Responsiveness in mother-infant social interactions among immigrant and nonmigrant families: Japanese, South Korean, South American, and European American.

A culture learning perspective motivated the present study of the acculturation of responsiveness in mother-infant interactions. Several conceptual and analytic features of responsiveness in mother-infant social interactions were examined: Temporal contingency, mean differences in responsiveness among and within dyads, attunement of mother and infant responsiveness withing dyads, and the influence of acculturation on individual responsiveness. Methodologically, acculturation was assessed at group and individual levels in immigrant Japanese, South Korean, and South American dyads in comparison with nonmigrant dyads in their respective cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, and South America) and their single common culture of destination (United States).

Three Cultural Contrasts in Search of Specificities and Commonalities: Acculturation in Japanese, South American, and South Korean Immigrant Families.

Three cultural comparisons address specificities and commonalities in the acculturation of infant behaviors and maternal parenting practices. Immigrant Japanese, Korean, and South American families were compared to nonmigrant families in their respective cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, and South America) and their single common culture of destination (United States). Altogether, 13 infant behaviors and 15 maternal parenting practices in 408 5½-month-old infants and their mothers were examined.

Synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions revealed through timed event sequences.

This report extends a previous cross-cultural study of synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions (Bornstein et al., 2015) to immigrant samples. Immigrant dyads from three cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, South America) living in the same culture of destination (the United States) were compared to nonmigrant dyads in those same cultures of origin and to nonmigrant European American dyads living in the same culture of destination (the United States).

Comparative and Individual Perspectives on Mother-Infant Interactions with People and Objects among South Koreans, Korean Americans, and European Americans.

Comparative and individual acculturation of mother and infant person-directed and object-directed behaviors and interactions were investigated among 183 South Korean, Korean American, and European American mothers and their 5½-month-old infants. We analyzed and compared mean levels in mothers' and infants' person- and object-directed behaviors and partner responsiveness and initiation of these behaviors in dyads in the three cultural groups. Among Korean American dyads, we also analyzed individual-level variation in the acculturation of these behaviors and interactions.

The Acculturation of Parenting Cognitions: A Comparison of South Korean, Korean Immigrant, and European American Mothers.

A three-culture comparison - native South Korean, Korean immigrants to the United States, and native European American mothers - of two types of parenting cognitions - attributions and self-perceptions - was undertaken to explore cultural contributions to parenting cognitions and their adaptability among immigrant mothers. Attributions and self-perceptions of parenting were chosen because they influence parenting behavior and children's development and vary cross-culturally. One hundred seventy-nine mothers of 20-month-old children participated: 73 South Korean, 50 Korean immigrant, and 56 European American.

Productive Vocabulary among Three Groups of Bilingual American Children: Comparison and Prediction.

The importance of input factors for bilingual children's vocabulary development was investigated. Forty-seven Argentine, 42 South Korean, 51 European American, 29 Latino immigrant, 26 Japanese immigrant, and 35 Korean immigrant mothers completed checklists of their 20-month-old children's productive vocabularies. Bilingual children's vocabulary sizes in each language separately were consistently smaller than their monolingual peers but only Latino bilingual children had smaller total vocabularies than monolingual children.

Modalities of infant-mother interaction in Japanese, Japanese American immigrant, and European American dyads.

Cultural variation in relations and moment-to-moment contingencies of infant-mother person-oriented and object-oriented interactions were compared in 118 Japanese, Japanese American immigrant, and European American dyads with 5.5-month-olds. Infant and mother person-oriented behaviors were related in all cultural groups, but infant and mother object-oriented behaviors were related only among European Americans.

Mother-infant socioemotional contingent responding in families by adoption and birth.

Contingencies of three maternal and two infant socioemotional behaviors that are universal components of mother-infant interaction were investigated at 5 months in 62 mothers (31 who had adopted domestically and 31 who had given birth) and their first children (16 males in each group). Patterns of contingent responding were largely comparable in dyads by adoption and birth, although the two groups of mothers responded differentially to the two types of infant signals. Mothers in both groups were more responsive than infants in social and vocal interactions, but infants were more responsive in maternal speech-infant attention interactions.

Parenting knowledge: experiential and sociodemographic factors in European American mothers of young children.

Knowledge of child rearing and child development is relevant to parenting and the well-being of children. Using a sociodemographically heterogeneous sample of 268 European American mothers of 2-year-olds, we assessed the state of mothers' parenting knowledge; compared parenting knowledge in groups of mothers who varied in terms of parenthood and social status; and identified principal sources of mothers' parenting knowledge in terms of social factors, parenting supports, and formal classes. On the whole, European American mothers demonstrated fair but less than complete basic parenting knowledge; age, education, and rated helpfulness of written materials each uniquely contributed to mothers' knowledge.

Child Temperament in Three U.S. Cultural Groups.

Temperament among children (N = 111 20-month-olds) from three cultural backgrounds in the United States (Latin American, Japanese American, and European American) was investigated. In accord with a biobehavioral universalist perspective on the expression of early temperament, few significant group differences in child temperament were found, regardless of cultural background. However, factors associated with maternal reports of child temperament differed by cultural group.

Child and mother play in three U.S. cultural groups: comparisons and associations.

Child and mother play (n = 113 20-month-olds) among South American Latino immigrants, Japanese immigrants, and European Americans in the United States was investigated. Culturally universal patterns of play dominated the findings. For example, no cultural differences in the prevalence of exploratory or symbolic play were found for either children or their mothers.

Mother-Infant Person- and Object-Directed Interactions in Latino Immigrant Families: A Comparative Approach.

Cultural variation in durations, relations, and contingencies of mother-infant person-and object-directed behaviors were examined for 121 nonmigrant Latino mother-infant dyads in South America, Latina immigrants from South America and their infants living in the United States, and European American mother-infant dyads. Nonmigrant Latina mothers and infants engaged in person-directed behaviors longer than Latino immigrant or European American mothers and infants. Mother and infant person-directed behaviors were positively related; mother and infant object-related behaviors were related for some cultural groups but not others.

Expressive Vocabulary in Language Learners From Two Ecological Settings in Three Language Communities.

This study compared multiple characteristics of girls' and boys' vocabulary in 6 different linguistic communities-1 urban and 1 rural setting in each of 3 countries. Two hundred fifty-two mothers in Argentina, Italy, and the United States completed vocabulary checklists for their 20-month-old children. Individual variability was substantial within each linguistic community.

"Who is sitting across from me?" Immigrant mothers' knowledge of parenting and children's development.

Objective: Although parents' knowledge about child development and child rearing is relevant to pediatric practice, very little is known about immigrant parents' knowledge. To fill this gap in research, this study investigated parenting knowledge in 2 groups of mothers who had immigrated to the United States.

Design: Japanese and South American immigrant mothers of 2-year-olds completed a standardized survey of parenting knowledge and provided information about sociodemographic and infant health status.

Cross-linguistic analysis of vocabulary in young children: spanish, dutch, French, hebrew, italian, korean, and american english.

The composition of young children's vocabularies in 7 contrasting linguistic communities was investigated. Mothers of 269 twenty-month-olds in Argentina, Belgium, France, Israel, Italy, the Republic of Korea, and the United States completed comparable vocabulary checklists for their children. In each language and vocabulary size grouping (except for children just learning to talk), children's vocabularies contained relatively greater proportions of nouns than other word classes.

Mothers' parenting cognitions in cultures of origin, acculturating cultures, and cultures of destination.

Japanese and South American immigrant mothers' parenting cognitions (attributions and self-perceptions) were compared with mothers from their country of origin (Japan and Argentina, respectively) and European American mothers in the United States. Participants were 231 mothers of 20-month-old children. Generally, South American immigrant mothers' parenting cognitions more closely resembled those of mothers in the United States, whereas Japanese immigrant mothers' cognitions tended to be similar to those of Japanese mothers or intermediate between Japanese and U.

Social and Didactic Parenting Behaviors and Beliefs Among Japanese American and South American Mothers of Infants.

Mothers of Japanese or South American ancestry living in the United States participated. Similarities and differences in mothers' social and didactic parenting behaviors and beliefs, and direct relations between behaviors and beliefs in these 2 domains of interaction, are reported. In accordance with a common collectivist orientation, Japanese American and South American mothers reported that they engaged in more social than didactic interactions with their infants, and South American mothers more than Japanese American mothers.