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Cross-Cultural Perspective on Adolescent Parenting: 
Efe and Korea

Erin Deihl

Why do adolescents need to learn how to be a parent?

In order to become an adult, adolescents are learning lots of new roles. One of these roles is learning to be a parent.

  • At age 15-19, roughly 99 out of 1000 girls became pregnant in the United States in 1996. 
  • This is a very young age (1). 
Exposure to infants has been limited in our culture.  Many adolescents were never babysitters or had to take care of younger siblings. If an infant makes a mess in his diaper, often the adolescent passes him back to his mother.

Why take a cross-cultural perspective?

We must look cross-culturally in order to find new, effective ways of teaching adolescents to become parents.  On this page, we will be looking at how the Efe and Korean societies have socialized their adolescents to become parents.

Who are the Efe?
The Efe people of Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  They are also known as “pygmies” because of their short stature. They are a semi-nomadic, hunter-gatherer society(2) .

Alloparenting
The Efe people practice alloparenting. This means that individuals other than the parents provide care for children.  This care can come from:

  • Siblings, Male and Female
  • Grandparents
  • Older members of the community(3)
How do Efe adolescents practice alloparenting?
According to Efe tradition, a newborn will be cared for by other members of the community. Siblings often take on this responsibility.
  • Infants will spend 39% of their time away from their mothers in the first 3 weeks of life and in the care of others.
  • By eighteen weeks, 60% of their time is spent away from their mothers.
  • Siblings are 17x more likely to practice alloparenting than nonkin.
  • Efe adolescents engage in physical contact with the baby rather than grooming and bathing it
  • The age of the alloparent affects who will do the most parenting
  • Between the ages of 0-9, boys will work take care of the infant more often than their female counterparts.
  • However, during adolescence, boys and girls demonstrate no great difference in who does the caretaking until they reach reproductive maturity(3) .
All of these experiences are giving the adolescent lots of practice of doing parental tasks.

What Benefits do Adolescents Receive from Alloparenting?
Adolescents who learn how to be parents at a young age are ensuring their own children’s and grandchildren’s survival.  They are teaching their children how to be a part of the culture, how to be economically self-sufficient, self-sustainable, and how to raise the next generation(2).

Korean Approach to Teaching Adolescents Parenting Skills
Korean children are allowed to play without any discipline until the age of 2 (5). At that time, they become the charges of their older brothers and sisters or older cousins(4) . They are encouraged to participate in village activities.  

Discrimination between the Sexes
By age 4, Korean girls feel that they are inferior.  After the "free for all" period, the girls are required to live in the house and learn domestic chores including child-care(5).  Girls were married between the ages of 12 and 20 (4).  Males are not required to learn these skills.

Missionary Influence
Christian missionaries in Korea changed how adolescents were taught how to be parents.  Instead of a hands-on approach, child-care skills were taught in missionary-run schools(4).

Family Socialization Perspective
The family unit is very strong in Korea.

  • Korean individuals do not see themselves as being separate from the family unit
  • By taking care of a younger sibling, the adolescent is strengthening family bonds(6).
What does this mean for adolescents in the United States?
Exposing our teenagers to the caretaking of young children may:
  • Reduce teen pregnancy rates
  • Give a greater appreciation to the joys and challenges of being a parent
  • Make the teenager a better parent when they do become parents
REFERENCES
 (1) The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (No Date). Facts and Stats.  http://www.teenpregnancy.org/fedprate.htm [2001, 24 February].

 (2) Tronick, E.Z., Morelli, G.A., & Winn, S. (1987). Multiple caretaking of Efe (pygmy) infants. American Anthropologist,89, 96-105.

 (3) Ivey, P.K. (2000). Cooperative reproduction in Ituri Forest hunter gatherers: who cares  for Efe infants? Current Anthropology,41 (5), 856-866.

 (4)Underwood, H.G. (1908). The call of Korea. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

 (5) Janelli, R.L. & Janelli, D.Y. (1982). Ancestor worship and Korean society. EHRAF
  Collection of Ethnography. <http://ets.umdl.umich.edu/e/ehraf/> [2001, February
  24].

 (6)Maday, B.C. & Szalay, L.B. (1976). Psychological correlates of family socialization in  the United States and Korea. Fuchs, E.S. (Ed.), Youth in a Changing World: Cross-cultural perspectives on adolescence (pp. 273-286). The Hague: Mouton.