UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries

Lin, GX; Mikolajczak, M; Keller, H; Akgun, E; Arikan, G; Aunola, K; Barham, E; ... Roskam, I; + view all (2023) Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology , 54 (1) pp. 4-24. 10.1177/00220221221123043. Green open access

[thumbnail of Petrides_Parenting Cultures_AAM.pdf]
Preview
Text
Petrides_Parenting Cultures_AAM.pdf

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures.

Type: Article
Title: Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/00220221221123043
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221123043
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10162820
Downloads since deposit
249Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item