Childrens Social Worlds in Cultural Context

This book addresses cultural variability in children's social worlds, examining the acquisition, development, and use of culturally relevant social competencies valued in diverse cultural contexts. It discusses the different aspects of preschoolers' social competencies that allow children - including adopted, immigrant, or at-risk children - to create and maintain relationships, communicate, and to get along with other people at home, in daycare or school, and other situations. Chapters explore how children's social competencies reflect the features of the social worlds in which they live and grow. In addition, chapters examine the extent that different cultural value orientations manifest in children's social functioning and escribes how parents in autonomy-oriented cultures tend to value different social skills than parents with relatedness or autonomous-relatedness orientations. The book concludes with recommendations for future research directions. Topics featured in this book include: Gender development in young children. Peer interactions and relationships during the preschool years. Sibling interactions in western and non-western cultural groups. The roles of grandparents in child development. Socialization and development in refugee children. Child development within institutional care. Children's Social Worlds in Cultural Context is a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians/practitioners, and graduate students in developmental psychology, child and school psychology, social work, cultural anthropology, family studies, and education. Tiia Tulviste, Ph.D., is a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Tartu, Estonia. In her research on child cognitive and social development, she has paid special attention to the developmental contexts in which children grow. At the beginning of her scientific career, Dr. Tulviste was involved in studies trying to detect the role of schooling in the development of verbal thinking by comparing thinking processes of adults with and without school education in Soviet Central Asia and in West Siberia. During recent decades, she has been interested in the question to what extent changes in developmental context (e.g., return to the Western world in Estonia) reflect changes in cultural meanings and practices of child socialization as well as their effects over time on child development and adjustment. Dr. Tulviste has acted as project leader in several comparative research projects related to child socialization and development dealing with cultures around the Baltic Sea, such as Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Germany, and Sweden, as well as the U.S.A. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters in this field. She is the former president of Estonian Union of Psychologists and is a member of the editorial board of the European Psychologist, International Journal of Behavioural Development (1998-2002), and Estonian Papers in Applied Linguistics. Deborah L. Best, Ph.D., is the William L. Poteat Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University, USA, where she previously served as Chair of the Psychology Department and was the first woman to serve as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. She is active in the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology as an Honorary Fellow, President (2000-2002), and Treasurer (1988-1997), and in the Society for Cross-Cultural Research as President (2011-2012). She has served as Associate Editor (1996-2012) and Editor (2012 to present) of the flagship journal of IACCP, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. She has written and edited five books as well as numerous book chapters and research articles; her work includes landmark studies of gender stereotypes in 30 nations. Her research has focused on children's cognitive and social development, primarily examining gender-related concepts among young children in the United States and other countries. Judith L. Gibbons, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Saint Louis University, USA. She is the founding editor of the American Psychological Association Division 52 journal, International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, former president of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research and the Interamerican Society of Psychology (SIP), a former Fulbright scholar at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Her research includes the study of the development of adolescents, especially girls and at-risk youth, in the majority world, intercountry adoption, and gender roles. With many collaborators, local and international, she has published numerous journal articles on those topics. She has written or edited three books including The Thoughts of Youth: An International Perspective on Adolescents' Ideal Persons, Intercountry Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes, and Women's Evolving Lives: Global and Psychosocial Perspectives. Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Role of Culture in Children's Social World Tiia Tulviste, Deborah L. Best, and Judith L. Gibbons Section I: What Children Learn Chapter 2: Children's Social Development: Developing Selves and Expanding Social Worlds Pirko Tugu 2.1: Play in Different Cultural Contexts 2.2: Gender Differences in Play 2.3: Socialization of Social Rules in Peer Play 2.4: Reminiscing and Personal Recollections 2.5: Gender Differences in the Development of Recollections 2.6: Conclusions Chapter 3: Children's Management of Attention as Cultural Practice Rebeca Meja Arauz, Amy L. Dexter, Barbara Rogoff, and Itzel Aceves-Azuara 3.1: Cultural Differences in Attention to Surrounding Events 3.1.1: Cultural Differences in Third-party Attention 3.1.2: Cultural Differences in Simultaneous Attention 3.2: Attentiveness is an Aspect of How Learning is Organized 3.3: Patterns of Attention across Five Communities in Two Nations 3.3.1: The Five Communities 3.3.1.1: Two Communities with Indigenous Practices 3.3.1.1.1: Indigenous Heritage Mexican Town 3.3.1.1.2: Pueblo US Immigrant 3.3.1.2: Three Extensively Schooled Communities 3.3.1.2.1:European-American Middle-Class 3.3.1.2.2: Cosmopolitan Mexican 3.3.1.2.3: Nouveau Cosmopolitan Mexican 3.3.2: Children's Attention during an Informal Demonstration 3.3.2.1: Simultaneous Attention 3.3.2.2: Alternating Attention 3.4: Conclusions 3.4.1: Attention Management is Embedded in Cultural Practices Organizing Children's Learning 3.4.2: A Focus on Practices Facilitates Studying Dynamic Processes Chapter 4: Culture, Communication and Socio-Cognitive Development: Understanding the Minds of Others Mele Taumoepeau 4.1: Theory-of-Mind Understanding across Cultures 4.2: Cross-cultural Variations in Theory-of-Mind Performance 4.3: Theories of Social Understanding 4.4: Social Correlates of Theory-of-Mind 4.4.1: Talking about the Child's and Others' Minds 4.4.2: Reminiscing and Mental State Understanding 4.5: Cross-cultural Differences in Parental Interaction Style 4.6: Are Conversations about Mental States Important for Social Understanding across Cultures? 4.7: Broadening our Conceptualization of Social Understanding 4.8: Conclusions Chapter 5: Emotional Development: Cultural Influences on Young Children's Emotional Competence Nicole B. Capobianco, Caitlin D. Bush, and Deborah L. Best 5.1: Early Emotional Development 5.1.1: Primary, Basic Emotions 5.1.2: Secondary, Self-Conscious Emotions 5.2: Emotional Competence 5.2.1: Emotional Expressiveness 5.2.2: Emotion Knowledge 5.2.3: Emotion Regulation 5.3: Emotion Socialization 5.4: Agents of Emotion Socialization 5.4.1: Parents 5.4.1a: Social Referencing 5.4.1b: Joint Emotional Reminiscing 5.4.1c: Display Rules 5.4.2: Peers 5.4.3: Teachers 5.5: Differences in Emotion Socialization 5.5.1: Gender Differences 5.5.2: Socioeconomic Status Differences 5.6: Conclusions Chapter 6: Young Children's Gender Development Deborah L. Best and Judith L. Gibbons 6.1: Biology and Gender 6.2: Socialization of Gender 6.2.1: Importance of Child Gender for Parents 6.2.2: Parent Expectations and Behavior 6.2.2a: Parent Expectation 6.2.2b: Parent Behaviors 6.2.2c: Task Assignment 6.2.3: Peer Influences 6.2.4: Children's Self-Socialization 6.3: Children's Gendered Behaviors and Beliefs 6.3.1: Gender Schemes and Preferences 6.3.2: Gender Activities and Tasks 6.3.3: Gender Behavior Differences 6.3.4: Gender Stereotypes 6.3.5: Gender Non-Conforming Children 6.4: Conclusions Chapter 7: Sharing and Caring: Prosocial Behavior in Young Children around the World Katelyn E. Poelker and Judith L. Gibbons 7.1: Defining Prosocial Behavior 7.2: Developmental Patterns of Prosocial Behavior 7.3: Emotion Socialization, Social-Cognitive Processes, and Prosocial Behavior 7.4: Gender Differences in Prosocial Behavior 7.5: Motivations for Prosocial Behavior 7.6: Cross-Cultural Prosocial Behavior in Early Childhood 7.7: Circumstances that Promote Helping 7.8: Conclusions Chapter 8: Peer Interactions: Culture and Peer Conflict during Preschool Years Anni Tamm 8.1: Autonomy and Relatedness Values Shape Peer Interactions 8.2: Methodological Issues in Studies on Early Peer Conflict 8.2.1: Definition of Conflict 8.2.2: Real or Hypothetical Conflicts 8.2.3: Situational Factors 8.2.4: Children's Age 8.3: The Role of Culture in Early Peer Conflict 8.3.1: North America and East Asia 8.3.2: East Asia 8.3.3: Middle East 8.3.4: Western and Southwestern Europe 8.4: Conclusions Chapter 9: Together or Better Singular? German Middle Class Children's Problem Solving in Dyads and Triads Heidi Keller, Swantje Decker, and Paula Dge 9.1: Children's Dyadic Interactions 9.1.1: Interactions in the Family 9.1.2: Children's Interactions outside the Family: Teachers and Caregivers 9.1.3: Free Play and Autonomy 9.2: Children's Play Patterns 9.3: Culture and Mothers' Level of Education 9.4: Other Variables that Affect Cooperation 9.5: A Study of Children's Cooperation' 9.6: Socialization within Western Middle Class Familiesl 9.6.1: Psychological Autonomy 9.6.2: Cooperation 9.7: Gender Socialization 9.8: Implications 9.9: Conclusions Section II: Socialization of Young Children Chapter 10: Parenting: Talking with Children across Cultural Contexts Tiia Tulviste 10.1: Cultural Variability in Social Context at Home 10.2: Family Conversations and Learning to Talk 10.3: Ways of Talking with Children 10.4: Culturally Valued Ways of Talking 10.5: Family Conversations across Interaction Contexts 10.6: Learning to Talk in Culture-specific Ways 10.7: Cultural Meaning of Speech Addressed to Children 10.8: Culturally Valued Conversational Topics 10.9: Children's Contributions 10.10: Changing Developmental Contexts 10.11: Conclusions Chapter 11: The Sibling Relationship in Ecocultural Context Ashley E. Maynard 11.1: An Ecocultural Theory of Sibling Relationships 11.2: Finding Out about Siblings 11.3: Who Is a Sibling? 11.4: Influences on Sibling Interactions in Western Cultural Groups 11.5: How Do Siblings Relate in Non-Western Cultural Groups? 11.5.1: Sibling Caretaking 11.6: Influences of Sibling Interactions on Social and Emotional Development 11.7: Influences of Sibling Interactions on Cognitive Development 11.7.1: Sibling Teaching 11.8: The Impact of Sibling Interactions on Language Development 11.9: Conclusions Chapter 12: The Roles of Grandparents in Child Development: A Cultural Approach David W. Shwalb, Ziarat Hossain, and Giovanna Eisberg 12.1: Grandparents' Influences on Young Grandchildren 12.2: Grandparents' Influences on Parents of Young Children 12.3: Comparisons of Grandparents within and between Cultural Groups 12.4: Variations in Children's Social Worlds, and Impact on Grandparental Roles 12.5: Variations in Social Competencies Valued between Cultural Groups, and Their Impact on Grandparental Roles 12.6: Conclusions Chapter 13: Japanese Preschool Approaches to Supporting Young Children's Social- Emotional Development Akiko Hayashi 13.1: Method 13.1.1: The Teddy Bear Fight 13.1.2: Mimamoru: The Logic of Watching and Waiting 13.2: Sympathetic Identification and Legitimate Peripheral Participation 13.3: Collective Regulation 13.4: Providing Opportunities for Peripheral Participation 13.4.1: Seeing Both Individuals and Groups 13.5: Childlike Children 13.6: Taking a Long Perspective 13.7: Conclusions Section III: Children in Unique and Challenging Circumstances Chapter 14: Socialization and Development of Refugee Children: Chances of Childcare Julian Busch and Birgit Leyendecker 14.1: Motives for Migration 14.2: Contexts of Refugees 14.3: Childcare as a Complementing Context for the Development and Socialization of Refugee Children 14.3.1: Aims and Challenges in Childcare with Refugees 14.3.2: Transitions of Refugee Children 14.3.3: Institutional Childcare Challenges Diverse Practices of Child Rearing 14.3.4: Functional Embeddedness of Childcare in a Society 14.4: Understanding the Influence of Diverse Contexts on Child Development and Socialization 14.4.1: Physical and Social Settings 14.4.2: Customs of Childcare 14.4.3: Psychology of the Caretakers 14.4.4: Complex Developmental Niches for Refugee Children 14.5: Adapting Childcare for Diverse Families 14.5.1: Effects of Childcare 14.5.1a: Pre-academic Skills 14.5.1b: Socio-emotional Development 14.5.1c: Establishing Partnerships with Refugee Parents 14.5.2: How Can Childcare for Recently Arrived Refugee Children BeOrganized? 14.5.3: Adapted Childcare for Refugees: "Bridging Projects" in Germany 14.6: Conclusions Chapter 15: Children's Perspectives of Risk and Protection Yael Ponizovsky-Bergelson, Dorit Roer-Strier, Yael Dayan and Nira Wahle 15.1: Risk and Protection Discourse in Israel 15.2: Context-Informed Perspective on Risk and Protection 15.3: Children's Perspectives 15.4: Purpose and Procedure of Current Study 15.5: Findings of Children's Perspectives on Risk and Protection 15.5.1: Behavior that Prevents Danger (Risks). 15.5.2: Protection from Danger 15.6: Influence of Context 15.7: Conclusions Chapter 16: Young Children in Institutional Care: Characteristics of Institutions, Children's Development, and Interventions in Institutions Megan M. Julian, Junlei Li, Annie Wright, and Pamela A. Jimenez-Etcheverria 16.1: Social Environments of Institutions around the World 16.1.1: Russia 16.1.2: China 16.1.3: Ghana 16.1.4: Chile 16.2: Development of Children Who Have Experienced Institutional Care 16.3: Interventions to Improve Social-Emotional Care within Institutions 16.3.1: The St. Petersburg-USA Project 16.3.2: Simple Interactions 16.4: Conclusions Section IV: Conclusions Chapter 17: Children's Culturally Enriched Social Development Tiia Tulviste, Deborah L. Best, and Judith L. Gibbons