Cross-Cultural Associations of Four Parenting Behaviors With Child Flourishing: Examining Cultural Specificity and Commonality in Cultural Normativeness and Intergenerational Transmission Processes

• Main Authors: Rothenberg, W. Andrew, Lansford, Jennifer E, Bornstein, Marc H, Tirado, Liliana Maria Uribe, Yotanyamaneewong, Saengduean, Alampay, Liane Peña, Al-Hassan, Suha M, Bacchini, Dario, Chang, Lei, Deater-Deckard, Kirby, Di Giunta, Laura, Dodge, Kenneth A, Gurdal, Sevtap, Liu, Qin, Long, Qian, Malone, Patrick S, Oburu, Paul, Pastorelli, Concetta, Skinner, Ann T, Sorbing, Emma, Tapanya, Sombat, Steinberg, Laurence
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2021
• Subjects: Child Psychology; Family, Life Course, and Society; Psychology
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/psychology-faculty-pubs/365; https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13634
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Families from nine countries (N = 1,338) were interviewed annually seven times (Mage child = 7–15) to test specificity and commonality in parenting behaviors associated with child flourishing and moderation of associations by normativeness of parenting. Participants included 1,338 children (M = 8.59 years, SD = 0.68, range = 7–11 years; 50% girls), their mothers (N = 1,283, M = 37.04 years, SD = 6.51, range = 19–70 years), and their fathers (N = 1,170, M = 40.19 years, SD = 6.75, range = 22–76 years) at Wave 1 of 7 annual waves collected between 2008 and 2017. Families were recruited from 12 ethnocultural groups in nine countries including: Shanghai, China (n = 123); Medellín, Colombia (n = 108); Naples (n = 102) and Rome (n = 111), Italy; Zarqa, Jordan (n = 114); Kisumu, Kenya (n = 100); Manila, Philippines (n = 120); Trollhättan & Vänersborg, Sweden (n = 129); Chiang Mai, Thailand (n = 120); and Durham, NC, United States (n = 110 White, n = 102 Black, n = 99 Latinx). Intergenerational parenting (parenting passed from Generation 1 to Generation 2) demonstrated specificity. Children from cultures with above-average G2 parent warmth experienced the most benefit from the intergenerational transmission of warmth, whereas children from cultures with below-average G2 hostility, neglect, and rejection were best protected from deleterious intergenerational effects of parenting behaviors on flourishing. Single-generation parenting (Generation 2 parenting directly associated with Generation 3 flourishing) demonstrated commonality. Parent warmth promoted, and parent hostility, neglect, and rejection impeded the development of child flourishing largely regardless of parenting norms.