Parenting and educational aims in a cross cultural perspective: how culture affects early interactions with the child

Abstract

Every culture has its own needs, its own conceptions of parenting norms, and its own modes of implementing parenting practices: cultural forces influence the way in which universally-occurring parental behaviors are expressed. Child rearing practices help to prepare an infant to adapt to a social system, and condition the course and eventual outcome of individual development. The differences in the ways in which societies both conceptualize parenting and care for their offspring can be evident from the earliest activities and interactions of parents with their infants. This review examines, in an ecological perspective, similarities and differences in early parental behaviors, by analyzing the variations that may be moderated by culture.