Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Child Development , Culture , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Ethnology/methods , Humans , Infant , Object AttachmentABSTRACT
Home interviews were conducted with 102 families of children with developmental delays to assess ecocultural family resources and constraints, values, and goals as well as proactive adaptive efforts to deal with their circumstances. Interview topics included (a) economic factors; (b) child safety, health, and education; (c) domestic and childcare workloads; (d) familial support networks; and (e) sociocultural influences. Factor analyses performed on the ecocultural measures revealed 12 salient factors. Results indicated that some of the ecocultural factors were unique and statistically independent of the traditional measures of home environment (e.g., child-rearing attitudes, cognitive stimulation of the child, and general psychosocial climate). Significant relations were found between certain ecocultural factors and child's developmental status. Both ecocultural factors and traditional family measures accounted for significant variation in child outcomes.
Subject(s)
Cultural Characteristics , Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Social Environment , Adult , Child, Preschool , Cohort Studies , Developmental Disabilities/diagnosis , Developmental Disabilities/genetics , Diseases in Twins/genetics , Diseases in Twins/psychology , Female , Health Services Accessibility , Humans , Intellectual Disability/diagnosis , Intellectual Disability/genetics , Male , Parent-Child Relations , Patient Care Team , Social Support , Socioeconomic Factors , Wechsler ScalesABSTRACT
In this study 680 accommodations or proactive efforts to sustain a family environment in 10 ecocultural domains were reliably scored for 102 Euro-American families of young children with developmental delays. The families reported substantial accommodation activity. Results showed that accommodations (a) in the domains of child care and service access were correlated with children's problems that impact the daily routine; (b) in the domains of subsistence changes, seeking information, and roles of fathers were related to parents' job and career circumstances, with more modest links to socioeconomic status; and (c) were not associated with child developmental test scores. Accommodation to children with delays and disabilities is a family-level variable that complements the more common research focus on individual parent stress and coping.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Attitude to Health , Developmental Disabilities/rehabilitation , Family , Adult , Caregivers/psychology , Child , Child Care , Child Development , Child, Preschool , Cohort Studies , Computer Simulation , Data Collection , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Parents/psychology , Random Allocation , Social ClassABSTRACT
A major focus of the article is the idea that activity settings are in part social constructions of the participants. The socially constructed "meaning" of an activity setting is a complex mix of ecological, cultural, interactional, and psychological features. These features may be observed and assessed, directly and indirectly, in terms of personnel, cultural values, tasks, scripts for conduct, and motives and purposes of actors. Empirical illustrations and extensions to community psychology are drawn from research with different populations: Native Hawaiian children and families, Spanish-speaking children and Mexican and Central American immigrant parents, Euro-American families with a developmentally delayed child, and Euro-American families who intentionally adopted nonconventional child-rearing values and practices.
Subject(s)
Cultural Characteristics , Ethnicity/psychology , Social Behavior , Social Environment , Adult , Child , Humans , Personality Development , Problem Solving , Social ValuesABSTRACT
Parents in 102 families with a 3- to 5-year-old child with developmental delays of uncertain etiology were interviewed concerning religion and adaptations to their child with delays. Religious parents were somewhat more familistic than were nonreligious parents, emphasized parental nurturance, and said that their child was an opportunity rather than a burden. Religious and nonreligious families were similar on other measures of developmental beliefs and social support. Religious parents described the "purpose" of their children with delays in their lives in emotionally powerful and meaningful ways that clearly helped them, although direct measures of peace of mind and emotional adjustment did not differ between religious and nonreligious families.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Home Nursing/psychology , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Parents/psychology , Religion and Psychology , Adult , Child, Preschool , Family/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Social SupportABSTRACT
Sex role socialization and 6-year-old children's sex-typed knowledge and behavior were compared across 5 nonconventional family types (avant garde, countercultural, conventional alternatives, communal, and changeable/troubled) (n = 154) and a conventionally married comparison sample (n = 51). The avant garde and countercultural families combined the strongest sex egalitarian beliefs, with commitment to a proactive, questioning orientation toward society, and relative stability in family life-style choice. Children in the avant garde and countercultural families also displayed non-sex-typed knowledge of objects and occupations more often than did children in the other families, but all children showed knowledge of sex-typed schemas as well. Only scattered differences were found on other measures of children's sex-typed preferences or in sex-typed behavior. The form of the family or domestic unit (single parent, married couple, unmarried couple, or commune) was not related to sex typing, and socioeconomic measures had little effect, compared to nonconventional family types. Girls had more flexible sex-typing training and displayed non-sex-typed schemas more than boys across family types, conventional and nonconventional alike.
Subject(s)
Family , Gender Identity , Life Style , Social Environment , Stereotyping , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Social Conformity , SocializationABSTRACT
Family ecology theories mislead if they omit a social constructivist perspective. Parents construct an everyday routine to accommodate values and goals and resources and constraints of their proximal and distal ecology. Ecocultural theory suggests that (a) the most powerful ecocultural features affect everyday routines, (b) whether ecocultural features are positive or negative is influenced by family-constructed themes, (c) "sustainability" of everyday activities is a better predictor of child and family outcome than is measured "stimulation level," and (d) comparative studies should include families engaged in different kinds of social construction processes, not only samples matched on child age or developmental level.
Subject(s)
Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Family , Social Environment , Child , Culture , Ecology , Female , Humans , Male , Psychological TheoryABSTRACT
The differences between abstainers, moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers were examined in American Indians living in Los Angeles, California. Equal numbers of these three groups (total N = 155) were selected from four tribal groups: Siouan-speaking, Navaho, Five Civilized Tribes (of eastern Oklahoma origin) and indigenous California tribes. The relative predictive powers of sociostructural, cultural and psychological variables in accounting for current drinking levels were then assessed. The results indicated that, much as for non-Indian populations, heavy drinkers were more likely to have had heavy-drinking models in the family of origin, to be men and to score high on psychophysiological stress indices. Socioeconomic status and traditionalism were found to be weaker predictors of drinking level. Differences in drinking styles over individuals' lifetimes and between tribes were also studied. Ethnographic observations, case vignettes and statistical summaries of the sample by tribe and by drinking level showed that tribal origins, age and socioeconomic status influenced drinking style and attitudes toward alcohol, even if they did not predict the current drinking level of the subjects.
