Comparisons of parenting attitudes among five ethnic groups in the United States.

Parenting attitudes and behaviors and their influence on children has been an area of great interest to researchers. There has been abundant research exploring different types of parenting and the outcomes of parenting. Parents develop their parenting behaviors based on several factors (Belsky, 1984), some ofwhich include socialization experiences, individual familial practices, their personalities, the personality of their child, and their cultural background (Belsky, 1984). While there is much research on parenting, cross-cultural comparisons of parenting attitudes of ethnic and immigrant families in the U.S. have not been the focus of extensive research. The purpose of the present study was to compare the parenting attitudes of immigrant Asian American, Asian Indian, Hispanic, and U. S. native African American and European American mothers. There has been a tremendous increase in the immigrant population in the U.S. in the past few decades. The immigrant families are going through a flux of changes to adapt themselves to the majority population while at the same time trying to retain their cultural identity and values. The immigrant families are faced with the difficult job of parenting their children in an alien culture and trying to acculturate them to that culture. Immigrant families face many challenges in attempting to coexist with the majority European American population. Past research indicates that persons with social and political power have created a negative stereotype of members of minority ethnic groups (Padilla, & O'Grady, 1987). Being a target of negative stereotypes and negative attributes may influence one's beliefs about being an ethnic minority or immigrant. These beliefs and feelings may influence the socialization process that minority parents use with their children. The minority immigrant populations use several adaptive strategies to ensure the survival and well being oftheir families and other members oftheir group. These adaptive strategies include observable social behaviors that the members use. A review of literature indicates differences in the way that each minority group tries to fit in. However, there are three adaptive strategies that have emerged as common to most of the ethnic minority groups: family extendedness and role flexibility, biculturalism, and teaching ancestral worldviews (Harrison, Wilson, Pine, Chan,& Buriel, 1990). Family extendedness and role flexibility refers to the pattern of extended family support and networks that usually serve as problem-solving and stress-relieving mechanisms. Biculturalism refers to the ability of a person to function effectively in more than one culture and also to switch roles back and forth as the situation changes. However, the degree of biculturalism varies from family to family. Ancestral worldviews taught to their children by minority parents include the beliefs of the family and community interwoven with those of the self. These three adaptive strategies and personal experiences are incorporated into childbearing practices of ethnic minority groups. Parents of ethnic minorities have certain goals for their children, which include positive attitudes toward their own culture, being interdependent with their kin, and flexibility of cognitive skills (Brooks, 1991; Harrison, Wilson, Pine, Chan, & Buriel, 1990). Most ethnic parents use similar parenting strategies as do their European American counterparts, including modeling and reinforcement. However, there are variations in the parenting patterns of the ethnic parents depending on the socioeconomic status, educational status, and the number of years they have been in the United States. McLoyd's research (1990) indicated that lower educational level and increased amounts of stress among ethnic parents greatly influence their parenting skills. Current research findings about the parenting practices among five of the largest ethnic groups will be discussed in the following paragraphs. …