Ethnotheories To Help Explain Cultural Differences In Parenting

Culture and Discipline

Different parts of parenting are known to differ both across and within cultural groups. Recent research has identified social class and childrearing experience as key sources of within-culture difference version in parenting. Harkness and Super developed the term 'parental ethnotheories' to help explain cultural differences in parenting. Ethnotheories are common beliefs held by a cultural group about children's development and behavior, and include expectations about the thinking-related process, social and emotional development of children. They come from parents' cultural experiences within their community or reference group, and reflect cultural beliefs about children's development and characteristics of children that are valued by the community of people in which the child is being raised.
Culturally embedded beliefs and expectations are thought to give shape to the childrearing practices and other elements in the surrounding conditions. Clearly stated examples of childrearing practices that are influenced
Removing a child from adults or peers for a period, commonly referred to as time-out, is often seen in Western cultures as an acceptable way to help young children avoid unfriendly and grouchy or very hard behavior. However, parents who belong to a collectivist culture can view the use of time-out as very harsh, and tend to reserve it for extreme situations. Recent Australian research also found that parents' attitudes to physical punishment differed per their cultural background. Kolar and Soriano explored the childrearing practices of (white American), Vietnamese and Torres Strait Islander parents and found that although most parents most commonly used to think to control/punish children (e.g., explaining to the child the need for rules and the results of their actions), beliefs about and the use of physical punishment varied between the three