[The role of a cultural factor in the educational practices of mothers of young children].

Through 3 groups of mothers, defined as belonging to 3 different geographical areas which are considered to represent cultural heritage, a series of educational practices towards infant under one year of age was studied. Among factors acting on practices which further the infants' contacts with others and exploration of environment, the usual sociodemographic characteristics play a part which is not greater than the one of the personal mother's dynamic and mostly of the cultural context (geographical area), which occurs as the first variable in a stepwise regression. When the child is 3 years old, durability of the maternal behavior is brought to the fore. The authors discuss the repercussion of these differences on the future of the children belonging to each of these groups.