Abstract
What do we mean when we talk about “good parenting”? How do we know if someone providing care to a child is doing it the “right way”? These are important questions that any caregiver, teacher, researcher, scholar, or other parenting and child-care professionals should recognize can only be answered within cultural context. However, too often the way cultural values and beliefs interact with parenting values and beliefs is ignored in the scholarship. In this chapter, we make the argument that scholarship on parenting and caregiving is overly influenced by Western cultural ideals. We also introduce the format of this edited volume and explain the goal of providing scholars of parenting, as well as parents and other experts and professionals, with important and relevant information about cultural ideals and values in regard to parenting behaviors and outcomes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arnett, J. J. (2011). Emerging adulthood(s): The cultural psychology of a new life stage. In L. A. Jensen (Ed.), Bridging cultural and developmental approaches to psychology: New syntheses in theory, research, and policy (pp. 255–275). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Ashdown, B. K., & Buck, M. (2018). International aid as modern imperialism – What does cross-cultural psychology really have to offer? A commentary on “The positive role of culture: What cross-cultural psychology has to offer to developmental aid effectiveness research, by Symen A. Brouwers”. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49, 545–553. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118768428
Baumrind. (1996). The discipline controversy revisited. Family Relations, 45, 405–414. https://doi.org/10.2307/585170
Bentley, G., & Mace, R. (Eds.). (2009). Substitute parents: Biological and social perspectives on alloparenting in human societies. New York City, NY: Berghahn Books.
Berry, J. W. (2013). Achieving a global psychology. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 54, 55–61. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031246
Chao, R. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child Development, 65(4), 1111–1119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00806.x
Chao, R. K. (1995). Chinese and European American cultural models of the self reflected in mothers’ childrearing beliefs. Ethos, 23(3), 328–354. https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1995.23.3.02a00030
Chao, R. K. (2001). Extending research on the consequences of parenting style for Chinese Americans and European Americans. Child Development, 72(6), 1832–1843. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00381
Fuligni, A. J., & Pederson, S. (2002). Family obligation and the transition to young adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 38(5), 856–868. https://doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.38.5.856
Gjerde, P. F. (2004). Culture, power, and experience: Toward a person-centered cultural psychology. Human Development, 47, 138–157. https://doi.org/10.1159/000077987
Halgunseth, Ispa, Rudy. (2006).
Joyce, A. (2015, January 29). Parents judging parents. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2015/01/29/parents-judging-parents/
Kotchick, B. A., & Forehand, R. (2002). Putting parenting in perspective: A discussion of the contextual factors that shape parenting practices. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11(3), 255–269. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1016863921662
Mason, C. A., Walker-Barnes, C. J., Tu, S., Simons, J., & Martinez-Arrue, R. (2004). Ethnic differences in the affective meaning of parental control behaviors. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 25(1), 59–79. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:jopp.0000039939.83804.37
Rogoff, B. (2016). Culture and participation: A paradigm shift. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8, 182–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.12.002
Rogoff, B., & Angelillo, C. (2002). Investigating the coordinated functioning of multifaceted cultural practices in human development. Human Development, 45, 211–225. https://doi.org/10.1159/000064981
Shek, D. T. L., & Chan, L. K. (1998). Hong Kong Chinese parents’ perceptions of the ideal child. The Journal of Psychology, 133, 291–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223989909599742
Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Parent-adolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/1532-7795.00001
Weisner, T. S. (2002). Ecocultural understanding of children’s developmental pathways. Human Development, 45(2), 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1159/000064989
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ashdown, B.K., Faherty, A.N. (2020). Introduction: What Do We Mean When We Talk About Good Parenting?. In: Ashdown, B.K., Faherty, A.N. (eds) Parents and Caregivers Across Cultures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35590-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35590-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35589-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-35590-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)