CHILD-REARING BELIEFS WITHIN DIVERSE SOCIAL STRUCTURES: MOTHERS AND DAY-CARE PROVIDERS IN MEXICO*

The child-rearing beliefs of 32 mothers and 36 day-care providers in Mexico were compared. Day-care providers expected children to master developmental skills at an earlier age than did mothers. Day-care providers more strongly valued the development of independent and cooperative behavior, and placed less importance on obedience. They also reported employing more flexible and nonauthoritarian discipline strategies than did mothers. Mothers and caregivers did not differ in the extent to which they attributed the success of their discipline strategies to their own actions rather than to external factors. Also examined was how mothers' beliefs differed in families characterized by interdependent versus individualistic social structures. In interdependent families, mothers were more likely to believe in later mastery of developmental skills and to make external attributions. These findings suggest that Mexican children experience incongruous social norms as they move between home and day care settings, and that these norms, at least within the home, are associated with the social structural features of the setting.     

The transition to parenthood: II. Stability and change in marital structure

At 1 year postpartum, 22 of 38 couples demonstrated the same level of marital competence as they had prenatally, 14 couples demonstrated deterioration in their marital relationship, and 2 couples were improved. At each of four levels of marital competence, there was a trend for the couples to demonstrate the same relationship response to parenthood. Highly competent relationships remained at high levels of competence. Competent but pained relationships were most vulnerable to regressive change in structure. Dominant-submissive, complementary relationships tended to remain stable at that level. Dominant-submissive, conflicted or severely conflicted relationships were most unpredictable and stability, regression, and improvement were seen. These findings are explored for possible correlations and are discussed from the perspective of several current models of family development.     

The transition to parenthood: I. The rating of prenatal marital competence

This article is the first of three that will present data from the Timberlawn Psychiatric Research Foundation Young Family Project, a study of the development over time of competent family systems. The Project is briefly described and findings are presented from the initial data collection period. The operational definitions of marital competence and the Continuum of Marital Competence are presented, and the data are interpreted to suggest that the spouses' levels of individual psychological health, their agreement on values, and their socioeconomic status are related to the level of marital competence. The level of prenatal marital competence at Time 1 is used as an independent variable with which to predict both changes in marital structure and incorporation of the child into the family system at 3 months and 1 year postpartum. The results of these analyses will be presented in two subsequent articles.     

General self-esteem of adolescents from ethnic minorities in The Netherlands and the reflected appraisal process

This article examines the question of how the lack of differences in general self-esteem between adolescents of ethnic minorities and Dutch adolescents can be explained. Attention is focused on the reflected appraisal process. It was found that for adolescents of ethnic minorities there is a significant relationship between general self-esteem and the perceived evaluation of family members, and no such relationship with nonfamily members. For the Dutch adolescents the findings are the opposite, which may explain why adolescents of ethnic minorities in general do not have lower general self-esteem, despite low status, prejudice, and discrimination.