Western society wants their adolescents to develop as an independent member of the family.  The often-biased research data spawned in the U.S. makes this abundantly clear.  Collectivist families would rather have their young adults remain under the authority of the family and often receive negative reactions to the demands they place on adolescents.  How a society prepares their next generation to take on more adult roles takes on a whole new significance when placed in the context of their specific culture.  When we break away from our societies misconceptions about correctness we open the doors for a new realm of understanding.
 

What Are Parenting Styles?

     A parenting style explains how the parent responds to his or her child.  A parent’s style predicts how close he or she is with the child and what is expected of that child.  Researchers identify four parenting styles that can be applied to people of any culture.  They debate what the implications of a specific style means to the developing child but have unfairly focused their effort on Western children.  Some people have used the results to gauge the success of parents from other cultures (Herz et al, 1999).  The researchers’ data only showcases the Western affection for independent children and should not be used to draw reliable conclusions about other cultures.
 

    · Indulgent.Indulgent parents “are more responsive than they are demanding.  They 
      are nontraditional and lenient, do not require mature behavior, allow considerable 
      self-regulation, and avoid confrontation” (Baumrind, 1991, p.62). Parents who do not 
      demand much out of their children, but still respond well to the child’s needs, have kids who have
      adept social ability and a good self-esteem.  However, children from a permissive home also  
      demonstrate behavioral and scholastic problems  (Darling, 1999).

    · Authoritarian.Authoritarian parents “are obedience- and status- oriented, and 
       expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation” (Baumrind, 1991, p. 62).
       Children from a controlled family environment have neither behavioral problems nor a high    
       self-esteem, but they do perform well at school (Darling, 1999).

    · Authoritative. Authoritative parents “monitor and impart clear standards for their   
       children’s conduct.  They are assertive, but not intrusive and restrictive” (Baumrind,  
       1991, p.62). These children are proficient both at school and in social spheres (Darling, 1999).

    · Uninvolved. Uninvolved parents do not expect much out of their children and they 
       do not pay them much attention. Uninvolved parenting styles, while accounting for some  
       neglectful behavior, fall within the realm of “normal.”  Their children prove themselves to be     
       incompetent in all measures (Darling, 1999).
 
 

Where Does Parenting Style Research Fail?
 

    Western society values autonomous children.  U.S. researchers often generate data that monitors a parent’s success in passing down Western ideals to their children and adolescents.  Their findings re-enforce Americans’ ethnocentric notion that what they do is right and what others do is unimportant (Sprott, 1994).  Western research is unfair because:

        · Some people attempt to apply their standard of individualistic parenting 
        styles learned by U.S. adolescents to criticize collectivist cultures (Herz  
        and Gullone, 1999), (Fulgini, Tseng, and Lam, 1999).

      · Each culture prepares their next generation to take on parenting roles  
        based on their tradition and unique values (DeLozche and Gottlieb,    
        2000).       
 

    Researchers relate much of their gathered data on these parenting styles to a Western belief that people are best served when they are self-serving.  The studies done on these four parenting styles suggest that the authoritative parent provides the child with the best opportunity.  This notion reflects the independent nature of the West, where the studies took place.  Westerners often misdiagnose another culture’s failure to prepare their adolescents to take on adult roles when those roles do not so closely reflect our own (Sprott, 1994).  We need to keep in mind that “their value orientation must be understood on its own terms” (Sprott, 1994, p. 1118).
 

How Are Other Cultures Different?

     Collectivistic families are found throughout Asia.  A person raised in a collectivist environment recognizes his family obligation.  All members have a responsibility to the family.  “Cultures with a collectivistic orientation emphasize the goals and interests of the group over those of individual members” (Fuligni et al., 1999, p.1030).  Asian adolescents commit themselves to the family in a way that their western counterparts would find quite foreign.

A collective family and their traditions contrast against U.S. individualism and it implies:

    · The Western style of child-care that produces autonomous beings is but one way to 
      raise healthy, well-adjusted children.

    · “The recent growth of cross-cultural research has posed a significant challenge to the 
      validity of Western findings.  This largely has been due to the insistence that the 
      individual can be fully understood only in the context of the culture in which they are 
      embedded” (Herz et al., 1999, p.744).
 

     Asian parents raise adolescents who respect the authority of both the immediate and extended families.  They recognize the family’s power, including brothers and sisters.  They rely on their family and will not wander far from it even when married and view childbirth as a way to extend and perpetuate their collective beliefs (Fuligni et al., 1999).  Asian parents celebrate success in child rearing when they have raised an adult who relies on their family.

     Western research methods designed to test the parenting success often do not accurately control for the collectivist traditions generally found in the East (Herz et al, 1999).  People cannot predict, with any accuracy, what kind of parent an adolescent will make if they take the person out of his cultural context.  As social beings, parents demonstrate how deeply ingrained childcare customs are.  People will maintain cultural parenting traditions even when relocated to foreign soil.  Asian adolescents growing up in the U.S. “retain the traditional values of assisting and respecting their family” (Fuligni et al., p.1042).
 

How Can We Understand Foreign Cultures?

     A person cannot easily decipher what another culture deems acceptable.  I have demonstrated the imbalanced research that many Western studies have proposed and the negative impact it can have on a cross-cultural understanding.  Sprott (1994) proposed a strategy when comparing a foreign culture to one’s own when conducting research, but it can also be useful for the layman who recognizes the need to appreciate another culture.

(1) List words that are associated with childrearing of the OTHER culture.

(2) Analyze meanings associated with key words.  Helpful are dictionary definitions and listings of associated uses of words as one might do for a concept analysis.  Are there negative connotations associated with the description of the OTHER culture?

(3) Choose a major focal point of contrast and use it as an anchoring concept for further study.

(4) Consider the philosophical and historical underpinnings of the key concept for the DOMINANT culture and the OTHER culture (given availability for the latter).  How has this concept developed over time and under what conditions?

(5) Conduct a literature review of the topic for BOTH cultures on specific aspects of childrearing and note the assumptions embedded in the research questions, the biases in the methods, the characteristics of the samples, and the features of the context.  Are research questions and results framed in a polarized manner?  How convincing are the results over a number of studies on the same topic?  What are the gaps in knowledge?  What is the evidence for continuity or discontinuity of values and beliefs over time?