Sensitive parenting as a cross-cultural ideal: sensitivity beliefs of Dutch, Moroccan, and Turkish mothers in the Netherlands

The primary goal of this study is to test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal sensitive mother are similar across Dutch, Moroccan, and Turkish mothers living in the Netherlands. A total of 75 mothers with at least one child between the ages of six months and six years described their views a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Attachment & human development 2012-11, Vol.14 (6), p.601-619
Main Authors: Emmen, Rosanneke A.G., Malda, Maike, Mesman, Judi, Ekmekci, Hatice, van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Belief & doubt
beliefs
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Couple and family
Cross cultural studies
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Cultural Characteristics
culture
Educational Status
Family income
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Infant
maternal sensitivity
Middle Aged
Minority Groups - psychology
Morocco - ethnology
Mothers
Mothers - psychology
Netherlands
Parenting - ethnology
Parents & parenting
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sensitivity
Social Class
Social psychology
socio-economic status
Socioeconomic factors
Turkey - ethnology
Young Adult
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Summary:The primary goal of this study is to test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal sensitive mother are similar across Dutch, Moroccan, and Turkish mothers living in the Netherlands. A total of 75 mothers with at least one child between the ages of six months and six years described their views about the ideal sensitive mother using the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (Pederson, Moran, & Bento, 1999 ). These views were highly similar within and across cultural and socio-economic groups. Nevertheless, family income fully mediated the relationship between ethnic background and sensitivity beliefs; income of minority mothers was lower which was in turn predictive of a lower sensitivity belief score. Our findings suggest that the main behavioral markers of sensitivity are valued by mothers from different cultural backgrounds. The role of socio-economic status in sensitivity beliefs is consistent with the Family Stress Model.
ISSN:1461-6734
1469-2988
DOI:10.1080/14616734.2012.727258