automated content analysis; parental beliefs; positive parenting; qualitative and quantitative methods; semantic network analysis; Social Psychology; Cultural Studies; Anthropology
Abstract :
[en] What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures.
Barham, Elizabeth; Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil
Besson, Eliane; Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Lebanon
Blanchard, M. Annelise ; UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Boujut, Emilie; Université Paris Cité, France
Brianda, Maria Elena ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Unités de recherche interfacultaires > Research Unit for a life-Course perspective on Health and Education (RUCHE)
Brytek-Matera, Anna; University of Wroclaw, Poland
César, Filipa; Universidade do Porto, Portugal
Chen, Bin-Bin; Fudan University, China
Dorard, Géraldine; Université Paris Cité, France
dos Santos Elias, Luciana Carla; University of São Paulo, Brazil
Dunsmuir, Sandra; University College London, United Kingdom
Egorova, Natalia; Epsm-al, Saint-André-lez-lille, France
Escobar, Maria Josefina; Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago, Chile
Favez, Nicolas; University of Geneva, Switzerland
Fontaine, Anne Marie; Universidade do Porto, Portugal
Foran, Heather; University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Furutani, Kaichiro; Hokkai-Gakuen University, Sapporo-shi, Japan
Gannagé, Myrna; Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Lebanon
Gaspar, Maria; University of Coimbra, Portugal
Godbout, Lucie; Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada
Goldenberg, Amit; Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
Gross, James J.; Stanford University, United States
The authors thank the International Investigation of Parental Burnout (IIPB) Consortium (https://www.burnoutparental.com/international-consortium) for collecting and providing the data on which this study is based. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: M.M., I.R., and G.-X.L. were supported by a Coordinated Research Grant from the French Community of Belgium (ARC Grant no. 19/24-100). This fund did not exert any influence or censorship of any kind on the present work.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: M.M., I.R., and G.-X.L. were supported by a Coordinated Research Grant from the French Community of Belgium (ARC Grant no. 19/24-100). This fund did not exert any influence or censorship of any kind on the present work.
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