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Parents' Personal and Cultural Beliefs Regarding Young Children

A Cross-Cultural Study of Aboriginal and Euro-Canadian Mothers

University of Maryland, ccheah{at}umbc.edu

Valery Chirkov

University of Saskatchewan

Parental beliefs about desired socialization goals and the reasons why these goals were important were examined among Aboriginal and European Canadian mothers. These beliefs were examined on personal (desired by mothers for their own children) and cultural (perceived to be desired by mothers from each cultural group) levels; 50 Aboriginal and 51 European Canadian mothers of preschoolers were interviewed regarding their parenting beliefs. Commonalities in the tasks that mothers regard as relevant to a young child's social development were found across both groups. However, several goals, behaviors, and qualities were endorsed differently by mothers from the two cultures, according to cultural values and ideologies that were significant for each culture. Moreover, mothers did not automatically accept all culturally sanctioned values but held these values as significant for their own children in different degrees. The study highlights the significance of contemporary sociocultural issues in the cultural study of child socialization.

Key Words: parenting beliefs • parenting goals • culture • Aboriginal Canadian • European Canadian

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