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Parenting Practices andExpectations Among MexicanMothers with Young ChildrenPedro R. Solis-Camara a & Robert A. Fox ba Mexican Social Security Institute , Guadalajara, USAb Parenting Center , School of Education MarquetteUniversity , USAPublished online: 06 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Pedro R. Solis-Camara & Robert A. Fox (1996) Parenting Practicesand Expectations Among Mexican Mothers with Young Children, The Journal of GeneticPsychology: Research and Theory on Human Development, 157:4, 465-476, DOI:10.1080/00221325.1996.9914879

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The Jortrnul of Genetic, Psyholog)’, 1996, /57(4). 465-476

Parenting Practices and Expectations Among Mexican Mothers

With Young Children

PEDRO SOLIS-CAMARA R. Mexican Social Security Institute. Guadalajara

ROBERT A. FOX Parenting Center; School of Education

Marquette University

ABSTRACT. Parenting practices and developmental expectations were examined in a sam- ple of 221 Mexican mothers with very young children living in Guadalajara, Jalisco. They completed a Spanish version of the Parent Behavior Checklist (PBC), a 100-item rating scale that measures parents’ developmental expectations, discipline, and nurturing practices. The psychometric properties of the PBC for Mexican mothers, including test-retest relia- bilities, were very similar to those found for mothers of young children in the United States. Younger Mexican mothers used more frequent discipline and less nurturing with their young children than older mothers did. Married mothers nurtured their children more than unmarried mothers; young, unmarried mothers nurtured their children the least. Lower nur- turing scores were associated with lower education levels, and higher nurturing scores were associated with higher education levels. Mothers from higher socioeconomic levels held higher developmental expectations for their children, and they used less frequent discipline and more frequent nurturing practices than mothers from lower socioeconomic levels. These findings are consistent with those for mothers of young children in the United States.

THE FAMILY CONTEXT, including its complex and ongoing bidirectional and interactive processes, has increasingly been recognized as important in the social- ization of children (Maccoby, 1992; Maccoby & Martin, 1983). More specifically, attention has been devoted to determining the influence of parenting in the social- ization process (Simons, Beaman, Conger, & Chao, 1993). As this literature has expanded, Darling and Steinberg ( 1 993) have recommended that researchers main- tain a distinction between parenting style and parenting practices. They definedpar- enting style as a “constellation of attitudes toward the child that are communicated

Address correspondence ti) Robert A. Fox, Purenting Centes Marquette University J? 0. Box 1881, Milwaukee. WI 53201-1881.

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to the child and create an emotional climate in which thc parents' behaviors are expressed" (p. 493 ). and they defined p i r m t i r i g pirictic~c~s iis "the specific. goal- directed behaviors through which parents perform their parental duties" (p. 488).

Baunirind's ( 197 I ) authoritative-authoritarian-permissive parenting typolo- gy represents one formulation of parenting styles. Whereas parenting style is viewed as setting the context of the parent-child relationship ( i t communicates the parent's attitude toward the child, contributes to the effectiveness of parent- ing practices. and moderates the child's openness to parental influences). parent- ing practices represent the specific parent behaviors used to guide children toward attaining socialization goals (e.g.. spanking to develop compliance. monitoring homework to facilitate academic achievement, providing compliments to nurture self-esteem). Although recent parenting research has tended to emphasize par- enting style. particularly among parents with adolescents (Baumrind, I 991 : Dorn- busch. Ritter. Leidernian. Roberts. & Fraleigh, 1987; Steinberg. Elmen, & Mounts, 1989). parenting practices are also being studied (Bronstein. 1994).

In addition to examining how parents actually behave with their children, it is important to appreciate the context within which these parent behaviors occur. There is general agreement that there are multiple determinants of parenting prac- tices (Belsky. 1990). Specific determinants that influence parenting practices have been reviewed by Simons. Beaman. Conger, and Chao (1993) and include marital satisfaction, parental beliefs about discipline. history of abuse as a child. grandparents' parenting practices, parents' mental health. and level of support from the spouse. Broader determinants of parenting practices also have been stud- ied. such as socioeconomic status (SES; Luster. Rhoades. & Haas. 1989). mater- nal age and education (Kelley. Power. & Wimbush. 1997,). and family economic stress (Takeuchi. Williams, & Adair, 1991).

The progress in parenting research is encouraging; however. one factor some- times overlooked in these studies, despite the central role it may play (Bornstein. 199 I ), is differences among cultures. This situation is understandable. given the inherent difficulties in studying different cultures (e.g.. language barriers. access to samples. lack of adequate measurement tools). Extending research method- ologies both within the borders of the United States to culturally diverse popula- tions and beyond the U.S. borders to different cultures provides an opportunity to establish the generality and limits o f research findings (Segall. 1979). More- over. including culture i n socialization studies may inform and produce new insights i n t o mainstream developmental issues (Rogoff & Morelli, 1989; Tron- ick, 1992) and enable u s to contribute timely knowledge and related educational information to o u r own increasingly culturally diverse population.

Our purposes in the present study were to establish the technical merits of a parenting instrument with a Mexican population and to develop a preliminary database on parenting of very young children in Mexico. As in other Latin Amer- ican countries, the study of parenting i n Mexico is extremely limited (Solis- Camara & Diaz. 199 I ). Some available knowledge has come from ethnographic

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Solis-Camara & Fox 467

work (Diaz-Guerrero, 1975; Fromm & Maccoby, 1970) and from studies of rural populations (Bronstein. 1994; Cancian, 1964). Other information has been derived indirectly from studies with Hispanic families living in the United States (Harwood & Miller, 1991; Knight, Bernal, Garza, Cota, & Ocampo, 1993; Min- del, 1980). These studies have produced inconsistent evidence regarding social- ization processes in Hispanic families (Knight, Tein, Shell, & Roosa, 1992). Julian, McKenry, and McKelvey (1994) reported disparate descriptions of His- panic parents, including permissive, authoritarian, and affectionate.

Vega (1990) suggested that the inconsistencies of findings among studies of Hispanic families may be caused in part by the inadequacies of some of the mea- sures used. Other factors may include the varying cultural ancestries of Hispan- ic families in the United States (e.g., Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican) and the potential effects of acculturation (Domino & Acosta, 1987; Taylor, Hurley, & Riley, 1986). For example, Field and Widmayer (198 I ) reported that Cuban moth- ers talked more often to their infants and had longer mean lengths of utterance than South American or Puerto Rican mothers, who also differed significantly from each other. Furthermore, length of time living in the United States was relat- ed to the quality of mother-infant interactions. In Negy and Woods’s (1992) review of empirical studies of the role of acculturation in family and socializa- tion areas among Hispanic Americans, acculturation was associated with changes in the marital relationship (moving toward greater equality between spouses), but acculturation interacted with SES regarding mothers’ ability to produce develop- mental explanations for children’s behavior. Laosa ( 198 1) reported that teaching strategies used by Chicano and Anglo-American mothers were quite similar when the two ethnic samples were equated on the schooling level attained by the moth- ers. Clearly, more research is needed to untangle the myriad potential factors that influence the socialization of children, including culture.

We conducted the present study in an urban area, Guadalajara, Mexico. The sample included only native Mexican families: we thereby circumvented the potential influence of acculturation on socialization practices. In addition, we fol- lowed recommendations based on previous work with culturally diverse popula- tions in the United States, namely, that the psychometric characteristics of research instruments must be established with the culture in which they are used (Knight, Tein, Shell, & Roosa, 1992) and that important determinants of parent- ing, such as socioeconomic status, must be controlled (Julian, McKenry, & Mc- Kelvey, 1994).

Method

Sarnple

The participants were 22 1 mothers with at least one child between the ages of I and 5 years. Mothers with more than one child were asked to select one focus

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child for this project (which was conducted in 1994). To secure the sample, we contacted three day-care centers of the Mexican Social Security Institute and four preschools (two private. two public) located in the urban area of Guadalajara city, Mexico. Guadahjara is a large city in Mexico with a population of approximate- ly 5 million people.

The mothers in the sample represented the following age groups: younger than 20 years ( n = I ) , 20-29 years ( n = 79). 30-39 years ( t i = 13 l ) , 40-49 years ( 1 1 = 9). 50 years or older (ti = I ). The ma.jority of the sample was married ( 7 7 8 ) and had more than one child living at home (72%).

Three categories were used to classify educational attainment in Mexico: elementary (22.6% of the sample) included up to 6 years of elementary school between 6 and 12 years of age: secondary (35.8 %) included up to 3 years of postelementary education between 12 to 15 years of age, and it could include additional technical training: and postsecondary (41.6%) included up to 3 years of postsecondary education. preparatory to university training, and could include an additional 5 years of professional training (e.g., psychologist, physician, engineer).

Mothers' and fathers' employment were categorized according to Stevens and Cho's ( 1985) occupational classification scheme. The family's socioeco- nomic status (SES) was based on the occupation of the higher wage earner. Two categories of SES were used: middle to upper middle class (57% of the sample) included managerial, professional, technical, sales, and administrative positions; and lower middle to lower class (43%) included production, service. laborer, craft positions, and unemployed. As a second means of describing the family's SES, we noted that families with higher SES levels in Mexico send their children to schools or day-care centers that are private, charge tuition fees, and are located in residential areas. Families with lower SES levels send their children to gov- ernment-supported schools or day-care centers that are located in densely popu- lated areas of the city. For the present sample. five of the seven research sites (7 1 %) reflected day-care centers and preschools typically selected by Mexican families with higher SES levels. Overall, relative to the larger Mexican popula- tion, the sample was biased toward women who were older, married, better edu- cated, and from the higher SES category.

The average age of the focus children was 3.37 years ( S D = 1.19). Of those children sampled. 17.2% were 1 -year-olds, 22.6% were 2-year-olds, 29.9% were 3-year-olds, and 30.3% were 4- to 5-year-olds; 5 5 8 were girls.

The first author had established long-term working relationships with the directors of the day-care centers and preschools by conducting other research studies in these settings. sponsored by the Mexican Social Security Institute, and by providing workshops and consulting services for the day-care centers and preschools. Consequently, an important level of trust between the researcher and directors had already been developed before this study was presented for consid- eration. In turn, the parents whose children attended these institutions trusted the judgment of their respective day-care or preschool director and willingly partic-

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Solis-Carnara & Fox 469

ipated in projects approved by the director. Consequently, very high rates could be expected for participation in research programs.

Procedure

After the present study had been formally approved by all agency directors, each participating mother was provided with a packet including a letter of expla- nation, a demographic form, and the Parent Behavior Checklist (PBC; Fox, 1994). The parents completed the PBC at home or while waiting for their child at the day-care center or preschool. A research assistant was available to assist parents as needed.

The PBC. a 100-item rating scale, measures parenting of young children who range in age from 1 year to 4 years 1 1 months. I t consists of three subscales, empirically derived through factor analyses: (a) Expectations: 50 items that mea- sure parents’ developmental expectations (“My child should be able to feed himherself’); (b) Discipline: 30 items that assess parents’ responses to children’s problem behaviors (“I yell at my child for spilling food”); and (c) Nurturing: 20 items that measure specific parent behaviors that promote a child’s psychologi- cal growth (“I read to my child at bedtime”). The items are written at a third- grade reading level. Parents rate each item using a 4-point scale ranging from almost always/always (4) to almost nevednever (1). Higher scores on the Expec- tations subscale are associated with higher parental expectations. Higher scores on the Discipline subscale are associated with more frequent use of punishment by parents (corporal punishment, such as spanking; or yelling). Higher scores on the Nurturing subscale suggest more frequent use of positive nurturing activities by parents with their young children.

Fox ( 1992) studied a representative sample of 1,140 mothers from a large urban area in the United States and reported the following internal consistencies for each subscale, using coefficient alpha: Expectations = .97. Discipline = .91, and Nunur- ing = 32. Test-retest reliabilities for these subscales determined through two administrations of the PBC separated by at least 1 week were the following: Expec- tations = .98, Discipline = 37, and Nurturing = 31. Developmental sensitivity of the PBC was shown by its ability to distinguish between parents with children of different ages (Fox & Bentley, 1992). In one study, responses on the PBC were not influenced by a social desirability response set (Peters & Fox, 1993).

For the present study, the PBC was initially translated into Spanish by the first author, a bilingual researcher living in Mexico. Words common to the dif- ferent dialects of Spanish were used. A back translation was performed by a bilin- gual graduate student with Puerto Rican ancestry. The wording was reviewed, and minor changes in the Spanish translation were made.

Reliability sample. From the original Mexican sample of 22 I mothers, a random subsample of 49 mothers was selected to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the

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PBC. The parent characteristics in the reliability sample closely approximated the larger sample (60% of mothers were 30 years of age or older, 77% were married, and 6 I c/c were froni middle to upper middle SES levels). The average age of the focus children was 3.1 years ( S D = 1.19). and there were 20 boys and 29 girls. The mothers in the reliability sample completed the PBC twice. separated by at least 1 week.

Results

Rrlicihility. Coefficient alpha was computed as a measure of internal consistency for the three PBC subscales. The resulting coefficients for these subscales were .9S for Expectations. .87 for Discipline, and .83 for Nurturing. The mean interitem correlations for each subscale were .2S for Expectations, .22 for Discipline. and .30 for Nurturing. Correlations computed between PBC sub- scale scores yielded the following results: Expectations/Discipline = .26, Expectations/Nurturing = 3 8 . and Discipline/Nurturing = -.I9 (all p s < .01). Test-retest reliability scores computed for the subsample of 49 mothers were .96 for the Expectations subscale. 3 8 for Discipline, and .91 for Nurturing. Paired t- test scores comparing subscale scores between test-retest data were not signifi- cant for the Expectations or Nurturing subscales (I, > .05). hut they were signif- icant for the Discipline subscale, t(48) = 2.48.17 = .017. The mothers’ discipline scores decreased from the first ( M = 46.9. S D = 10.5) to the second administra- tion of the PBC ( M = 45. I . SD = 10.6).

Kilidity. To assess the developmental sensitivity of the PBC. we divided the sam- ple of 221 thcus children into four chronological age-range groups: Group I = up to I .99 years old. Group 2 = 2.0 to 2.99 years old, Group 3 = 3.0 to 3.99 years old. and Group 4 = 4.0 years old o r older. Scores for each of the three PBC sub- scales were analyzed using 2 x 4 (Sex x Age Group) analyses of variance.

For the Expectations subscale. a significant main effect was found for age. F(3 , 213) = 78.9.1’ < .001. Sheffi’s test ( p < .0S) indicated that the parents of 1 - year-olds ( M = 100) differed significantly in their expectations from the parents of 2-year-olds ( M = 132). 3-year-olds ( M = 137). and 4-year-olds ( M = 160). The latter three age groups all differed significantly from each other. There were no main effects for sex o r interaction effect for the Expectations subscale.

For the Discipline subscale, a significant main effect was found for age, F(3 , 2 13) = 7.7. p < .001. Sheffi’s test revealed that the parents of I-year-olds ( M = 43) differed significantly in discipline used from the parents of 3-year-olds (M = 50) and 4-year-olds ( M = 53). The parents of 2-year-olds ( M = 47) also differed from the parents of 4-year-olds; no other between-group comparisons were significant. There were no main effects for sex or interaction effect for the Discipline subscale.

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For the Nurturing subscale, there were no significant main or interaction effects. However, there was a trend 0, = ,052) for the parents of girls to have high- er nurturing scores (M = 56.7) than the parents of boys (M = 54.5).

As a second measure of content validity, we computed item-construct corre- lations for each subscale. The average item-construct correlations were as fol- lows: Expectations = .54 (range = .14-.77,92% of items > 30); Discipline = .49 (range = .22-.70,97% of items > .30); and Nurturing = .48 (range = .24-52; 97% of items > .30).

Maternal and Family Fucrors

Because the influence of the focus children‘s ages on two of the three PBC subscales had been established, we used multiple analyses of covariance (MAN- COVAs) to analyze the dependent variables (expectations, discipline, and nurtur- ing scores on the PBC) by the independent variables (maternal age, marital sta- tus, education, and family SES level), with the focus child’s age as the covariate. The first MANCOVA included maternal age and marital status as the indepen- dent variables. To ensure a sufficient sample size in each cell for the MANCO- VA, we recategorized maternal age as either younger (29 years old or younger) or older (30 years old or older). A significant maternal age by marital status inter- action effect was found, F(3, 214) = 3.01, p = .031. Univariate F tests indicated significance only for the nurturing scores (p = .006). (See Table 1 for the adjust- ed mean nurturing scores for the four groups of mothers.)

The younger, unmarried mothers reported the lowest nurturing scores. A sig- nificant main effect was found for maternal age, F(3,214) = 4.17, p = .007. Uni- variate F tests indicated significance for the scores on the Discipline 0, = .024) and Nurturing subscales (p = .003). The adjusted mean discipline scores were higher for the younger mothers than for the older mothers (see Table I ); nurtur- ing scores were lower for the younger mothers than for the older mothers. In addi- tion, a significant main effect was found for marital status, F(3, 2 14) = 5.10, p = .002. Univariate F tests indicated Significance only for the nurturing scores 0, = .001). The adjusted mean nurturing scores were higher for the married mothers than for the unmarried mothers (see Table 1).

The second MANCOVA included family SES and maternal education as the independent variables. No significant maternal education by family SES level interaction effects were found. A significant main effect was found for maternal education, F(6,374) = 2.87. p = .01. Univariate F tests indicated significance only for the nurturing scores (p = .002). Separate analyses of covariance, with educa- tion level as the independent variable, the focus child’s age as the covariate, and nurturing scores as the dependent variable, indicated that the mothers with only elementary schooling had significantly 0, < .001) lower nurturing scores than the mothers with secondary and postsecondary education; there also was a trend 0, = ,056) for the latter two groups to differ in their nurturing scores (see Table I) .

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TABLE 1 Adjusted Mean Expectations, Discipline, and Nurturing Scores for

MANOVAs, With Mothers' Marital Status, Age, SES, and Education Levels as Independent Variables and Focus Children's Ages as the Covariate

Maternal factors ~~

I? Expectations Discipline Nurturing

Younger. married Older. married Younger. unmarried Older. unmarried

Younger Older Married Unmarried Elementary education Secondary education Postsecondary education Lower SES Higher SES

63 106

17 35

80 141

169 52 SO 79 92 95

126

1 39.4 137.3 134.2 141.2

136.8 139.2

138.3 137.7

138.7 140.5 I10.0 I34.4** 145.0*'"

49. I 48.0 53.8 46.4

s 1 .s* 47.2* 48.6 50. 1

52.1 47.8 49.0

5 1.8* 47.4"

56.4** 56.8** 46.6** 55.7**

5 1 .5** S6.2**

56.6** 5 1.2** 50.9** 56.8** 58.O**

S3.6* 56.8*

A significant main effect was also found for family SES. F(3. 186) = 5.35, p = .001. Univariate F tests indicated significance for the expectations 0, = .W), discipline (p = .025). and nurturing scores (p = .041). The adjusted mean expecta- tion scores were lower for the mothers with lower SES levels than for the mothers with higher SES levels: discipline scores were higher for the mothers with lower SES scores than for those with higher SES levels; and nurturing scores were lower for those with lower SES levels than for those with higher SES levels (see Table I ) .

Discussion

We examined parenting practices and developmental expectations in a sam- ple of 211 Mexican mothers with young children. As recommended by Knight, Tein. Shell, and Roosa ( 1992). we evaluated the psychometric properties of the study's instrument, the Parent Behavior Checklist (PBC), with the Mexican sam- ple first. Regarding reliability, high internal consistencies and test-retest reliabil- ities were found for the PBC subscales (.80s and .90s). These findings are con- sistent with those reported for a normative sample of 1,140 mothers in the United States (Fox. 1994). The finding that a subsample of Mexican mothers signifi- cantly reduced their discipline scores on retesting may reflect a tendency to respond to this subscale in a more socially desirable manner over time. These mothers may have wanted to portray themselves as using less corporal and ver- bal punishment than they originally indicated.

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Solis-Camara & Fox 473

Correlations computed between PBC subscale scores were similar to those found for mothers in the United States (Fox, Platz, & Bentley, 1995). As mater- nal expectations increase, so do discipline and nurturing practices. However, dis- cipline and nurturing are inversely related for Mexican and U.S. mothers (the more frequently a mother uses positive nurturing practices, the less frequently she relies on corporal punishment for discipline).

Regarding validity, the PBC’s Expectation subscale successfully discrimi- nated between Mexican mothers of 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children; they had similar expectations for their male and female children. The Mexican mothers tended to increase their use of corporal punishment as the child’s age increased, independent of the child’s sex. Nurturing practices were not significantly influ- enced by the child’s sex or age. In their analysis of data on 1,056 mothers of young children in the United States, Fox and Bentley (1992) also found that the PBC’s Expectation subscale successfully discriminated between mothers with children of different ages.

Unlike the Mexican sample, the U.S. mothers had higher expectations for their girls than for their boys. The mothers in the United States, like their Mexi- can counterparts, tended to increase their use of corporal punishment as the child’s age increased, independent of the child’s sex. Nurturing among the Mex- ican mothers was not significantly influenced by the child’s sex or age, a finding that is similar to findings from U.S. samples.

The content validity of the PBC for the Mexican sample was further sup- ported by the item-construct correlations found. Item-construct correlations in the 3 0 to S O range are typically viewed as substantial (Reynolds, 1989). For the PBC subscales, the majority of items (over 90%) correlated above .30 with their respective constructs. Overall, these preliminary psychometric findings suggest that the PBC had good reliability and validity data for Mexican mothers, adding initial support for its use with this population for research purposes.

The results from the analyses of maternal and family factors in the Mexican sample were in the expected directions. Younger mothers used more frequent dis- cipline and less nurturing with their young children than older mothers did. Mar- ried mothers nurtured their children more than unmarried mothers; young, unmar- ried mothers nurtured their children the least. Education level also was related to nurturing practices, with lower nurturing scores associated with lower education levels and higher nurturing scores associated with higher education levels.

SES level was the most influential factor affecting parenting expectations and practices in the Mexican sample. Mothers from higher SES levels held higher developmental expectations for their children, used discipline less frequently, and used nurturing practices more frequently than mothers from lower SES levels did. These findings regarding the influence of maternal and family factors on parent- ing among Mexican mothers are consistent with those from mothers of young children in the United States (Fox, Platz, & Bentley, 1995).

The findings from this investigation of Mexican culture and its impact on par-

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entity practices with young children iire preliminary. We avoided possible conta- mination from acculturation by studying mothers i n their own country. Most strik- ing of the results are the general similarities between Mexican mothers and their counterparts in the United States. This finding may be partially explained by the age ofthe mothers' focus children: as Bornstein ( 1991 ) stated, "There are very spe- cial and exacting constraints and demands associated with parenting very young children. and opportunistically these may be more universal than not" (p. 13).

There were a number of limitations in the present study. The sample was biased toward older mothers whd were married. better educated, and of higher SES than is typical for the average Mexican family. I n addition. no attempt was made to capture the cultural diversity existing within Mexico (Spanish ancestry: native Indians). As a result, caution is necessary when generalizing the present results to the larger Mexican population. Obtaining more representative samples in future studies. based on Mexican economic and educational standards. is necessary.

Only one self-report instrument was used. Unique aspects of parenting young children in Mexico may no t have been captured. because the PBC was developed and nornied on mothers in the United States. Researchers should consider using multiple measures. including those developed and norined i n Mexico, a s well as direct observation nieasures o f parent-child interactions (Bronstein. 1994).

Finally. in the present study, we did not directly compare Mexican and U.S. families: instead, we relied o n existing data for mothers in the United States who used the same instrument. Matching samples of families from both countries on important variables known to influence the socialization process is recornmcnd- ed for future research.

Despite these limitations. a preliminary hypothesis for cultural universality regarding at least sonie aspects of very early parent-child interactions seems rea- sonuble. The demands of very young children (Earls. 1980) may produce similar responses i n parents across different cultures: this theory is consistent with a re- ciprocal interaction framework for understanding the socialization of young chil- dren (Maccoby. 1992). I f this hypothesis is supported through continued research efforts. the education and intervention programs designed to improve early par- ent-child interactions i n the United States may also have applications in Mexico. D

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