Children's Nurturance and Self-Determination Rights: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Increasing awareness of children's developmental needs and rights has led to a global move toward giving children and adolescents a greater degree of autonomy in the decisions affecting their own lives. This article presents two studies examining the role of culture and religion in 12‐year‐old...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social issues 2008-12, Vol.64 (4), p.835-856
Main Authors: Cherney, Isabelle D., Shing, Yee L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Advocacy
Autonomy
Buddhists
Children
Children & youth
Children's rights
China
Christians
Cross cultural studies
Cross-cultural analysis
Cultural Groups
Culture
Human rights
Malaysia
Public opinion
Religion
Religions
Self Determination
Switzerland
U.S.A
Youth
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Summary:Increasing awareness of children's developmental needs and rights has led to a global move toward giving children and adolescents a greater degree of autonomy in the decisions affecting their own lives. This article presents two studies examining the role of culture and religion in 12‐year‐old children's perceptions of their rights across three cultures. The first study showed that U.S. and Swiss children advocated for more self‐determination rights than Chinese‐Malaysian children; U.S. and Chinese‐Malaysian children advocated for more nurturance rights than Swiss children. Within the Chinese‐Malaysian sample, Buddhist children were more likely to advocate for self‐determination rights as compared to Christian children. Using a revised Children's Rights Interview (rCRI), the second study showed that on average U.S. and Chinese‐Malaysian children were more likely to advocate for self‐determination rights than nurturance rights. However, there were no significant differences between the two cultural groups in terms of the overall responses. The results of the studies are discussed in terms of the cultural orientation and constructivist frameworks.
ISSN:0022-4537
1540-4560
DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00591.x