fathers' education. the cultural group differences disappeared completely. Several research evidences (Fairing and Lewis, 1981; McGovan and Johson, 1984) supported Laosa's (1980a) findings that maternal education does influence particular child rearing attitudes and practices with respect to the stimulation of the child's cognitive domain development. In a study with 86 Mexican-American mothers and their one-year- old children, McGowan and Johnson (1984) found that the more years of formal schooling the mother had, the more she promoted intellectual stimulation of her child, and therefore, the child showed better classroom achievement. Educational differences, according to Kohn (1972), is an independent contributor to the differences in low- and middle-class parental values. These findings suggest that SES and formal 30 education differences in mother-child interactions within any one ethnic group may be a much more critical independent variable than one's cultural group membership. In fact, a number of cross-cultural studies on parent-child interactions have reported more significant SES differences than cultural differences even when the cultures have been geographically remote (Lewis and Ban, 1977; Pearlin and Kohn, 1966). Pearlin and Kohn (1966) found in their cross national study that Italian parental values are more adult-centered and, American more child-centered. Despite this cultural difference, the relationship of social class to parental values is very similar in both countries. Italian and American middle-class parents reported more emphasis on the child's self-direction whereas lower-class parents reported more emphasis on the child's conformity to external prescription. Based upon the present literature, it is crucial to consider different contextual factors that may affect parenting behaviors in order to provide a more reliable comparison of parenting beliefs and practices in different cultural groups. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY This exploratory study involved a cross-cultural comparison of parenting perceptions among American and Brazilian parents utilizing assessments of both ideal and actual parenting practices. In addition, the relationship of the variability of parents' perceptions of actual parenting practices to given demographic characteristics was investigated. The demographic variables included gender of the first born child, mother's and father's education, mother's and father's occupation and family income. The NC-l58 Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors (Lawton, Coleman, Boger, Pease, Galejs, Poresky, and Looney, 1983) was used to assess the parenting perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices. The demographic characteristics of the families involved were identified through a survey instrument. Campgrison g; Q-items,placement for groups 9; individuals The unit of analysis was individual Q-Sort item scores as suggested by Block (1978): " ..the use of Q-data involves comparison item by item, of the Q-sorts for one group of individuals and the Q-Sorts for another group of subjects"(p.94) 31 32 ”In evaluating the significance of difference between the mean placements of a Q-item in two groups, the statistical test to be used depends on the nature of the distribution of Q-values. If the Q-values or scores for an item have a distribution which comports well enough with the requirements of parametrics tests, then these may be used. When clearly the distribution of Q-values for a given item does not meet the assumption underlying a parametric model or when the issue is in doubt, then the distribution-free (i.e., non parametric) test should be employed."(p.95) Research Desigp This was a descriptive, correlational study. The data are reflective of parental responses and demographic status at one point in time. Families were selected through restricted randomized sampling once criteria of age (two and half to four and half years old) and ordinal position of child (first born of the family) were met. All families included in the study are intact, i.e., data on both mother and father have been gathered. The NC 158 Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors was used to measure the parents' beliefs about parenting. The major dependent variables were perceptions of actual parenting practices and perceptions of ideal parenting practices represented by individual Q-Sort items. The primary independent variables were cultural background, sex of the child, mothers' and fathers' education, mothers' and fathers' occupation, and family income. Each of the family demographics were analyzed as independent dimensions with cultural background. To test the hypotheses parametric tests 33 including one way analysis of variance, two way analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and Student's t-test were carried out for the majority of Q-items on those which had distributions that comported well enough with the requirements for parametric tests. Kruskal-Wallis, a nonparametric one way analysis of variance test, was used for the Q-items chich had score distribution that did not meet the assumption underlying a parametric model. M Each of the four basic research questions is followed by a number of research hypotheses. The testable hypotheses are stated in the null form. 1. To what extent do parents from Brazil and the United States differ in their endorsement of actual parenting practices aimed at encouraging children's physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development? 801 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian and American mothers. H02 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian and American fathers. 2. To what extent do parents from Brazil and The United States differ in the perceptions of ideal parenting practices aimed at encouraging children's physical. intellectual, social, and emotional development? H03 There are no significant differences in the perception of ideal parenting practices among Brazilian and American mothers. 34 H04 There are no significant differences in the perception of ideal parenting practices among Brazilian and American fathers. Do parents from Brazil and the United States distinguish between parenting practices they believe they actually subscribe to versus those they believe they would ideally subscribe to? H05 There are no significant differences in perceptions of actual parenting practices and perceptions of ideal parenting practices among Brazilian mothers. H06 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices and perceptions of ideal parenting practices among Brazilian fathers. H07 There are no significant differences in perceptions of actual parenting practices and perceptions of ideal parenting practices among American mothers. H08 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices and perceptions of ideal parenting practices among American fathers. How does cultural background relate to actual parenting practices when controlling for the effects of gender of the first born child, mother's and father's education, mother's and father's occupation and family income? H09 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian mothers and American mothers when related to the gender of the first born child. H010 There are no‘ significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian fathers and American fathers when related to the gender of the first born child. 35 H011 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian mothers and American mothers when covaried with their education. H012 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian fathers and American fathers when covaried with their education. H013 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian mothers and American mothers when covaried with their occupation. H014 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian fathers and American fathers when covaried with their occupation. H015 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian mothers and American mothers when covaried with the family income. H016 There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices among Brazilian fathers and American fathers when covaried with the family income. Sample Two matched subsamples were selected for this study: one American (parents from the Midwestern region of the United States) and the other Brazilian (parents from the Southern region of Brazil). All families participating in the research were from urban areas (cities with at least 100.000 inhabitants) and all were citizens of their respective countries. I The sample consisted of 58 natural parent pairs (both mother and father). Half of the sample (29) were Brazilian and half (29) were American. All families included in the study were intact (i.e., father, mother and the child living 36 in the same household). To reduce systematic sources of error in the data the child's birth order (first born) and age of the child (2 years and half to four years and half) were controlled. All of the families had a first born child ranging from 29 to 51 months of age. The mean cronological age of the Brazilian children (14 boys and 15 girls) was 40 months, with a range of 34 to 51 .months. The American children's mean age (14 boys and 15 girls) was 35.6 months with a range of 29 to 43 months. The mean age for Brazilian mothers was 26.8 years with a range of 19 to 36 years, while the American mothers mean age was 28 'years with a range of 20 to 35 years. The mean age for the Brazilian fathers was 28, while the American fathers mean age was 28.9 years with a range of 22 to 37. The number of years of formal education completed by Brazilian mothers ranged from 7 to 16 with a mode of 11 years, while the American mothers ranged from 12 to 18 years with a mode of 16 years. The Brazilian fathers had a range of 4 to 18 years.of formal education, while American fathers it ranged from 12 to 21 years. Sixty-nine percent of the Brazilian mothers were employed.outside the home, while approximatelly 48 x of the American mothers were so employed. The occupational status of Brazilian mothers based upon the Hollingshead code (Hollingshead, 1957) ranged from housewives, not employed outside the home, through manual service workers to proprietors of large businesses and major professionals. For 37 the American mothers the occupational status ranged from housewives not employed outside the home through professionals and proprietors of businesses. The occupational status of Brazilian fathers ranged from skilled manual workers and small businesses owners through clerical, technicians, semiprofessionals to proprietors of large businesses and major professionals. For the American fathers it ranged from manual service workers to major professional and proprietors of large businesses. The family income values were matched as much as possible into common categories for both Brazilian and American parents. For descriptive purposes the income levels were arbitrarialy subdivided in three classes, lower, middle, and higher. Thirty eight (38) percent of the Brazilian families had lower incomes (CrS 0 to CrS 51.999), 52 3 had middle incomes (CrS 52.000 to Crs 207.999), and 108 had higher incomes (CrS 208.000 and above). The American families were approximatelly 7 x of lower income (30 to $10,999), 90 x of middle income ($11,000 to $40,999), and 3 3 were of higher income levels (342,000 and above). In general, middle class income levels predominated in both groups. The Research Instruments The primary variables of the study included (1) parents' perceptions of actual parenting practices, (2) parents' perceptions of ideal parenting practices, and (3) 38 family demographics. The parenting perceptions variables (Actual and ideal dimensions) were operationalized through the use of the "NC- 158 Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors" (Lawton et a1. 1983). The instrument consists of 72 individual statements concerning aspects of parenting behavior in four domains of child nurturance (physical, social, intellectual and emotional). The Q-sort items are listed in appendix A in English and in Portuguese. All research instrument were developed in English and translated to Portuguese by the researcher. The Portuguese translations were then edited by two bilingual students to assure appropriate translation. Family demographics and other informations were recorded during an interview with the parents in their home with the use of an instrument developed by the North Central Regional Project 158 (Lawton et a1. 1983). The instrument was translated to the Portuguese by the researcher in order to gather the data from Brazilian parents (See appendix B). -Validigy and Reliabiligx g; the g-Sort Inventogy Initially the instrument was created with a list of 158 statements according to the guidelines stressed by Block (1978) for a construction of Q-Sort items. Thereafter, the instrument was submitted to a face validity test. All the statements were revised by experts on child development and family studies and limited to 18 items for four domains considered important in representing the general development 39 of the young child (physical, intellectual, social, and emotional), which provided a total inventory of 72 items. There is no additional information regarding the validity of the instrument. Methods of testing reliability of the NC 158 Q—Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors have been under study, but the informations concerning the results of these tests are still not available. Procedure For both Brazilian and American subsamples a roster of potential subjects was compiled from various sources, including places of business, churches, and day care centers. All of the data from Brazilian families were collected following home administration procedures. Each family was contacted either by phone or in person so that the general objectives of the research could be explained and they could be invited to become involved. A formal letter explaining the research objectives and thanking them for their continued cooperation was addressed to the subjects before data collection (See appendix C). Once enrollment criteria were met, interview appointments were made with each family. The investigator and trained college students then interviewed the subjects in their homes. After establishing rapport, the investigators questioned the subjects regarding relevant demographic data, then subjects were 4O asked separately, to respond to the "NC-158 Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors." Standardized instructions were utilized in administrating the Q-sort. After giving the parents the labels set they were asked to sort the items into an order of significance or representativeness for them. The distribution categories were determined before hand so that the parents ratings were of a forced choice nature. First, each parent, independently, was asked to order the items with respect to actual practices, that is, how they perceived they actually reared their child. After completing this task, parents were asked to sort the cards a second time according to how they believed they would ideally like to rear their child. For each sort parents were instructed to place the labels on a large response-category board from category one (1) which is "most like how I deal (would like to deal) with my child" to category nine (9) which is "Least like how I deal (would like to deal) with my child." The NC-l58 Inventory of Parenting Behaviors was either home administered or sent to the parents by mail as suggested by the standardized instructions. The data from American families were collected by using home interview methods and mailed methods. Home interview methods were used in 20 cases, while mailed instructions were used in gathering the data for the remaining 9 cases. The reliability between the two methods of data collection, home interview and mailed, was tested through the use of a Student t-test. 41 Data Analysis The major dependent variables in the study were Perceptions of Actual Parenting Practices (72 Q-Sort items), Perceptions of Ideal Parenting practices (72 Q-Sort items). The independent variables were cultural background (Brazilian and American), sex of the child, and mothers' and fathers' education, mother's and father's occupation, and family income. Four basic analyses of the interdependencies between data set were made. In the first, the variables analysed were mothers' and fathers' perceptions of actual pareting practices (subdivided into four domains, physical, intellectual, social and emotional) with cultural background. In the second, the variables were mothers' and fathers' perceptions of Ideal parenting and cultural background, also subdivided into four domains of child nurturance as in the first analysis. In the third analysis the variables were perceptions of actual parenting practices compared to ideal parenting practices within each cultural 'group of mothers and fathers. The variables included in the fourth analysis were mothers' and fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practices and cultural background with family demographics. Each demographic variable was analyzed separately. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS subprogram MANOVA was used to perform multivariate analysis of variance, univariate one way analysis of variance, two 42 way analysis of variance and analysis of covariance to test the majority of the proposed hypotheses (Hull & Nie, 1981; Nie, Hull, Jenkins, Steinbrenner, and Bent, 1975). In addition, the following statistics were computed: Student's t-test, descriptive statistics, and the Bartlett test for homogeneity of variance. Most of the items met the assumption of homogeneity of variance. For the items which did not meet this assumption the Kruskal-Wallis one way anova nonparametric test was computed. The following items were tested using the Kruskal-Wallis test, for analyses pursuant to: Hypothesis H01: 120, I22, 839, S46, E67; Hypothesis H02: 541, S43, E62; Hypothesis H03: P12, 120, S40, S46, E62, E64; Hypothesis H04: I22, S42, S47, E64, 867; Hypothesis H09: 120, I22, 839, S46, E67; Hypothesis H010: S43, E62; Hypothesis H011: $39, $46, 67; Hypothesis H012: S42, S43, E62; Hypothesis H013: I20, I21, 839, S46, E67; Hypothesis H014: 839, S43; Hypothesis H015: 120, $39, S46, E67; Hypothesis H016: S41, $43, 862. All hypotheses were tested at the alpha < .05 level of I significance. CHAPTER IV RESULTS The results of the data analyses are reported for each research hypothesis. The hypotheses are stated in the null form, in the same order as they appear in chapter III. A report of whether or not statistical significance was found and statistics results follow the hypothesis. Hypgthesis ; H01: There are no significant differences in ‘the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American mothers. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tests for significant differences between the two cultural groups on the seventy two (72) items comprising perceptions of actual parenting practices were computed. Manova tests of significance were first used for differences among groups of items in the four domains each containing 18 variables related ‘to physical, intellectual, social and emotional aspects of the child's development. The results of multivariate .analysis of variance for significant differences in the mothers' perceptions of actual parenting practices for group of independent domains revealed significant differences for all four aspects of development (Physical p= .000, Intellectual p= .000, Social p= .000, and 43 44 Emotional p3 .006). To provide more specific information about the significances in each of the 72 parenting practices variables univariate'F-tests and Kruskal-Wallis chi-square were used. Based on these findings, twenty three (23) out of seventy two (72) parenting behaviors revealed differences between the two cultural groups at the <.05 significance level. Differences were found for 5 items in the physical domain (P), 6 in the intellectual domain (I), 7 in the social domain (S), and 5 items in the emotional domain (E). The items showing differences between the two cultural groups included the following: P01. Encouraging the use of hands skillfully. P03. Providing opportunities to play outdoors. P12. Taking to regular medical and dental check-ups. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. I20. Encouraging to watch TV. 122. Playing number and word games with the child. 132. Showing how to use things or how things work. 133. Teaching how to help me. I34. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. 135. Listening when the childs tell stories. _ $39. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. S44. Encouraging not be shy. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. $52. Teaching to obey rules set. E56. Ignoring child's temper tantrums. E58. Providing privacy for the child. E62. Showing physical affection daily. E64. Praising the child. 267. Threatening to leave the child if he/she disobeys me. 45 The mean scores for each Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers and correspondent F—test probabilities for all 72 Q-Sort items of the perceptions of actual parenting sort are provided for each domain, respectivelly,in tables 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4. The results indicated that Brazilian and American mothers differed in their perceptions of actual parenting practices in twenty three parenting behaviors of the seventy two behaviors measured by the NC 158 Inventory of Parenting Behaviors (NC 158 IPB). Therefore, the hypothesis H was considered rejected, i.e., there are differences I; the perceptions of actual parenting practices between these two cultural groups of mothers. 46 Table 4.1: Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F- test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers in the physical domain. C MOTHERS' ACTUAL MOTHERS' IDEAL ITEMS BRA USA a LEVEL BRA USA a LEVEL P01 3.4 4.7 025* 4.4 4.7 .463 P02 5.6 5.0 200 5.8 4.9 037* P03 3.3 4.5 029* 4.8 4.8 936 P04 3.4 3.5 884 4.2 3.9 550 P05 3.6 3.7 951 3.3 2.9 416 P06 2.9 3.6 164 2.9 3.2 525 P07 4.9 5.4 .326 4.8 4.6 646 P08 3.7 4.1 348 3.8 4.8 034* P09 5.6 5.4 709 6.0 4.6 001* P10 6.4 7.0 159 5.7 6.0 .550 P11 5.3 5.3 1 000 4.7 4.7 1.000 P12 4.7 3.1 002* 3.8 3.1 320 P13 5.4 5.1 435 5.3 5.7 359 P14 4.6 4.6 878 4.3 4.7 463 P15 3.8 4.5 137 3.7 4.2 321 P16 6.6 6.5 874 6.9 6.2 073 P17 7.5 5.4 000* 7.0 6.1 031* P18 7.2 5.2 000* 6.3 5.6 073 * for P < .05 47 Table 4.2: Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F- - test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers in the intellectual domain. MOTHERS' ACTUAL MOTHERS' IDEAL ITEMS BRA USA aLEVEL BRA USA aLEVEL I19 4.7 3.6 .075 4.8 3.8 .055 120 6.2 7.7 .032* 7.2 8.5 001* I21 6.1 6.0 .770 6.4 6.0 386 122 5.5 4.6 050* 6.2 4.2 000* 123 2.6 3.5 .086 3.0 3.7 222 124 4.9 5.1 718 5.2 5.0 .695 125 5.0 4.5 355 5.0 4.2 104 I26 4.6 4.7 726 4.7 4.0 220 I27 5.1 5.0 828 4.7 4.9 680 I28 4.3 5.0 141 4.4 5.2 120 129 4.9 5.0 831 4.8 5.4 .209 I30 6.7 6.1 266 6.5 5.3 038* 131 5.0 5.2 .591 5.1 4.7 .409 132 5.6 4.8 037* 5.0 4.8 719 I33 5.7 4.8 036* 5.3 5.3 939 134 6.5 3.0 000* 5.1 2.8 000* I35 4.8 3.8 021* 4.1 3.4 093 136 5.7 4.8 100 4.4 4.5 835 48 Table 4.3: Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F- teste for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (ERA) and American (USA) mothers in the social domain. =========23:383:3========================s=========== MOTHERS' ACTUAL MOTHERS' IDEAL ITEMS BRA USA aLEVEL BRA USA «aLEVEL 537 3.1 3.1 .946 3.9 3.8 831 $38 4.8 4.7 822 5.5 5.7 653 S39 6.6 8.2 000* 6.6 7.3 161 S40 4.7 5.0 450 5.5 5.7 410 S41 4.1 6.0 001* 4.9 6.7 000* S42 4.9 6.3 002* 5.3 6.1 023* S43 4.7 5.0 433 4.6 4.7 792 S44 4.2 6.4 000* 4.7 6.8 000* S45 4.0 4.4 388 3.0 3.8 094 S46 5.7 7.9 000* 5.8 7.9 000* S47 4.0 4.1 695 3.8 4.2 451 S48 3.6 4.1 249 3.6 4.1 356 S49 4.8 6.8 000* 4.5 6.3 000* S50 5.9 5.3 182 5.0 5.3 522 $51 6.1 5.6 315 4.9 5.2 414 S52 6.6 4.0 000* 5.9 4.0 002* $53 6.2 6.3 713 5.6 5.8 717 $54 4.7 3.8 092 4.4 4.9 329 49 Table 4.4: Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F- test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) mothers in the emotional domain. MOTHERS' ACTUAL MOTHERS' IDEAL ITEMS BRA USA a LEVEL BRA USA a LEVEL E55 3.9 4.8 380 5.7 5.7 1 000 E56 5.2 6.6 019* 5.9 6.6 312 E57 5.3 4.7' .284 5.7 5.3 597 E58 5.1 6.6 008* 4.9 5.8 098 E59 4.4 5.2 112 5.0 5.1 815 E60 3.9 3.2 146 4.0 3.8 443 E61 4.4 4.5 888 4.2 4.3 857 E62 2.8 1.7 009* 3.8 1.7 000* E63 3.5 2.6 055 3.7 2.8 038* E64 4.2 2.8 002* 4.4 2.3 000* E85 7.0 8.7 585 7.4 7.8 771 E88 7.8 7.0 176 8.1 8.3 834 E67 7.9 8.7 033* 8.2 8.8 338 E68 3.9 3.8 598 3.3 3.9 288 E89 5.4 5.6 829 5.0 5.2 882 E70 8.7 6.5 708 8.9 7.2 421 E71 4.0 4.8 151 3.1 3.4 504 E72 4.4 3.7 186 4.0 4.0 951 * for P < .05 50 gypgtheeis 2 H02: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers. To evaluate the differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tests including univariate F-tests, and Kruskal-Wallis Chi-square were performed. Multivariate tests revealed differences in parenting behaviors by domain as follows: physical (p a 003), intellectual (p I .011), social (p = .000), and for emotional (p a .000). Univariate analysis of variance tests showed significant differences on twenty eight (28) out of 72 parenting practices at the <.05 significance level. The items with significance were distributed among all four domains of development, with 8 referring to physical behaviors, 6 referring to intellectual behaviors, 9 referring to social behaviors and 5 referring to emotional behaviors. The significant items included the following: P01. Encouraging the use of hands skillfully. P05. Making sure the child eats nutritional balanced meals. P06. Making sure the child has good°health habits. P09. Getting involved with the child in physically active play. P15. Encouraring the child to clean his/her mouth or teeth daily. P16. Teaching the child to rool, kick, throw, or catch. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. I20. Encouraging to watch TV.. 121. Talking with the child about TV programs that we watch together. I24. Showing the child how to solve a problem step by step. 51 129. Taking the child on trips out of the house. 130. Letting the child make mistakes even when I can prevent them. I34. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. $39. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. S43. Encouraging the child to help other children. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S47. Encouraging the child to do things on his/her own. 'S49. Encouraging assertiveness. S52. Teaching to obey rules set. S54. Encouraging turn taking. E55. Spanking the child when necessary. E57. Punishing the child for misbehaving. E62. Showing physical affection daily. E63. Encouraging the child to be affectionate. E64. Praising the child. Tables 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8 contain under the section "fathers' actual" the mean scores and significance level for all fathers' actual scores by domain. Significance levels for the 28 variables provided evidence to conclude that there are differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers, and therefore, the hypothesis H was rejected. 02 Table 4.5: * for P < 52 Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F- test _for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) fathers in the physical domain. =======83=========388::====================== FATHERS' ACTUAL FATHERS' IDEAL BRA USA 0 LEVEL BRA USA a LEVEL 4.5 3.3 032* 4.3 4.3 .938 5.4 4.9 273 5.3 4.6 .167 3.6 3.6 1 000 4.1 4.4 .566 3.7 4.1 435 4.6 4.7 .842 3.3 4.6 015* 3.4 3.2 .670 2.7 4.2 005* 3.2 3.7 .396 5.1 5.7 205 5.0 5.3 .547 3.9 4.8 102 5.0 5.6 254 4.8 3.6 027* 4.7 3.7 044* 6.3 6.3 1 000 6.0 6.3 478 5.8 5.2 256 4.6 5.2 .232 4.5 5.4 .129 3.6 4.4 142 5.1 5.2 855 5.2 5.9 159 4.4 5.2 122 3.9 5.6 005* 3.7 5.6 001* 3.4 4.8 017* 6.3 5.2 011* 5.9 5.9 940 6.9 5.3 001* 6.2 6.2 895 6.4 5.2 020* 5.7 5.3 362 .05 53 Table 4.6: Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F- test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) fathers in the intellectual domain. FATHERS' ACTUAL FATHERS' IDEAL ITEMS BRA USA a LEVEL BRA USA a LEVEL 119 3.9 4.3 .390 4.7 3.8 088 I20 6.4 7.6 .033* 7.1 8.5 001* 121 5.0 6.3 019* 6.1 5.5 276 122 4.9 4.8 903 4.9 3.6 007* 123 3.6 3.7 836 3.1 4.1 015* 124 3.6 5.4 001* 4.9 4.5 501 125 5.1 4.7 397 5.9 4.1 002* 126 4.7 4.7 886 4.9 3.6 010* I27 5.5 5.0 301 4.5 5.0 291 128 4.9 5.4 209 4.4 5.4 041* 129 3.9 5.0 019* 4.2 5.4 029* 130 7.6 5.9 002* 6.8 5.7 046* 131 4.8 4.7 783 5.0 4.6 357 132 5.1 4.8 526 5.3 4.8 291 I33 5.7 5.7 946 5.1 5.8 163 134 6.7 5.1 007* 5.0 3.2 001* 135 4.7 4.5 802 4.2 3.9 645 136 4.8 4.4 537 4.0 4.6 320 * for P < 05 54 Table 4.7: Means and probabilities (critical levels) of F— test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (BRA) and American (USA) fathers in the social domain. ========================3============================ FATHERS' ACTUAL FATHERS' IDEAL ITEMS BRA USA a LEVEL BRA USA a LEVEL S37 3.9 3.1 111 4.8 3.9 044* S38 4.6 5.0 411 4.5 4.8 552 S39 5.1 6.6 010* 5.3 6.8 003* S40 4.3 4.6 599 5.6 5.6 947 S41 4.1 6.1 000* 5.1 6.2 048* S42 4.4 6.1 000* 5.1 5.5 472 S43 4.4 5.4 .033* 5.5 4.9 186 S44 5.0 5.5 325 5.4 6.0 183 S45 4.3 4.4 873 4.0 3.7 514 S46 5.7 7.2 002* 5.8 7.2 001* S47 5.0 4.0 026* 4.1 4.8 142 S48 3.4 3.7 619 3.6 4.1 284 S49 5.1 6.4 009* 4.7 6.2 010* $50 6.1 5.6 213 4.9 5.3 370 $51 5.0 5.3 543 4.6 4.9 501 S52 6.4 3.7 000* 5.3 4.5 .206 $53 5.7 5.8 822 5.0 5.6 203 S54 5.6 3.8 001* 5.0 5.1 947 * for P < .05 Table 4.8: 55 Means and probabilities (critical levels of F- test for perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices between Brazilian (ERA) and American (USA) fathers in the emotional domain. FATHERS' ACTUAL FATHER'S'IDEAL BRA USA a LEVEL BRA USA a LEVEL 5.3 3.7 023* 6.4 4.8 019* 6.7 6.7 951 6.6 5.8 232 5.4 4.2 030* 6.0 5.0 .070 5.2 5.8 231 5.5 5.4 853 4.7 5.0 546 4.8 4.8 .947 3.4 3.1 .399 4.8 3.4 .006* 4.7 5.1 414 4.7 4.1 242 3.2 1.5 000* 3.6 1.9 001* 4.4 3.0 007* 4.9 3.0 001* 5.7 2.9 000* 5.6 2.5 000* 6.9 6.0 066 6.4 7.2 149 7.3 6.8 456 7.7 7.5 678 8.0 8.2 663 8.4 8.5 500 3.8 4.1 498 3.8 4.3 393 5.3 5.3 1 000 4.4 5.2 106 5.7 6.5 191 5.8 7.3 001* 4.5 5.1 .293 4.0 4.0 905 4.4 5.1 .281 4.2 5.1 169 05 56 gypgthesis g H03: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of ideal parenting practices between Brazilian and American mothers. As with the previous hypotheses, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tests including univariate F-tests, and Kruskal-Wallis chi-square were computed. Manova tests by domain indicated significance at the <.05 level for three groups of parenting behaviors: Physical (p a .010), Intellectual (p - .000), and for Social (p a .000), but no significance was found for the emotional domain as a group (p a .190). Univariate F-tests and chi-square revealed differences at the <.05 level for seventeen (l7) Q-Sort items, 4 were of physical behaviors, 4 were of intellectual behaviors , 6 were of social behaviors, and 3 were of emotional behaviors. The significant items included the following: P02. Encouraging the child to try new physical activities. P08. Encouraging the child to feed himself or herself. P09. Getting involved with the child in physically active play. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. 120. Encouraging to watch TV. 122. Playing number and word games. 130. Letting the child make mistakes even when I can prevent them. I34. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. S44. Encouraging not to be shy. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. S52. Teaching to obey rules set. E62. Showing physical affection daily. E63. Encouraging the child to be affectionate. E64. Praising the child. 57 Tables 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4, on page 46 through 49, under the section "mothers' ideal" show the mean scores for the two cultural groups and the F-test probabilities for the 72 Q-Sort items. The results of the tests provided evidence to conclude that there are differences in perceptions of ideal parenting practices for 17 of the behaviors measured by the NC 158 Q-Sort IPB. Hypothesis H was, therefore, 03 rejected. gngthesis 1 H04: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of ideal parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers. Again, this hypothesis was tested using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) including univariate F-tests, and Kruskal-Wallis chi-square for the Q-Sort items. Multivariate tests reported significant differences at <.05 level, for the intellectual domain (p a .000) and Emotional domain (p - .000) as a groups. No significance was found for the Physical domain (p a .333), while the Social domain approached significance (p - .056) as groups of parenting behaviors. Individually, univariate F-test and Chi-square for the 72 parenting behaviors variables revealed significance for twenty three (23) Q-Sort items, which 3 were related to physical behaviors, 9 were related to intellectual behaviors, 5 were related to social behaviors, and 6 were related to emotional behaviors. The significant items included the following: 58 P09. Getting involved with the child in physically active play. P14. Helping or encouraging the child to take a bath. P15. Encouraging to clean the mouth or teeth daily. 120. Encouraging to watch TV. I22. Playing number and word games. I23. Pronoucing words correctly when talking to the child. I25. Talking about what happened during the day. 126. Encouraging the child to ask questions. ' I28. Helping the child to do most things. I29. Taking the child on trips out of the house. I30. Letting the child make mistakes even when I can prevent them. I34. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. $37. Encouraging sharing toys. $39. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. E55. Spanking the child when necessary. E60. Talking about his/her misbehavior. E62. Showing physical affection daily. E63. Encouraging the child to be affectionate. E64. Praising the child. E70. Steping in when the child has problems with another child. Mean scores for both cultural groups and significance levels are displayed in tables 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8 on pages 52 through 55, under section "fathers' ideal", for each domain. Significance in 23 behaviors measured by the NC 158 Q-sort IPB was considered statistically sufficient to conclude that there are significant differences in the perceptions of ideal parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers. The hypothesis H was, therefore, rejected. 04 The results of the data analyses for these first four hypotheses indicated that the actual sorts for both mothers' and fathers' group contained higher number of significant differences than the ideal sorts. These numbers can be seen in table 4.9. The fathers revealed greater number of 59' significantly different items in both perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices than did the mothers. Table 4.9. Summary of the number of differences in Ideal Sort and Actual Sort for mothers and fathers groups with F test probabilities of 5.05. ITEMS Q-Sorts Phy Int Soc Emo Total Mo Actual 5 6 7 5 23 Fa Actual 8 6 9 5 28 Mo Ideal 4 4 6 3 17 Fa Ideal 3 9 5 6 23 Hypgthesis p H05: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices among Brazilian mothers. A paired t-test statistical procedure was used to evaluate the differences between the mean scores for actual and ideal parenting behaviors. A t-test was conducted for each matched pair of means for each of the seventy two Q-Sort variables reported in the two sorts (actual and ideal). Fifteen (15) variables were found to be statistically significant as follow: P01, P03, P11, P12, P18, 120, I34, 136, 837, S41, S45, S50, 351, E55, and E71. Higher means, i.e., less strong endorsement on the ideal compared to the actual sort, were attributed to the 60 perception of ideal parenting practices for the following Q- Sort behaviors: P01. Encouraging the use of hands skillfully. 903. Providing opportunities to play outdoors. 120. Encouraging to watch TV. S37..Encouraging sharing toys. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. 855. Spanking the child when necessary. Brazilian mothers attributed lower means, i.e., more emphasis on the following items in the ideal compared to the actual sorts: P11. Encouraging eye/hand coordination. P12. Taking to regular medical and dental check-ups. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. 134. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. 136. Encouraging creativity. S45. Teaching the child to responsible. $50. Encouraging the child to ask for help. 851. Teaching social behavior through example. E71. My spouse and 1 often play with our child so that we can enjoy being together. The means for all items can be seen in tables 4.1. through 4.4 on pages 46 to 49, while table 4.10 summarizes the items considered significant (p 5.05) for Brazilian mothers. Significant differences on 15 out of 72 items was considered sufficient evidence to conclude that Brazilian mothers differ in their perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices. Based upon these results hypothesis H was rejected. 05 61 O—O. VOO. O—O. Nhu uhm ~OO. OOO. vmm mmm MOO. mm— mmn N—O. qu. mnO. man but VVO. wqa no acomuaIOLoQ Egg '3 mow OOH NON MOO. COO. OuO. umm Omm mvm mm~ NM” mm— ONO. m—Q vua mga Cloaaoa IOOCILIbumv :00. Low mO. OOH NVO. Om— vnO. hnO. Nun mom qu. Nvm mmu ~VO. nun tam ONu O—a mom OVO. NOO. mvm hmu Now v—O. own qmu MVO. mvm NVO. mwu . g. Omm Nvm OVO. vN— mmm “VO. nvm mwu MOO. “YO. mflO. Omw O—O. 33. NOO. NN— NOQ OOQ mOa VOa NVO. hmm ONO. mmm m—O. ONO. "Nu MOO. OVO. ONO. uOO. mmm mmm amzhcm cm: dwihO: cm: amzhmm can mthOt cam zuczOO JOZOuhOtw Avv N—O. ONO. mnO. MMO. mmm nmm znctOO NOO. nOO. ONO. O—O. ON— mun auxhcu cm: awzhO: mm: amrhcm cam athO: cam JC—OOm on mmzhcu cm: mmtht cm: mwzbcu cam amzhO: can z—czOO Aczhuqumbzu any ONO. O—O. OOQ ~OO. va. NOQ «O1 authcu cm: mmzhO: Om: amzhmu cam amIbOt can z—ctOO 4¢O~m>xa any .noomaOOLQ OCMJCOLIA ~Oevm ten ~93ao~ v nomum_mn~nota anus-» uo_m-uuoah uO~.v O—nah 62 Hypothesis 6 H06: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices among Brazilian fathers. The paired t-test procedure was used to evaluate the differences between the means obtained in the actual sort and the means obtained in the ideal sort for each of the seventy two parenting variables. Significant differences (p 5.05) were found for fifteen (15) parenting behaviors: P08, I21, 124, 125, I27, I30, 134, S40, S41, $43, $50, 852, E55. and E60. Brazilian fathers reported higher means (i.e. less emphasis) on the ideal sort for the following behaviors: P08. Encouraging the child to feed himself or herself. I21. Talking with the child about TV programs that we watch together. 124. Showing the child how to solve a problem step by step. 125. Talking with the child about what hapenned during the day. S40. Encouraging the child to play with boys and girls. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S43. Encouraging the child to help other children. E55. Spanking the child when necessary. E60. Talking to the child about his or her misbehavior. Conversely, the remaining significant behaviors received lower mean scores in the perceptions of ideal parenting practices compared to the actual sort, which means that Brazilian fathers more strongly emphasized (ideally) the items: P11. Encouraging eye/ hand coordination activities. 12?. Teaching the child to have good memory. 130. Letting the child make mistakes even when I can prevent them. 134. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. $50. Encouraging the child to ask for help. 852. Teaching to obey rules set. 63 The mean scores for all items can be seen in table 4.5, through 4.8 (on pages 52 to 55), while the table 4.10 on page 61 displays the probabilities of the items significant at <.05 level for Brazilian fathers (BRA FATHER rows). Differences on 15 out of 72 items was considered sufficient to conclude that Brazilian fathers differ in their perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices. Based upon these results the hypothesis H was rejected. 06 Hypgthesis 1 H07: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices among American mothers. The paired t-test procedure was used to compute the differences between the means obtained in the actual sort and the means obtained in the ideal sort for each of the seventy two parenting variables. Sixteen (16) items were significant at the <.05 level: P05, P07, P08, P10, P17, 120, $37, $38, 839, $54, 855, E57, 358, 365, £66, and E71. The tables 4.1 through 4.4 on pages 45 through 48 shows the mean scores of both groups, while the table 4.10 on page 61 summarizes probabilities of the items considered significant below .05 level. The following items received higher means on the ideal sort, that is, American mothers less strongly endorsed these behaviors in the ideal sort compared to the actual sort. P08. Encouraging the child to feed himself or herself. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. I20. Encouraging to watch TV. 64 $37. Encouraging sharing toys. $38. Encouraging the child to get involved in group play. 854. Encouraging turn taking. E55. Spanking the child when necessary. 857. Punishing the child for misbehaving. E65. Rewarding with a gift when the child is good. E66. Sending the child away from me for misbehavior. 0n the other hand, American mothers attributed lower mean scores, or more strong endorsement on the ideal compared to the actual sort for the following items: P05. Making sure the child eats nutritional balanced meals. P07. Talking with the child about his or her body. P10. Involving the child in group physical or sport activities. 839. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. E58. Making sure the child has privacy. E71. My spouse and I often play with our child so that we can enjoy being together. Based upon the results, significant difference on 16 out of 72 items was considered sufficient to conclude_ that American mothers differ in their perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices. The hypothesis H was, 07 therefore, rejected. Hypothesis 9 H08: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices among American fathers. As with the previous hypotheses, a paired t-test statistical procedure was used to evaluate the differences between the means for American fathers on the actual and ideal sorts for each of the seventy two items. The results showed significant differences in twenty six (26) parenting behaviors. For the following items American fathers 65 attributed higher mean scores on the ideal sort, i.e., less emphasis for their perceptions of ideal parenting practices than for their perceptions of actual parenting practices: P01. P03. P08. P17. 120. S37. $40. 847. S52. $54. 255. 865. E70. Encouraging the use of hands skillfully. Providing opportunities for outdoor play. Encouraging the child to feed himself or herself. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. Encouraging to watch TV. Encouraging sharing toys. Encouraging the child to play with boys and girls. Encouraging the child to do things on his/her own. Teaching to obey rules set. Encouraging turn taking. Spanking the child when necessary. Rewarding the child with a gift if he or she is good. _ Steping in when the child has problems with another child. Lower means scores, or a strong endorsement, are given for the following items on the ideal sort compared to the actual sort: P05. P12. P15. 119. 121. I22. I24. I26. 134. S43. $45. 861. E71. Making sure the child eats nutritional balanced meals. Taking the child to regular medical and dental check-ups. Encouraring the child to clean his/her mouth or teeth daily. Providing educational toys or games. Talking with the child about TV programs that we watch together. Playing number and word games with the child. Showing the child how to solve a problem step by step. Encouraging the child to ask questions. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. Encouraging the child to help other children. Teaching the child to be responsible. Encourage the child to express his or her feelings openly. My spouse and I often play with our child so that we can enjoy being together. The mean scores of the items can be seen in tables 4.5, through 4.8 on pages 52 to 55, while the probabilities of 66 the items significant at the <.05 level for American fathers (USA FATHER rows) are presented in table 4.10 on page 61. It was, therefore, concluded that difference on 26 out of 72 items was sufficiente to reject the hypothesis H Brazilian mothers and fathers had equalogumbers of differential items (fifteen), American mothers had sixteen items with significant differences, and finally, American fathers had 26 items with differences when comparing actual and ideal sorts. Table 4.11 displays the number of differences between actual and ideal sorts for each group of parents. Table 4L11: Number of significant differences at 5.05 level among mothers and fathers from Brazil and The United States on actual and ideal sorts. BRA MO 5 3 5 2 15 BRA FA 2 6 5 2 15 USA MO 5 1 4 6 16 USA FA 7 7 7 5 26 67 Hypotheses g gag ;_ H09: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American mothers when related to the gender of the first born child. H010: There are no significant differences in the . perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers when related to the gender of the first born child. To test the hypotheses two different analyses were used. For the items (120, I21, 839, S46, and E67 in the mothers data and S43 and E62 in the fathers data) which did not comport well enough to the requirements of parametric tests, the Kruskal and wallis test was used. Two way anova were computed for the remaining items. The results of the data analyses indicated that when comparison by sex of the child were made the two cultural groups of mothers differed on the following items: P13. Encourage the child to move and explore freely. 119. Provide educational toys/games. $53. Encourage the child to play with children from differente backgrounds. 363. Encouraging the child to be affectionate. The mean scores and significance levels for these items are presented in table 4.12. No significance was found for the remaining 68 items. The findings did not support the conclusion that Brazilian and American mothers differ in their perceptions of actual parenting practices when related to sex of the child. H , therefore, was not rejected. 09 The results of the data analyses for fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practices indicated significant difference in only one item, (124) show the 68 child how to solve a problem step by step. The mean scores by sex of the child and significance levels are shown in table 4.12. No differences were found for the remaining 71 items. When comparison were made while considering sex of child, the findings did not support the conclusion that Brazilian and American fathers differ in their perceptions of actual parenting practices. It was, therefore, concluded that the hypothesis H could not be rejected. In addition, iglowas found that mothers' cultural background and sex of child interaction for the following three items ‘ P04. Provide opportunities for the child nap, rest or 135. Ligizfi when the child tells stories. E70. Step in when the child has problems with another child. Fathers' cultural background and sex of child interactions emerged for two items: P08.Encourage the child to feed himself or herself. I25. Talk with the child about what happened during the 127. gzzch the child to have a good memory. Table 4.12a summarizes mean scores and probabilities of 5 .05 for those interaction items. Table 4.12: (a) Mothers 69 Mean scores and alfa probability levels for Brazilian and American parents' perceptions of actual parenting practices in relation to the factor sex of the child for significant (p g) two-way ANOVA items =33=== -_-- MEANS MEANS "'ER;EE£E;§' "RQEREEX§"' ITEMS £6;§'"‘EE§£; £3§§""EZE£§ . LEVEL £13” 1‘3" ’ETS’ ZTZ' ’STQ' "T663' 119 4 9 4 5 4 6 2.6 036 S53 6 9 5 5 7 2 5.5 001 E63 3 l 3 9 2 0 3.2 036 (b) Fathers ME:;S== I *“ MEANS: —~ -- ’"QEXEEEEXR """ XQEEEE;§" ITEMS £3§§”"’EE§E§ ES§§“"EE§£§ . LEVEL ’EEZ' 'ETS 'Z"S' '3'? '373’ "'SZI‘ 70 Table 4.12a: Probability 5 .05 from two-way ANOVA for 0- Sort mean scores in relation to the factor cultural background and to the factor sex of the child. (a) Mothers - Interaction MEANS MEANS "£§XEEEER§ """ XLQEEEX§" :rzms E6;§-"'EE§£§ £6§§"--EE§£§ . LEVEL ’33}. '3‘; ”STE- '3’; ‘2-1' -"6Z6’ 135 5.6 4 1 3.3 4 3 .005 E70 7 0 6.2 5 6 7 3 004 MEANS MEANS '-§§XEEEEX§ """ XQEREEXE" ITEMS ES;S----S1EES 507S----61E;S a LEVEL ’ESS' "STE ‘272' '37} 'ZTE- —'7323' I25 5 3 5.0 3 6 5 7 031 71 nggtheses ;_ and ;_ HOll: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American mothers when covaried with their education. H012: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers when covaried with their education. To test the hypotheses two different tests were used. First, Multivariate analyses of variance for each domain were used. Then, the items (839, S49 and E67 for mothers' data, and S42, S43, and 862 for fathers' data) were computed using Kruskal Wallis test. The remaining items were tested using the analyses of covariance procedure. For the group of mothers, multivariate tests indicated evidences of differences on the physical domain (p a .005), Intellectual (p 2.014), and for Social domain (p = .000). No differences were found for emotional aspect of development (p a .072). The results of the data analyses for individual items showed significant difference on eleven (11) Q-Sort items out of 72 reducing considerably the number of NC 158 0- Sort IPB variables on which the mothers cultural groups differed significantly. Thus, after partialing out the variance due to education, cultural differences remained for the following behaviors: P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. 134. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. $39. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. 72 S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S44. Encouraging not be shy. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. S52. Teaching to obey rules set. E58. Providing privacy for the child. E62. Showing physical affection daily. When controlling for the effects. of education significant difference appeared for three items: Involving the child in group physical or sport activities (P10): Helping the child to do most things (I28); and Encouraging the child to ask for help (850): which did not indicate significance prior controlling for the effects of education. Table 4.13 displays the probabilities 5.05 of Q-Sort items for analyses of covariance with education. These findings, thus, lead to the conclusion that the main effects of cultural background remained for eleven (11) items. Significance on 11 out of 72 items was considered sufficient to reject hypothesis H 011 73 Nnm ONO. wmm gnu mmm MNO. mNO. mcmacsLla mwm E ‘3‘ $5. umm 5 §.§.§. ID 3 mmu man man Omm m—O. . NuO. Nmu v—a um— man i 5.5.5. On— NOO. uOO. Nun v—O. mmw vmm hvm ONn ON— OvO. qua Out 3 “93'sz m—O- ugO. mmm Nmm N10- mvm vvm hNu wN~ OOQ OOa "mm mwm mN~ Owu nOO. Nvm VNn mmm m—O. nvm MN— ONO. NNO. Omu Ovm . mMO. NN~ 8. go to. 5:828 . 8:58 umm emu mmu nos-mtn>oo 2:28 48:90. a: uOO. mtOOz— OOO. ZOHhOQOOOO MOO. ZOuhOOOOw mmm 8m mm «3.19.8 55.8 .58 35 982. 53:48 28:58.“. E 92 m: «3.1-:8 z—czOO AIOhOuddwhzu any ONO. n—O. utOOzu mmO. OVO. ZOHhOQOOOO ZO—hOOOOm NOQ OOQ mOQ VOQ OOQ NOQ uOQ noufile>Oo zuctOO 4¢O~m>za any .suIle>oo tel cmncou ma nL0£&0I :womLcec uni :lmumNnLO cooassn abomuoILa 83:53.3. .331. 6.... 43a» unnsoo no acomaaIOLsa $0 IOCI~LI>OO no nmamuacn Lou 74 For the group of fathers, multivariate analysis of variance showed significant difference for three domains of behaviors as a group. The probabilities levels were: p a .024 (physical), p a .003 (social), and p I .000 (emotional). Chance probability for the intellectual domain approached significance (p I .058). Univariate F tests with fathers' education as covariate and Chi-square tests for those items showed significance for the following items: P09. Getting involved with the child in physically active play. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. 120. Encouraging to watch TV. 121. Talking with the child about TV programs that we watch together. 124. Showing the child how to solve a problem step by step. 339. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. 341. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. 343. Encourage the child to help other children. 849. Encouraging assertiveness. $52. Teaching to obey rules set. S54. Encouraging turn taking. E55. Spanking the child when necessary. E57. Punishing the child for misbehaving. E62. Showing physical affection daily. E63. Encouraging the child to be affectionate. E64. Praising the child. 0f the 28 NC 158 Q-sort IPB variables for which cultural group difference were found, only ten (10) items remained significantly different when analyses of covariance with fathers' education were carried out. Two items, helping or encouraging the child to take bath (P14), and encouraging the child to share toys ($37), emerged as significant only when using education as a covariate. Table 75 4.14 shows the items considered statistically significant at <.05 level when controlled for the effects of fathers' education. Based on these findings it can be concluded that the cultural differences remained for eighteen (18) items for the fathers groups. Significance on 18 out of 72 variables on the Q-Sort IPB was considered sufficient to conclude that the hypothesis H can be rejected. 012 prgtheses A; d ;5 H013: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American mothers when covaried with their occupation levels. H014: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers when covaried their occupation levels. To test the hypothesis three different tests were used. First, multivariate analysis of variance tests were computed for differences in groups of behaviors. The Kruskal Wallis test was used for the items (120, 121, 339, S46, and E67 in the mothers' data and $39 and $43 in the fathers' data). The remaining items of each group were tested using analysis of covariance. Multivariate analysis of variance with occupation levels indicated highly significance for all four domains as group either for mothers' and fathers' data (Physical domain for mothers p a .000, fathers p = .004; Intellectual for mothers p - .000, fathers p = .024; Social for mothers p = 76 Nkm mmu vmo. ONO. O—Q _nm ohm coo. coo. moo. mmm mmm a_o. soc. mm” 4mm moo. «me. "no. man. moo. «.8 o_a mmm umm mm— mOO. OOO. mun Omu Nmu mMO. hum ONO. O—O. mwm gnu mew. vua mun Nun NNO. nwm ON— 33 3 ON— : gag . nnO. . "8. mmm mvm RN— «NO. O§O. MOO. MOO. «OO. vvm ON— mna O—Q OOQ OOa uwu m—O. mvm mNm mmw . NOO. “OO. . NOO. uwm MNu muO. utOOZ— OOO. «VO. ZOuhcaOOOO MVO. —VO. 20~hCOOOm Omu hmm mmw mmm moaflan>oo z~¢tOO JOZOthtm any m_o. uzooze owe. zo_hca:ouc moo. n_o. zo.hco:am Otm mmm mmm hmm nouomLs>oo zmczOO Acqum aov ~_o. "we. uzouza mmo. zoapcaaouo mwo. 4mo. zoapcoaau N- .Na on. mac nos-eto>oo z—IIOO JCOhOmAAmhzu any YMO. mtOOzu 20~h¢aOOOO ZOHHOOOOW VOQ MOQ NO: uOQ howlmLO)00 zuczOO 400~m>za any .Oanle>oo tel Canada ma ILssulm :lomLicc tel com—«MQLO cooaasn woomauoLn mcsucotaa _a:»un 4o acamuaootoa 4o oocnmtn>oo so mean—ac» to» uo_»m_maonota 5.45-1 ”v_.v a_nnh 77 .000, fathers p = .000; and Emotional for mothers p = .014, fathers p n .000). Univariate F tests and Chi-Squares revealed similar patterns of cultural group differences when controlling for the effects of mothers' occupational status. Only three items, "encourage my child to watch television" (120), "play number and words with my child" (I22), and "threaten to leave my child if he or she disobeys me" (E67), did not remain significant. Actual probabilities for the items significant at the <.05 level using mothers' occupational statuses as covariate are reported in table 4.13 on page 73. The results of the analysis of covariance and chi— Square further support the existence of cultural differences on twenty (20) of the twenty three (23) variables. The significant items for mothers include the following: P01. Encouraging the use of hands skillfully. P03. Providing opportunities to play outdoors. P12. Taking to regular medical and dental check-ups. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. 132. Showing how to use things or how things work. 133. Teaching how to help me. 134. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. 135. Listening when the childs tell stories. S39. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. S44. Encouraging not be shy. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. $52. Teaching to obey rules set. E56. Ignoring child's temper tantrums. E58. Providing privacy for the child. E62. Showing physical affection daily. E64. Praising the child. 78 The results supported the evidence of cultural differences for mothers' perceptions of actual parenting practices when controlled for the effects of occupation. Based upon the results of these data analyses it was concluded that the hypothesis H should be rejected. 013 Similarly, after controlling for the effects of occupation on fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practices, almost all variables that in previous analyses were considered significant for the cultural groups still sustained differences when analysis of variance with occupational statuses was carried out. Twenty four (24) of the twenty eight (28) items in the fathers group considered statistically significant prior analysis of covariance with their own occupational statuses sustained cultural differences. Table 4.14 on page 76 shows the probabilities for those items considered to be significant (p 5.05). The significant items included the following: P05. Making sure the child eats nutritional balanced meals. P06. Making sure the child has good health habits. P09. Getting involved with the child in physically active play. P15. Encouraring the child to clean his/her mouth or teeth daily. P16. Teaching the child to rool, kick, throw, or catch. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. 121. Talking with the child about TV programs that we watch together. 124. Showing the child how to solve a problem step by step. _ 129. Taking the child on trips out of the house. 130. Letting the child make mistakes even when I can prevent them. 134. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. 79 S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S47. Encouraging the child to do things on his/her own. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. $52. Teaching to obey rules set. S54. Encouraging turn taking. 855. Spanking the child when necessary. 857. Punishing the child for misbehaving. 862. Showing physical affection daily. 863. Encouraging the child to be affectionate. E64. Praising the child. Based upon these results hypothesis H was rejected. 014 Hypgtheses 55 d ;_ H015: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers when covaried with family income. H016: There are no significant differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices between Brazilian and American fathers when covaried with family income. To test the hypotheses three different analyses were used. First, multivariate analysis of variance were computed for the group of behaviors. Then, analysis of variance with family income as the covariate, and Kruskal Wallis tests (for the items 120, 539, S46, and 867 in the mothers' data and items S41, S43, and 862 in the fathers' data) were used to test the hypotheses. The multivariate analysis of variance of mothers' perceptions of actual parenting practices indicated significance for all domains as a group: physical behaviors (p = .000), intellectual behaviors (p = .000), social behaviors (p a .000), and for emotional behaviors (p = 80 .022). Similarly, for the fathers significance was found for all four domains variables as group of behaviors: Physical (p a .013), Intellectual (p - .007), Social (p a .000), and Emotional (p a .000). Univariate F tests and Chi Square indicated that when controlling for the effects of family income the number of differences on which the cultural groups of mothers differed significantly was reduced only slightly. The cultural group differences disappeared for the item 132, show the child how to use things or how things work . 0n the other hand, emerged significance for the item S54 (encourage the child to take turns), and for the item 123, pronounce words correctly when talking to the child. These results further support the evidence of cultural differences on 21 items out of the 23, on which mothers differed significantly prior controlling for the effects of family income. The items included the following: P01. Encouraging the use. of hands skillfully. P03. Providing opportunities to play outdoors. P12. Taking to regular medical and dental check-ups. P17. Involving the child in motor activities in- spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. 122. Playing number and word games with the child. 133. Teaching how to help me. 134. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. 135. Listening when the childs tell stories. 839. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. 841. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. S44. Encouraging not be shy. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. $52. Teaching to obey rules set. 81 856. Ignoring child's temper tantrums. 858. Providing privacy for the child. 862. Showing physical affection daily. 864. Praising the child. Probabilities levels for the significant items are displayed in table 4.13 on page 73. Based upon these results hypothesis H was rejected. For tgi‘ fathers' groups, multivariate tests of significance indicated differences by domains for all four groups of behaviors: Physical p = .013: Intellectual p = .006; Social p s .000; and Emotional p = .000. ‘Univariate F tests and chi-square results again indicated an almost identical pattern of cultural group differences persisted when comparisons were made while controlling for the effects of family income. An exception appeared for items 857: punish the child for misbehavior, and S43: encourage the child to help other children, which were not significant when analysis of covariance with family income was carried out. The results for fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practices supported the evidence of cultural differences on 26 out of 28 variables 'on which the cultural groups differed significantly. The probabilities levels are shown in table 4.14, on page 76. The cultural differences remained for the following items: P01. Encouraging the use of hands skillfully. P05. Making sure the child eats nutritional balanced P06. 3:2128 sure the child has good health habits. P09. Getting involved with the child in physically active play. P15. Encouraring the child to clean his/her mouth or teeth daily. P16. Teaching the child to rool, kick, throw, or catch. 82 P17. Involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. P18. Providing daily opportunities for physical exercise. I20. Encourage the child to watch TV. 121. Talking with the child about TV programs that we watch together. 124. Showing the child how to solve a problem step by step. 129. Taking the child on trips out of the house. 130. Letting the child make mistakes even when I can prevent them. 134. Reading to the child or having him/her read to me. $39. Encouraging involvement in competitive activities. S41. Encouraging the child to self defend if necessary. S42. Encouraging the child to initiate games with other children. S46. Encouraging to play mostly with same age playmates. S47. Encouraging the child to do things on his/her own. S49. Encouraging assertiveness. $52. Teaching to obey rules set. S54. Encouraging turn taking. 855. Spanking the child when necessary. 862. Showing physical affection daily. 863. Encourage the child to be affectionate. 864. Praising the child. Based upon these results hypothesis H was rejected. 016 For descriptive purposes, the results of univariate F tests with cultural background and family demographics are. summarized in table 4.15 for mothers and table 4.16 for fathers. Table CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU INCO CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU INCO CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU INCO CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU INCO 4.15: 19 20 s 37 38 55 56 I {0) 21 57 Summary of items comparing Brazilian and American mothers' perceptions of actual parenting practices while controlling for cultural background, sex of child, mothers' education and occupation, and family income. PHYSICAL DOMAIN 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 s s s I I I I I I I I I I INTELLECTUAL DOMAIN 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I SOCIAL DOMAIN 4O 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 5O 51 52 53 54 s s t s s s I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I EMOTIONAL DOMAIN 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 7O 71 72 s s s s I I I I I I I I I CUL ' CULTURAL BACKGROUND 8 ONE-WAY ANOVA CSEX 3 CHILD SEX I TWO-WAY ANOVA EDUC 8 EDUCATION 8 ONE-WAY ANCOVA OCCU 8 OCCUPATION = ONE-WAY ANCOVA INCO = INCOME 3 ONE-WAY ANCOVA * = P < .05 Table CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU INCO CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU , INCO CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU INCO CUL CSEX EDUC OCCU INCO CUL csnx EDUC occu 'INco * = P < 4.16: Summary of items comparing Brazilian and American fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practices while controlling for cultural background, sex of child, fathers' education and occupation, and family income. PHYSICAL DOMAIN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ll 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I INTELLECTUAL DOMAIN 19 2O 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 3O 31 32 33 34 35 36 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I SOCIAL DOMAIN 37 38 39 4O 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 a I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I EMOTIONAL DOMAIN 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I CULTURAL BACKGROUND = ONE-WAY ANOVA CHILD SEX = TWO-WAY ANOVA EDUCATION = ONE-WAY ANCOVA OCCUPATION = ONE-WAY ANCOVA INCOME = ONE-WAY ANCOVA .05 CHAPTER V DISCUSSION This study was designed to assess and compare perceptions of actual and ideal parenting behaviors among Brazilian and American parents. Further, investigations of group cultural differences in mothers' and fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practiceswere carried out in relation to sex of the child, mothers' and fathers' education, mothers' and fathers' occupation, and family income. In addition, the researcher investigated whether differences exist between how mothers and fathers from each cultural group, separately, believe they actually rear their children and how they would ideally prefer to rear them. The results of the data analyses provided clear evidence of differences in several parenting behaviors across Brazilian and American groups. The discussion of these differences is presented based upon analyses of responses to each item and not with regard to general domains of child nurturance. Mothers' gerceptions 2; Actual Parenting Practices The results of this study provide evidence of differences in the endorsement of parenting behaviors that 85 86 Brazilian and American mothers perceive they actually employ in their child rearing practices. The findings indicated that Brazilian mothers appear more likely to provide opportunities for the child to play outdoors and stimulate the child to use his or her hands skillfully than do American mothers. It is interesting to note that the Brazilian mothers revealed themselves to be the less likely to provide the child with daily opportunities for physical exercise or to encourage motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises than were the American mothers. Brazilian mothers appeared °more concerned than their American counterparts with encouraging group oriented behaviors or social interaction skills, such as discouraging shyness, stimulating the child to initiate games with other children, and encouraging activities which involve competitiveness, or assertiveness. The Brazilian mothers also seemed more likely to encourage the child to defend himself or herself if necessary, and to provide privacy for their children than did the American mothers. 0n the other hand, American mothers indicated a greater tendency than Brazilian mothers to emphasize social rules and norms by teaching the child how to obey rules, teaching them how to help themselves ,or how to use things and teaching them how things work. In addition, American mothers indicated that they were more likely than the Brazilian mothers to use physical or verbal reinforcement, including physical affection and praising. This may suggest that 87 American mothers offer more directions and discipline in their parenting behaviors than do Brazilian mothers. Although both Brazilian and American mothers, as independent groups, indicated aversion to negative verbal punishment, American mothers were less likely to threaten to leave the child if he/she disobeys them. American mothers also indicated that they were less likely than their Brazilian counterparts to encourage their children to watch television, to encourage play mostly with the same age playmates, or to ignore their child's temper tantrums. American mothers appeared more likely to be involved in reading and listening activities or playing number and word games with their children than did the Brazilian mothers. It seems, based upon these findings, that more "formal learning activities" are preferred among the American mothers. American mothers also indicated a greater inclination to take their children for regular medical and dental check-ups than do Brazilian mothers. In general the findings of this study are supported by other studies which indicate cultural differences in parenting behaviors (Bronfenbrenner, 1970; Durett et a1. 1975: Field & Pawlby, 1980; and Field & Widmayer, 1981). It should be noted: however, that comparisons across cultural groups may indicate different resulting from multiple intracultural differeces. In fact, previous studies revealed that family demographics are related to differential parenting behaviors and attitudes (Bartz and LeVine, 1978; 88 Bronfenbrenner, 1972; Caudill and Weinstein, 1972; Durett et al., 1975; and Laosa, 1980b, 1981; McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 1980). Since- Brazilian and American groups of parents have differential intra group characteristics, it was considered fundamental to examine these intergroup differences in relation to sex of child, parents' education, parents' occupation, and family income. The intent was to avoid distorted conclusions or inaccurate attribution of group differences to culture when the variance was attributable to other factors. The results indicate that few of the group cultural differences appeared to be the result of differences in the demographic characteristics of the two cultural groups. Cultural differences remained even after accounting for the effects of demographic variables for mothers' perceptions of actual parenting behaviors which encouraged daily physical activities, physical protection, reading activities, social interaction skills, teaching social rules encouraging privacy demands and showing physical affection. The results of this study indicated that, when analyzing the differences by sex of the child, Brazilian and American mothers revealed more similarities than differences in their perceptions of actual parenting practices. The differences appeared in behaviors such as: encouraging the child to move and explore freely, to encourage the child to be affectionate, providing educational toys/games, and play with children from different backgrounds. The findings 89 showed that, eventhough differing in their emphasis, mothers of both cultural groups were more likely to encourage boys than girls to move and explore freely and to encourage boys to be more affectionate then girls. In contrast, in both cultural groups,' female children are more likely to be provided with educational toys and games, and encouraged to play with children from different backgrounds than are male children. Interactions were found for providing opportunities to nap, relax or rest, and listen to the stories the child tells in which Brazilian mothers indicated they were more likely to provide it for girls, while American mothers indicated they were more likely to provide it for boys. It was observed that Brazilian mothers were least likely to step in when the child has problems with another child if their child was a boy, while American mothers appeared least likely to this support for girls. When comparisons were made while controlling for the effects of occupational status, the group cultural differences were retained on most of the parenting beliefs. When controlling for occupational statuses, however, the cultural differences for playing number and word games with the child, encouraging the child to watch television, and threatening to leave the child if he/she disobeys disappeared. Similarly, group cultural differences persisted on the majority of the behaviors for which they differed in the general model when controlling for family income levels, but they disappeared for the variables 90 showing the child how to use things or how things work, and encouraging the watching of televison. 0n the other hand, differences emerged for the items pronoucing words correctly when talking to the child and encouraging turn taking, only when controlling for the effects of family income. Conversely, when educational level was analyzed with culture several apparent cultural differences dropped out, including encouraging outdoor play, encouraging the child to use his or her hands skillfully, taking the child to regular health check-ups, encouraging the child to watch T.V., playing number and words games with the child, showing the childhow to use things or how things work, ignoring the child's temper tantrums, praising the child, and threaten to leave the child if he or she disobeys. However, group differences emerged for other behaviors: Brazilian mothers indicated a greater tendency than American mothers to involve the child in group physical or sport activities, and to help the child to do most things. American mothers appeared more likely to encourage the child to ask for help than did their Brazilian counterparts. This may suggest that education plays an important role in determining such differences. It can be concluded that mothers' beliefs about actual parenting are permeated by a complex interaction of cultural characteristics, education, and other family demographic characteristics. Most of the group cultural differences, however, were found for those parenting practices related to 91 the social and intellectual development of the child. The two groups of mothers revealed less differences in parenting behaviors which are related to the child's physical and emotional nurturance. Sex of the child made little difference across the two cultural groups. In general, the picture of mothers' perceptions of actual parenting practices for these two cultural groups is quite similar to those of previous studies that reported differences on parenting behaviors and attitudes (Bee et al., 1972; Caudill and Weinstein, 1972, Laosa, 1977, 1980b, 1981). Fathers' Perceptions 25 Actual Parenting Practices The findings showed clear differences in the perceptions of actual parenting behaviors among Brazilian and American fathers. Brazilian fathers revealed more concern than the Americans in providing hygiene, nutritional and health nurturance. American fathers, on the other hand, stressed more concern than Brazilian fathers for providing and encouraging fine and gross motor skills, getting involved in physically active play and involving the child in motor activities in spite of minor bumps or bruises. American fathers were also more prone to let the child make mistakes even when they can prevent them. American fathers showed strong emphasis much more than Brazilian fathers for "reading" activities. In addition, American fathers were more likely than Brazilian fathers to favor independence, to teach social rules and norms, and to use verbal and physical 92 reinforcement or punishment. Brazilian fathers seemed more likelly than their American counterparts to encourage social interactions skills, including competitiveness, self— defense, assertiveness, taking the child on trips out of the house, encouraging the child to help other children and to play mostly with the same age playmates. It seems, based upon these findings, that American fathers are more concerned with teaching social norms, while Brazilian fathers seem more prone to encourage social interactions skills. In addition, whereas both groups of fathers do not favor childreb TV watching, Brazilian fathers appeared to be less concerned than do the American fathers, the Brazilian fathers also talk more about the TV programs they watch with their children than do Americam fathers. Television issue appear, therefore, to be more of an issue for American fathers than for Brazilian fathers. 0n the other hand, while both cultural groups are concerned with the encouragement of the child's affection, the American fathers gave stronger emphasis to this than did the Brazilians. Fathers of both cultural groups appeared not to differ in their overall parenting beliefs based upon the child's sex. Even though both cultural groups differ in their endorsement for showing the child how to solve a problem step by step, they seem to agree in giving more emphasis to this for boys than girls. Brazilian fathers revealed a greater tendendy to encourage the male child to feed himself 93 and to have a good memory, while American fathers emphasized these items more strongly for girls. In addition, American fathers revealed to talk more often with their boys about what happen during the day than with their girls, while Brazilian fathers indicated that they were more likely to do it with the girls than with the boys. The results indicated consistent cultural group differences for fathers when the effects of other demographic variables were controlled. Brazilian fathers indicated that they were more likely than American fathers to show the child how to solve a problem step by step, and to encourage social interactions skills including competitiveness, self defense, assertiveness, and encouraging the child to 'initiate games with other children,. When fathers' occupation was considered group cultural differences in their parenting beliefs were also sustained for most of the behaviors. Exceptions included encouraging fine motor skills, encouraging the child to help other children, and encouraging the child to watch television. Similarly, when the effects of family income were controlled, fathers' group cultural differences were only slightly reduced. It appears, therefore, that cultural differences still persist for the large majority of the fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practices after controlling for the effects of occupation and family income. When comparison of fathers' perceptions were made while controlling for the effects of education several cultural 94 group differences disappeared, including health, nutritional and hygiene care, encouraging or teaching fine and gross motor ‘skills, encouraging the child to do things on their own, letting the child make mistakes even when they can prevent them, encouraging the child to play mostly with the same age playmates, take the child on trips out of the house, and reading activities. It seems, therefore, that among the family demographic variables, educational level is more important in assessing group cultural differences in parenting beliefs tan are occupational status‘ and family income. In summary, the cross cultural comparison for mothers and fathers reported an almost similar number of differences in their perceptions of actual parenting practices. Some of the behaviors on which they differed were common to both groups, while others were not. It is interesting to note that the behaviors within the social domain were more frequently significant for both mothers' and fathers' perception of actual parenting practices. Decreased number of differences were found for emotional, physical and intellectual development behaviors, respectivelly. This may suggest, therefore, that socially oriented parenting behaviors are more likely to be different in these two cultural contexts. 95 Mothers Perceptions pg gggg; Parenting Practices Overall, it can be said that there are more cultural group differences in the perceptions of actual parenting behaviors than in the perceptions of ideal parenting practices between Brazilian and American mothers. This general finding implies less heterogeneity in ideal parenting practices compared to actual parenting behaviors among the two groups. This may, in part, be explained by the messages of mass media and other sources of child rearing guidance which have been designed to transmit ideal methods. The differences found in the beliefs across the two cultural groups, however, showed that Brazilian and American mothers still differ in their perceptions of a number of parenting practices which they would ideally prefer to utilizing in rearing their children. Brazilian mothers expressed a greater tendency than American mothers for the items which stress encouragement of their child's independence, including encouraging the child to do things on his/her own, and encouraging the child to feed himself or herself. Brazilian mothers indicated that they were more likely than their American counterparts to endorse social interaction skills including assertiveness, self defensive behaviors and no shyness. Brazilian mothers felt that they should ideally give less encouragement to the child's watching of televison than did their American counterparts. American mothers expressed a greater "most like" than Brazilian mothers in encouraging their children 96 to try new physical activities, and giving support by getting involved with them in those activities. The items wich stress the parent to encourage the child to be involved in motor activities in spite of minor physical injuries or letting the child make mistakes when they can prevent them were avoided by either Brazilian and American mothers, but were the Brazilians that indicated to be more restrict in giving less endorsement for these behaviors. American mothers showed a greater tendency than Brazilian mothers to endorse intellectual games and activities, teach group norms, employ physical and verbal reinforcement and encourage the child to be affectionate. In summary, it can be concluded that even though the number of differences between the two cultural groups in the perceptions of ideal parenting practices are smaller than for the perceptions of actual parenting practices, cultural differences persist on a variety of mothers' parenting beliefs. It is clear, therefore, that the groups are different in their perceptions of ideal parenting behaviors. 83thgrs Perceptions 9; Ideal Parenting Practices The analyses of differences in the perceptions of actual and ideal parenting provide a quite similar picture for both mothers and fathers: Both cultural groups the number of differences is slightly reduced in the ideal sort in comparison to the perceptions of actual parenting behaviors. This might suggest that cultural differences are 97 more evident in the way fathers believe they actually rear their children than in how they ideally would prefer to rear them. More specifically, Brazilian fathers indicated a higher identification with the items related to encouraging hygiene, encouraging social interactions skills, and protecting their children either by stimulating the child to play mostly with the same age playmates or steping in when the child has problems with another child, than had American fathers. They also indicated a greater tendency to recognize as ideally important items related to the correct pronounciation of words when talking to the child, and taking the child on trips outside of the house whenever possible. On the other hand, American fathers revealed a higher "most like" emphasis than Brazilian fathers for those items dealing with the control and support of their children, the encouragement of social and cognitive verbal interactions, and the provision of either verbal or physical reinforcement, or punishment as a consequence of their children's behaviors. They also indicated a greater "ideal" tendency to stimulate intellectual activities including reading, playing number and words with the child than the Brazilian fathers. Differences Between Parents' Perceptions 2; Actual and Ideal Parenting Practices It has been suggested that today's parents acquire parenting guidance through various sources that are aimed at 98 transmitting "ideal methods" of rearing children. These approaches to parenting guidance give little or no attention to individual differences among children, families or the reality of cultural background (Lawton and Coleman, 1983). The "universality" of parenting beliefs must be viewed within the context of real environmental influences in which parents are imbedded (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Laosa, 1981). Environmental impacts may produce incongruences between what the parent believes to be important and how he or she translate those beliefs into actual parenting practice. Based upon this theoretical and empirical background, this study investigated the extent to which Brazilian and American mothers and fathers differed in their perceptions of the way they were actually rearing their children and how they perceived they would like to rear them. Comparing the two groups of parents, the American parents revealed, as a whole, a greater number .of differences or incongruencies between actual and ideal parenting practices than did Brazilian parents. However, it was the American fathers, not mothers, who indicated the greatest number of_incongruencies among all four groups of parents. Taking into account their responses to the items of the Q-Sort, the Brazilian parents appeared more satisfied with their parenting as it relates to the child's emotional nurturance, but with gradually less confidence that they were giving as much attention to intellectual, physical and 99 social development, respectively, as they "ideally" would like to. From the perspective of an ideal perception of parenting practices, Brazilian mothers would prefer to give more emphasis toward encouraging activities that promote eye/hand coordination and physical exercise, reading skills and creativity than they reflect they are actually doing. They also indicated that they would prefer to stress more strongly the teaching of verbal and behavioral interactions skills, and taking the child to regular health check-ups. In addition, they believe it to be important to spend more time together as a family. On the other hand, Brazilian mothers would prefer to restrict even more their children's television watching, to employ less physical punishment, and provide less encouragement to the child to defend himself or herself if necessary. Interestingly, Brazilian mothers would prefer to give less emphasis toward encouraging the sharing of activities, even though it is still considered an important parenting behavior. It must be pointed out that with the ipsative or forced choice Q-Sort measure, change of one particular item implies change for another. It is expected, therefore, that situations similar to this may not indicate that a particular behavior is not important, but that other behaviors are more important in the parenting perceptions' of these parents.. Considering groups of behaviors, Brazilian fathers seemed more satisfied in their parenting as it relate to the 100 child's emotional and physical development, with less "ideal" and "actual" congruence appearing in their socially and intellectually oriented perceptions. They "ideally" would prefer to give more attention to eye/hand coordination activities, teaching the child to obey the rules they set, teaching the child verbal and cognitive skills, and stimulating social competence. 0n the other hand, they would prefer to lessen their efforts toward encouraging independent actions and talking with their children about television programs they watch together. Brazilian fathers indicated that they believed they should reduce talking to the child about his/her misbehavior, reduce the use of physical punishment, reduce modeling problem solving situations, and reduce the emphasis upon encouraging the child to defend himself or herself if necessary. American mothers indicated more satisfaction with their parenting as it relates to the child's intellectual development. They also indicated that they do not give as much attention as they ideally would like to behaviors which encourage the child's social, physical and emotional development. In general, they would ideally like to give more emphasis to nutritional needs, and physical exercise, while at the same time talking more with the child about his or her body. They expressed beliefs that competitive activities should ideally be encouraged more than they actually are. Similarly, they would like to provide more privacy for their children and to have more time as a family 101 to play with their children and enjoy being together. It is interesting to note that the concern of spending more time together and the desire to reduce physical and verbal punishment are shared feelings for both Brazilian and American mothers. American mothers, oh the other hand, indicated that they would ideally reduce their attention toward encouraging the child to take turns, to share toys, and limit much more the watching of televison. In addition, parenting behaviors related to group play and sport activities are ideally viewed as important but not as priorities for American mothers. In general, American parents reported more differences than Brazilian parents in their perceptions of actual compared to ideal parenting practices. The American fathers appeared to be the least satisfied group of parents with their actual parenting practices as a whole. They showed the greatest number of differences between perceptions of actual and ideal parenting behaviors, these differences were equally distributed among physical, intellectual and social items. However, less number of differences on the emotional domain were found. More especifically, Brazilian parents as well as American parents would ideally prefer to give more attention to nutritional and health care demands. American fathers indicated that they would ideally decrease their emphasis toward social norms, use less physical punishment, provide the children with more rewards for their good behaviors, and provide more support for the child's 102 physical, social and emotional actions. American fathers indicated to be important to spend more time together as a family. It must be remarked that the differences investigated in this study between the way parents believe they actually rear their children and how they ideally would prefer to rear them reflect degrees of emphasis for specific behaviors in the overall parenting repertory. Taken together, the findings provided by this study do not indicate that any of these cultural variations make for "better parenting" or that the perception pose opposite orientations toward child rearing. Rather indicate they different emphase given to particular behaviors. Specifc patterns of child care which are functional and benefitial to a child's development may differ from one cultural context to another, reflecting unique and important idiosyncratic environmental adaptations. CHAPTER VI SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS This study was designed to assess perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices of Brazilian and American parents witha first born child from 29 to 51 months of age of the families from urban areas. The primary objective of the study was to examine the relationship of culture and beliefs about parenting, while further assessing the influence of sex of the child, parents' education, parents' occupation, and family income on the parents' perceptions of parenting function. In addition, differences between how mothers and fathers from each cultural group believe they actually rear their children and how they would ideally prefer to rear them were examined. Parents' beliefs about parenting were assessed using the NC 158 Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors (Lawton, Coleman, Boger, Pease, Galejs, Poresky, and Looney, 1983). The analyses of the data were carried out using parametric and- nonparametric statistics based upon assessments of the item score distributions (Block, 1978). The results indicated that Brazilian and American parents reflect differences in their perceptions of a variety of parenting beliefs. Cultural group differences for 103 104 mothers' perceptions of actual parenting practices were found for a number of behaviors related to the child's social development, and with decreasing frequency for differences in the intellectual, physical and emotional domains, respectively. Similar pattern of cultural group differences were found for the fathers' perceptions of actual parenting practices. Fathers revealed the most differences for behaviors which relate to the child's social development, with decreasingly frequent differences for the physical, intellectual, and emotional domains, respectively. For the mothers' perceptions .of ideal parenting practices behaviors which relate to the child's social development showed the highest number of differences. Decreasingly fewer differences were found in the physical, intellectual, and emotional domains, respectively. Conversely, the fathers' perceptions of ideal parenting practices revealead the greatest number of differences for behaviors which relate to the child's intellectual development, with fewer differences in the emotional. social, or physical domains. Taken together, the findings suggest greater number of differences in the perceptions of actual parenting practices than in perceptions of ideal parenting function for both cultural groups of mothers and fathers. This suggests that both mothers and fathers from different cultural background are, in general, less heterogeneous in their perceptions of ideal compared to their perceptions of actual parenting 105 practices. Fathers indicated more differences than mothers, in both ideal and actual sorts. In addition, both mothers and fathers of the two cultural groups demonstrated, with very few exceptions, similar approaches to parenting for boys and girls. Few cultural group differences in the parents' perception of actual parenting practices disappeared when parents' occupation, and family income were covaried with culture. Educational levels, however, seemed to account for several differences in the parents' perceptions of actual parenting behaviors among the two groups. When analyzing the differences between actual and ideal perceptions of parenting, the results indicated that American parents have a greater number of differences, when compared to their Brazilian counterparts. This suggests that Brazilian parents, as a group, are more congruent in their perceptions of how they actually rear their children and the way they ideally would prefer to rear them. It should be pointed out that the differences between Brazilian and American parents do not reflect major differences in child rearing orientation, but rather different emphasis given to particular parenting behaviors. In addition, since this study investigated only parents' perceptions, it does not necessarily reflect upon the extent to which these parents actually behave in the ways they implied. Further research is needed in this regard. 106 Implications gpg Suggestions 52; Future Research The implications of the findings of this study for further research offer several points worthy of note. The methodology of this study, a part of a larger research , differed from methods used in previous studies in a numbir of critical ways. Contribution in the field of parenting behaviors include the investigation of parent's perceptions of actual and ideal parenting practices. It also provides the inclusion of both mothers and fathers beliefs into the the body of research on cross cultural parenting. While this study makes a unique contribution to the scattered research on cross cultural comparison of beliefs about parenting, it has also shortcomings. Future research might improve sampling procedures in order to permit more in depth analyses regarding the variables examined in the present study. The small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings to the Brazilian and American populations of urban parents, which the sample best represents. In addition, since this study provides °n1Y perceptions of parenting it would be benefitial to add future research using the Q-sort concepts in conjunction with observational methods to establish the relationship of the Q-sort measure to observed parenting behavior. 1 Note: The study is part of a larger reserch, the "North Central Regional Project 158 Q-Sort". Requests for information regarding the NC-158 Project may be directed to Dr. Robert Boger, Institute for Family & Child Study, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI - 48823. APPENDIX A NC-158 Q-SORT INVENTORY OF PARENTING BEHAVIORS Appendix A NC-158 Q-SORT INVENTORY OF PARENTING BEHAVIORS. VERSION IN PORTUGUESE FISICO F01 - Eu incentivo minha crianca usar suas méos com destreza (colorir, recortar, etc.). F02 - Eu estimulo minha crianca tentar novas atividades fisicas. F03 — Eu crio oportunidades para minha crianca brincar fora de casa (parquinho, no quintal, jardins, etc.). F04 - Eu crio oportunidades para minha crianca descansar, relaxar, dormir, etc. 805 - Eu me preocupo em providenciar alimentacéo nutricional balanceada para o meu/minha filho(a). F06 - Eu procuro manter bons hébitos de saude para minha crianca. F07 - Eu falo com minha crianca sobre seu corpo. FO8 - Eu incentivo minha comer sozinho (sem ajuda). F09 - Eu me involvo em brincadeiras fisicas ou esportivas com minha crianca. Flo - Eu involvo minha crianqa em atividades de grupo ou esportivas. F11 - Eu estimulo atividades de coordenacéo visual/motora para minha crianca (alcancar ou pegar objetos, montar quebra- cabeca, etc.). F12 - Eu levo minha crianca regularmente ao dentista e medico para exames periddicos. F13 - Eu incentivo minha crianca a se movimentar e explorar o ambiente livremente (engatinhar pela casa ou correr no quintal, dirigir o triciclo, etc.). F14 - Eu ajudo ou incentivo minha crianca a tomar banho. F15 - Eu estimulo minha crianca limpar sua boca ou escovar os dentes todos os dias. F16 - Eu ensino minha crianca rolar, chutar, atirar, pegar brinquedos. Fl? - Eu incentivo minha crianca a se involver em atividades fisicas mesmo que ela possa ter leves batidas ou ferimentos. F18 - Procuro dar diariamente oportunidades para que minha crianca faca exercicio fisico. 107 108 INTgLECTUAL 119 Dou para minha crianca brinquedos e jogos educativos. I20 Incentivo minha crianca a assistir televisfio. 121 Eu converso com minha crianca sobre programas de TV que assistimos juntos. I22 Eu brinco com jogos de palavras e numeros com minha crianca. 123 Eu pronuncio as palavras corretamente quando falo com minha crianca. 124 Eu mostro a minha crianca como resolver problemas passo a passo. 125 Eu converso com minha crianca sobre o que aconteceu durante o dia. 126 Eu incentivo minha crianca a fazer perguntas. 127 Eu ensino minha crianca ter boa memdria (brinco de esconde- esconde, de procurar brinquedos que estejam escondidos, de lembrar da estdria que ela ouviu). 128 Eu ajudo minha crianca a fazer a maioria das coisas (mostrando, falando ou ensinando). 129 Eu levo minha crianca passear fora de casa sempre que possivel. I30 Eu deixo minha crianca cometer erros mesmo quando eu possa evita-los. . 131 Eu converso com minha crianca a respeito de como as coisas sio ou como elas acontecem. 132 Eu mostro a minha crianca como usar coisas ou como as coisas funcionam. 133 Eu ensino minha crianca como me ajudar. 134 Eu frequentemente sento e leio alguma coisa a minha crianca ou peco a ele(a) ler para mim. 135 Eu escuto quando minha crianca me conta estérias. 136 Eu estimulo minha crianca ser criativo. 109 SOCIAL S37 S38 S39 S40 S41 S42 S43 S44 S45 S46 S47 S48 S49 S50 S51 S52 S53 S54 Eu incentivo minha crianca repartir seus brinquedos. Eu incentivo minha crianca a se envolver em brincadeiras de grupo. Eu incentivo minha crianca a se envolver em brincadeiras competitivas. Eu incentivo minha crianca a brincar tanto com meninos quanto com meninas. Eu incentivo minha crianca a se defender se for necessario. ' Eu incentivo minha crianca a iniciar brincadeiras com outras criancas. Eu incentivo minha crianca a ajudar outras criancas. Eu incentivo minha crianca a nio ser timida. Eu ensino minha crianca a ser responsavel. Eu incentivo minha crianca a brincar mais com criancas de sua idade. Eu incentivo minha crianca a fazer as coisas por ela mesma. Eu ensino minha crianca a ser educada. 8u incentivo minha crianqa a ser assertivo, defender os seus direitos. Eu incentivo minha crianca a pedir ajuda. Eu ensino minha crianca a comportar-se socialmente, dando-lhe exemplos. Eu ensino minha crianca a obedecer regras que eu tenha estabelecido. Eu incentivo minha crianca a jogar/brincar com criancas de origens diferentes. Eu incentivo minha crianca a esperar a sua vez. 110 EMOCIONAL 855 Eu bato na minha crianca quando necessario. E56 Eu ignoro as "birras" ou "manhas" da minha crianca. 857 Eu puno . minha crianca por comportar-se inadequadamente. 858 Eu procuro dar privacidade a minha crianca. E59 Eu incentivo brincadeira "faz-de-conta" para minha crianca expressar seus sentimentos. E60 Eu converso com minha crianca sobre seus comportamentos inadequados. 861 Eu incentivo minha crianca a expressar seus sentimentos abertamente. 862 Eu demonstro diariamente a minha crianca afetos fisicos (beijos, abracos, etc.). 863 Eu incentivo minha crianca a ser afetuosa (beijar, abracar, etc.). 864 Eu frequentemente elogio minha crianca. 865 Eu recompenso com um presente minha crianca com um presente quando ela se comporta bem. 866 Eu mando minha crianca ficar longe de mim quando ela se comporta mal (coloco-a no berco ou mando-a para o seu quarto). E67 Eu ameaco deixar minha crianca se ela me desobedecer. 868 Eu ensino minha filhoa a respeitar os outros. 869 Eu crio oportunidades para minha crianca escolher/decidir para que ela se diverta com oque escolheu por si mesma. E70 Eu intervenho quando minha crianca tem problemas com outra crianqa. 871 Men marido/minha esposa e eu frequentemente brincamos com nossa crianca de maneira que nos divertimos por estarmos juntos. 872 Eu conforto minha crianca quando ela chora durante a noite. NC-l58 Q-SORT INVENTORY OF PARENTING BEHAVIORS VERSION IN ENGLISH PHYSICAL P01. P02. P03. P04. P05. P06. P07. P08. P09. P10. P11. P12. P13. P14. P15. P16. P17. P18. 1 encourage my child to use his or her hands skillfully (reach for a rattle or color or cut with scissors). I encourage my child to try new physical activities. I provide my child with the opportunity to play outdoors. I provide opportunities for my child to nap, rest, or relax. I make sure my child eats nutritionally balanced meals. I make sure my child has good health habits. I talk with my child about his or her body. I encourage my child to feed himself or herself. I get involved with my child in physically active play. I involve my child in group physical or sport activities. I encourage my child's eye/hand coordination (reaching or grasping an object or assembling a puzzle). 1 take my child to regular medical and dental check- ups. I encourage my child to move and explore freely (crawling around the floor or walking around the yard or riding a trike). I help or encourage my child to take a bath. I encourage mu child to clean his or her mouth or teech each day. I teach my child to roll, kick, throw, or catch. 1 encourage my child to be involved in motor activities in spite of minor bumps and bruises. I provide my child with daily opportunities for physical exercise. 111 112 INTELLECTUAL 119. I provide educational toys or games for my child. I20. I encourage my child to watch television. 121. I talk with my child about television programs we watch together. 122. I play number and words games with my child. 123. I pronounce words correctly when I talk to my child. 124. I show my child how to solve a problem step by step. 125. I talk with my child about what happened during the day. 126. I encourage my child to ask questions. 127. I teach my child to have a good memory (play peek-a- boo: find toys that have been hidden; remember a story he or she has heard). 128. I help my child do most things (by showing, telling, or teaching). 129. I take my child on trips out of the house whenever possible. 130. I let my child male mistakes even when I can prevent them. 131. I talk to my child about how things look or how things happen. 132. I show my child how to use things or how things work. 133. I teach my child how to help me. 134. I often sit and read to my child or have my child read to me.’ 135. I listen when my child tells me stories. 136. I encourage my child to be creative. S40 0 S412 S42. S43. S44. S45. S46. S47. S48. 8‘9 0 S50. $51. 852. $53. $54. 113 SOCIAL $37. I encourage my child to share toys. $38. I encourage my child to get involved in group play. 839. I encourage my child to be involved in competitive activities. I encourage my child to play with boys and girls. I encourage my child to defend himself or herself if necessary. I encourage my child to initiate games with other children. I encourage my child to help other children. I encourage my child not to be shy. I teach my child to be responsible. I encourage my child to play mostly with the same age playmates. I encourage my child to do things on his or her own. I teach my child to be polite. I encourage my child to be assertive or stand up for himself or herself. I encourage my child to ask for help. I teach my child social behavior through example. I teach my child to obey rules I have set. I encourage my child to play with children from different backgrounds. I encourage my child to take turns. 114 EMOTIONAL 855. I spank my child when necessary. 856. I ignore my child's temper tantrums. 857. I punish my chilf for misbehaving. 858. I make sure my child has some privacy. 859. I encourage pretend play for express his or her feelings. E60. I talk to my child about his or her misbehavior. E61. 1 encourage my child to express his or her feelings openly. 862. I show my child some sort of physical affection daily (kisses, hugging, etc.). 863. I encourage my child to be affectionate (kissing, hugging). 864. I often praise my child. E65. 1 reward my child with a gift when he or she is good. 866. I send my child away from me for misbehaving (put in .crib or send to bedroom). 867. I threaten to leave my child if he or she disobeys me. 868. I teach my child to be considerate of others. 869. I provide opportunities for my child to make choices so as to get enjoyment out of doing this on his or her own. 870. I step in when my child has problems with another child. 871. My spouse and I often play with our child so that we can enjoy being together. 872. I confort my child when he or she cries at night. APPENDIX B FAMILY DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION INSTRUMENT Appendix B FAMILY DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION INSTRUMENT -FORM ORIGINAL IN ENGLISH- *Questions asked to either or both parents. 1. "We would like to ckow a bit about your background. Would you tel me your age, educational background, and education?" MOTHER FATHER Age (years) Age (years) Education (years) Education: (years) Occupation Occupation 2. "To be able to describe the sample of families helping with this research we woul appreciate knowing your approximate family income. About how much you estimate your family income was last year?" How would you describe your ethnic background? 3. Have you been living here for the last three years? or in this community? Yes No Comment: 4. "Let's talk about now. When was he or she born? . Is your first child? Yes No 5. Do you consider yourself affiliated with an organized religion? Yes No If yes, which religion Are your parenting.attitudes mainly influenced by: The way you were raised (your parents' styles) Professional recommendations (doctors, teachers, etc.) Media (books, movies, TV., PET. etc.) Friends' recommendations and advice Your spouse's style Other Fllllll?’ How much time do you spend each week working outside the home? Wife Husband 115 FAMILY DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION -FORM MODIFIED 1N PORTUGUESE- ‘Perguntas dirigidas a um ou ambos pais. 1D I Data: 1. "Inicialmente gostaria de saber um pouco sobre voces, como pessoas, familia. MAE PAI Idade: (anos) Idade: (anos) Escolaridade (anos) ~ Escolaridade (anos) Profissio Profissgo 2. 8m media, quantas horas por semana vocés passam trabalhando fora de casa? use Pai 3. Para que eu possa descrever o grupo de pessoas que estio participando desta pesquisa, eu gostaria de ter uma idéia aproximada de sua renda familiar. 8m media, qual foi sua renda anual no ano passado? 4. Vamos falar um pouco sobre seu (sua) filho(a) agora. Qual a data de nascimento dele(a)? Ele(ela) é’sua primeira crianca? Sim Nao. 5. Vocés tem morado neste bairro/comunidade nos ultimos tres anos? 1. Sim ' 2. N50, Comentarios: 6. Como vocé descreveria sua origen ethnica? 116 117 7. Voces seguem alguma religiéo? 1. Sim Qual? 2. N50 8. Seu modo de educar/criar sua crianca sfio mais fortemente influenciados por: __ Do modo como vocé foi criado (maneira de seus pais) Recomendacdfis e conselhos de profissionais ( medico, professores, etc.) ‘ Meios de comunicaqSo (livros, revistas, TV., etc.) Conselho e opiniées de amigos. A maneira de seu marido/esposa. Outro. APPENDIX C REQUEST LETTER TO PARENTS Appendix C REQUEST LETTER TO PARENTS -In Portuguese- Dezembro, 1985. Prezados Pais: Embora pais em geral tenham a mesma tarefa bésica de edudar seus filhos da melhor maneira possivel, e naturalmente obvio que cada pai ou mfie tenha seu conjunto de crencas e valores que os fazem se comportar de uma forma unica e individual no seu desempenho. Como psicologa e estudante de pds graduacgo em Desenvolvimento Infantil na Michigan State University - USA, estou desenvolvendo uma pesquisa sobre comportamento parental. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa e melhor entender como pais atualmente interagem com seus filhos. Desta forma, estou solicitando a um grupo de pais brasileiros e americanos a colaborarem neste estudo, o qual faz parte do meu programe de mestrado. Maiores detalhes sobre este estudo sergo esclarecidos na ocasigo da entrevista. Os dados obtidos nesta pesquisa serSo confidenciais e usados de maneira coletiva. Resultado da pesquisa seré enviado aos pais interessados. Finalizando, agradeco de forma sincera sua disponibilidade e cooperacio em participar desta pesquisa. Muito obrigada. Atenciosamente, Maria Inés Gasparetto Higuchi 913 8 Cherry Lane East Lansing - MI - 48823 USA. 118 REFERENCES REFERENCES Adrados, I. Orientagfio Infantil. Vozes. Petrdpolis: 1983. Ainsworth, M.D.S. Infant Development and Mother—Infant Interaction. In P.H. Leiderman, S.P. Tulking, and A. Rosenfeld (Eds.) Culture gpg Infancy. NY: Academic Press, Inc. 1977. Andrews, M.P., Bubolz, M.M., Paolucci, B. An Ecological Approach Study of the Family. Marriage and Family Review Vol. 3(1/2) 1980. 29-49. Ballenski, 0.8., and Cook, A.S. Mothers' Perception of Their Competence in Managing Selected Parenting Tasks. Family Relations, 1982, 31:489-494. Bartz, K.W. Selected Child Rearing Tasks and Problems of Mothers and Fathers. The Family Coordinator. 1978, 27, 209-214. Bartz, K.W., and LeVine, E.S. Childrearing by Black parents: A description and comparison to Anglo and Chicano parents. 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