Culture
and the Individual
Child Development I
Neonatal Differences
Cross- Culturally
Developmental Quotient for Infants Birth to 1 year
General, Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Language Acquisition, Sociability
Developmental Age/Actual age x 100 =DQ based on Western Standards
eg. 3 months/3 months = 1 x 100 = DQ of 100
Many traditional societies have average DQ’s of 140 to 180
Child Rearing Practices Thought to Affect DQ include:
Prolonged bodily contact with mother
Prolonged affective contact with mother
Care that encourages motor development, eg. Massage
Greater amounts of tactile, proprioceptive, visual and auditory stimulation
Baby’s participation in daily life along with mother
Being in a vertical position on the back of the mother during the day
Ethnotheories
Expectations and beliefs about the nature of some
aspect of life
Three aspects of ethnotheories about children:
1. Observations of children are used to help
construct the ethnotheory
2. The expectations of the culture in which they
live are used to construct the ethnotheory
3. Parents and others influence the development
of children using the ethnotheory
Kinds of Ethnotheories
1. Western Professional Ethnotheories
2. Parental Ethnotheories
Western Professonal Ethnotheories
Piaget
Sensorimotor – motor control, learning about physical objects
Preoperational – verbal skills, naming, intuitive reasoning
Concrete Operational – abstracts such as numbers and relationships
Formal operational – logical reason and systematic thinking
Parental Ethnotheories1
Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Children are incapable of learning anything until they
are 2 years old – they are “in darkness.”
At the age of about 2 (at weaning) they enter a stage
called “this child now knows” and can learn by
imitation.
When they get their second set of teeth (about 6 or 7)
they acquire reason and become teachable.
At adolescence (about 13) changes in basic character
become very difficult
At 18 character is firmly set and cannot be altered.
Parental Ethnotheories 2
Some Aspects of an American Parental Ethnotheory
Stages include
Infant (birth to about 18 months),
Toddler (about 18 months to 3 or 4),
Child (3 or 4 until about 13) and
Adolescent (from 13 to 18)
Learning begins at birth and the earlier you begin to expose the child to
experiences, the earlier s/he will begin to learn and the better his/her
ultimate performance will be (music, languages)
Every child is entitled to a “childhood” that is focused on play and learning and not
on adult behaviors.
A child does not become an adult with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities
of an adult until they are in their twenties.
Children possess potentials based on heredity that are influenced by training.
It is the responsibility of parents to recognize and guide the child’s potential.
Too little discipline is thought to make children lazy and spoiled.
Attachment
In many traditional societies babies are
carried by the mother or other a great deal
of the time.
Infant carrying practices
Whiting shows that the way that infants
are carried varies with climate, probably
because urine evaporates in warmer
climates
-cradle boards in cold climates - rare
-sling or arms in warmer climates
Contrast with modern infant carriers and
car seats
Social vs Solitary Sleeping
Jim McKenna: Characteristics of Human Infants
Human infants are less mature than any other form of primate at birth.
Human infants develop more slowly than any other primate.
The human brain is about 25% of its adult weight at birth.
The human infant will take 14-17 years to reach adulthood physically,
and usually longer to attain independence from parents.
Human milk is low in proteins and fat and high in sugars which
metabolize quickly, and therefore
Human infants have evolved to need to feed frequently to thrive.
Frequent feeding means short sleep cycles with little deep (stage 4 nonREM) sleep as a natural part of the infants sleep patterns.
Independent sleeping encourages long intervals between feeding and
allows for the development of long intervals of deep sleep.
Human infants must learn to shift between neocortical driven breaths
and automatic brainstem-initiated breaths as adults do. This is
accomplished by about 5 months of age.
Jim McKenna: Short Term Effects
of Infant Social Sleeping
Babies breast feed on demand with mother not waking fully.
Babies and mothers sleep more and mothers report better quality of
sleep
Increased breast feeding leads to better immunity and nutrition
Babies gain more weight, a measure of infant success
Babies cry significantly less
Social sleeping helps regulate sleep state, arousal patterns, heart rates
and body temperature.
Babies must learn to control breathing for speech sounds and do this
between birth and 4-5 months, are at risk when in deep sleep of
forgetting to breathe
Mother signals baby to breath with her breathing, heartbeat,
movements during sleep
Mother’s exhaled breath stimulates infant to breathe.
Parents are there if the infant chokes or needs attention.
Jim McKenna: Response to
Western Objections
Freudian fear of sexual overtones
Evidence from hundreds of societies shows that there
is no sexual consequence of social sleeping
Fear of accidentally suffocating infant
The history of “overlying” as a form of infanticide
throughout history
Babies given opiates or other drugs sometimes did not
wake up and mother’s were assumed to have
suffocated them
Confusion between mother as smoker and social
sleeping
Desire to teach independence
Evidence shows that children who sleep socially are
better adjusted and more independent. No research
supports the idea that independent sleeping promotes
dependence.
Co-sleeping as a possible defense against SIDs
In Japan (the only industrialized nation that reports high
levels of social sleeping) low levels of SIDS
Jim McKenna: Long Term Effects
of Infant Social Sleeping
Study of middle class English children found
kids who co-slept were easier to control, happier, and had fewer
tantrums in school
College males who co-slept between birth & 5 yrs had higher self
esteem, less guilt and anxiety, more frequent sexual activity
College females who co-slept had less discomfort about physical
contact and affection
Women who co-slept had higher self esteem, confidence, intimacy
U.S. military kids who co-slept were better behaved in school, and
were underrepresented in psychiatric populations
English kids who co-slept were easier to handle, dealt better with
stressful situations, and were less dependent on parents
Five ethnic groups, 1400 adults who co-slept reported higher
satisfaction with life.
Cross-Cultural Studies of Social
Sleeping
136 Societies with 4 types of sleeping
arrangements:
1. Mother and father in one bed with baby
in another bed
2. Mother and baby in one bed with father
in another bed
3. All members of family in one bed
4. All members of family in separate beds
Cross – Cultural Studies of Social
Sleeping
50% of societies = mother and baby in same bed, father in
another
16% of societies = baby in same bed as mother and father
Men and women routinely sleep together in cold climates
(night temperatures less than 50 degrees)
Men and women sleep separately in warmer climates
Babies sleep with mothers in warmer climates and with
both parents in some cold climate cultures
Babies in some cold climates are tightly wrapped in
blankets and strapped to cradle boards to minimize
heat loss – very few societies do this.
Social Sleeping Cross–Culturally
186 Non-industrialized Societies
46% children sleep with both parents
21% in separate bed in the same room
33% children sleep with mother
0 place infants under 1 year in a separate
room or place
172 Societies
The U.S. is the ONLY culture in which babies
are routinely placed in separate beds in
separate rooms.
In the U.S. babies who co-sleep do not do so
longer than 3-6 months
Social Sleeping Cross–Culturally
A comparison of U.S. and Guatemalan (Maya) culture
Americans reported sleeping with infants to solve a
problem – ease of breastfeeding, comforting a crying
baby
Americans ritualize bedtime with stories, lullabies,
special clothing, toys etc to get children to sleep
alone
Mayans reported sleeping with infants because
closeness between mother and infants at night is
something that parents do for their children.
Mayan parents allow the child to fall asleep wherever
and whenever he/she is tired. Mothers do not seek
“adult time” away from the child, but allow the child
to stay with adults whether awake or asleep.
Social Sleeping Cross–Culturally
Infant sleep patterns are one of the most enduring
parts of culture
In England, Indian,Pakistani and Bangladeshi
infants and children continue to sleep with
parents even when family is well acculturated
21% of Hispanic-Americans as compared with 6%
of a matched sample of White Americans coslept with children and 80% of the HispanicAmerican children shared a room with their
parents
Appalachian families see co-sleeping as natural
and most do so.
The Six Cultures Study
6 teams of anthropologists, one male and
one female
Villages or small towns in six cultures:
Taira, Okinawa (Japan)
Tarong, Luzon, Philippines
Khalapur, India
Nyansongo, Kenya, Africa
Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
“Orchard Town,” New England, U.S.
Six Cultures Study 2
Maternal Warmth
Maternal Moodiness
Okinawa
Philippines
Philippines
Okinawa
Africa
India
United States
Mexico
Mexico
United States
India
Africa
Six Cultures Study 3
Mother’s Responsibililty for:
Infant Care
Child Care
United States
United States
Okinawa
Africa
Phillipines
Mexico
India
Okinawa
Mexico
India
Africa
Philippines
Six Cultures Study 4
Permissiveness of
Aggression toward
Mother
India
United States
Okinawa
Mexico
Philippines
Africa
Training for Peer
Directed Aggression
United States
Philippines
Africa
India
Okinawa
Mexico
Six Cultures Study 5
Six Cultures Study 6
Number of Chores
Mexico
Philippines
Africa
United States
Okinawa
India
Frequency of chores
Africa
Philippines
Mexico
United States
India
Okinawa
Six Cultures Study 7
Profile for the United States
Medium Maternal Warmth
High Maternal Moodiness
Mother exclusively cares for infant
Mother exclusively cares for child
Mother tolerates lots of aggression towards her
Mother trains child to be aggressive towards
peers
Single family home – no family nearby
Children do a medium number of chores with a
medium frequency of chore activity
Six Cultures Study 8
India Profile
Very little maternal warmth
Medium maternal moodiness
Medium responsibility for infant care
Low responsibility for child care
Mother tolerates lots of aggression towards her
Mother trains for some aggression towards peers
Large extended families (up to 4 generations)
Children do very few chores and spend very little
time doing chores
Six Cultures Study 9
Profile for Mexico
Low maternal warmth
Medium maternal moodiness
Low responsibility for infant care
Medium responsibility for child care
Medium permissiveness for mother directed
aggression
Lowest training for peer directed aggression
Extended family households
Expected the greatest number of chores with a
medium amount of chore time