Age, Gender and Socioeconomic Differences in Parental Socialization Preferences In Guyana

INTRODUCTIONStudies of kinship organization and the structural features of family dominate the literature on Caribbean families (Smith, 1956; Clarke, 1966; Smith, 1965; Rubenstein, 1983; Gonzales, 1969; Otterbein, 1965). However, much less is known about the interactional or dynamic features of these families, which Rawlins (1987) identified as part of the critical gaps in the literature in the region. This study is about the socialization orientations of a sample of Guyanese adults and aims to empirically augment the fragmented notions about these phenomena in the Caribbean. Specifically, the study details the nature of these orientations and assesses the extent to which characteristics of children and adult respondents to a cross-sectional survey explain their variation. Socialization orientations are conceived here as desirable qualities adults expect in children or values they perceive should be cultivated (Alwin, 1984). Such qualities are described in Caribbean family literature as "behavioural ideals" (Senior, 1991, p. 31 ). The study does not deal directly with socialization behavior, but has implications for such outcomes since cognitive orientations are often precursors of socialization practice.This study also responds to the expressed lack of empirical studies of socialization in the Caribbean (Justus, 1981; McKenzie, 1982; Senior, 1991). While the theme of socialization is not entirely absent from the Caribbean family literature, the available information is limited to special populations (Blake, 1961; Grant, 1974), focuses on practices (Landman et al., 1983) or otherwise deals only indirectly with the topic (Senior, 1991). Thus, according to Senior (1991), socialization patterns are currently understood only as "the grossest generalizations" (p. 26). The status of the literature at present, therefore, is that while there are vague notions about socialization orientations and practices, empirical validation and extension of these ideas are both needed. Moreover, cross-sectional analyses of socialization values within the region are needed.This study modestly addresses some of these needs but undertakes a more elaborate analysis of socialization issues than any previous Caribbean study.STUDY CONTEXTThis study follows in the tradition of the elaborate work on socialization orientations by Kohn (1969) whose central thrust was to establish the relationship between social class and parental values. The pivotal finding of Kohn's study was that there were middle and lower class preferences for autonomy and conformity in children respectively. Further, in his assessment of the factors that mediated the differential socialization orientations and practices of lower and middle class parents, Kohn found that occupational self-direction among the latter and job routinization among the former were the proximate factors. Kohn's work represented an extension of the pioneering work on social stratification and values as represented by the studies of Lynd and Lynd (1929), Duvall (1946) and Hyman's (1953) as well as more general studies on values (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961; Caudill and Scarr, 1962).Kohn's original study generated many debates and several full or partial replications were conducted. Most of the follow-up studies pursued the autonomy/conformity dichotomy, which are documented elsewhere (see Alwin, 1988). Substantive and methodological issues raised by subsequent researchers (Wright and Wright, 1976) led Kohn (1977) to reappraise his findings in the second edition of his book. These controversies centered around four major themes:a) the inability to replicate the factorial dimensions of the original study;b) the utility of the aggregated Holingshead Index of Social Position;c) the role of other variables in explaining social class differences in parental values;d) the temporal shifts in parental values over time (Wright and Wright, 1976; Alwin, 1984). …