A Model of Family Change in Cultural Context

This reading is about the psychological study of the family with a cross-cultural comparative orientation. It attempts to provide answers to some basic questions regarding the family in context - whether there are systematic global changes in the family, what might be some of the important factors that characterize family and family change, and how they function. A model of family change is proposed to address these questions and to shed light on the variations in family patterns in different socio-cultural-economic contexts. These patterns also help understand the development of the self in family and society. It is proposed that the modernization hypothesis of \u27converging on the Western pattern\u27 with socio-economic development around the globe is not being supported by the research results from various countries. Instead, a synthetic family pattern of emotional/psychological interdependence is emerging across different contexts, as it best satisfies the two basic human needs for autonomy and relatedness

Changing life styles - changing competencies: Turkish migrant youth in Europe

"Dieser Artikel beschäftigt sich mit der Misere der türkischen jugendlichen Migranten in Europa unter dem Gesichtspunkt, dass Migration auch sozialen Wandel darstellt indem sich Lebensstile verändern, die neue Kompetenzen erforderlich machen. Damit jugendliche Migranten einen Gewinn statt einer Last für die Aufnahmegesellschaften darstellen ist eine volle Integration unumgänglich. Diese beinhaltet die Förderung von kognitiven Kompetenzen und der psychosozialen Entwicklung auch im Hinblick auf das autonom-zusammengehörige Selbst. Es werden Parallelen zwischen der Landflucht und internationaler Migration in Hinblick auf wahrgenommenen sozialen Wandel gezogen und das Türkische Frühförderungsprogramm TEEP als Beispiel angeführt. Das TEEP hat gezeigt, dass Frühförderung durch Unterstützung von nach Istanbul eingewanderten Müttern vorteilhaft für die kognitiven Kompetenzen und die psycho-soziale Entwicklung der Kinder war. Diese Effekte blieben bis ins junge Erwachsenenalter erhalten. Ähnliche Interventions- und Unterstützungsprogramme wären hochgradig förderlich für ethnische Migranten in Europa und vor allem für deutsch-türkische Jugendliche, da diese besonders schlechte Schulleistungen aufweisen. Auch die Aufnahmegesellschaften würden sehr umfangreich von einer positiven Entwicklung dieser Jugendlichen profitieren, die sich in der Verbesserung des autonom-zusammengehörigen Selbst, der kognitiven Kompetenzen und der psychologischen sowie sozio-kulturellen Anpassung widerspiegeln würde." (Autorenreferat)"This paper examines the plight of Turkish migrant youth in Europe particularly as migration involves social change in terms of changing life styles which require changing competencies. For the migrant youth to be assets, rather than problems, for the receiving society, their full integration into society should be ensured. This requires the enhancement of their cognitive competence and psycho-social development involving the autonomous-related self. Drawing parallels between rural to urban migration and international migration with regard to the experienced social change, the Turkish Early Enrichment Project (TEEP) is taken up as a case in point. TEEP showed that early childhood enrichment through supporting the mothers among rural to urban migrants in Istanbul, Turkey was beneficial for both the cognitive competence and the psycho-social development of their children. The gains were found to be sustained into young adulthood. Similar programs of intervention and support would be highly beneficial for ethnic migrants in Europe, particularly for Turkish-German youth, given the fact that they tend to do poorly in school. Immigrants' positive youth development, involving the enhancement of autonomous-related self, cognitive competence, psychological and socio-cultural adaptation, promises to provide far reaching benefits to the receiving societies, as well." (author's abstract

From Diversity to Systematic Patterns and Integrative Syntheses: A Journey in Cross-Cultural Psychology

The evolution of cross-cultural psychology started with studies of differences, advanced to examining systematic patterns and currently is involved with possible Integrative syntheses. The beginnings of cross-cultural psychology, closely allied with anthropology, involved European and North American scientists’ search for human differences in “exotic” places. With the internationalization of the field, research is now carried out mostly in contemporary societies. With large comparative data sets systematic patterns are revealed, for example in values. The next step, which may have already started, is likely to integrate cultural differences with similarities adaptive to increasingly similar urban life styles. Such syntheses promise to contribute to human wellbeing

Timing preferences for women's family life transitions: Intergenerational transmission among migrants and Dutch

This study examines the transmission of preferences regarding the timing of family-life transitions of women among migrant and native Dutch families. We study how and to what extent parental preferences, migrant origin, and family characteristics affect the child’s timing preferences. We use parent and child data (N ¼ 1,290) from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2002, 2003) and the Social Position and Provisions Ethnic Minorities Survey (2002). Regression analyses reveal that parental timing preferences regarding family-life transitions are strongly associated with the timing preferences of their children. Analyses also show that these preferences strongly vary by migrant origin, educational level, and religious involvement.The process of intergenerational transmission, however, is found to be very similar among migrants and Dutch

Parenting and child adjustment: a comparison of Turkish and English families

The links between parenting and child behaviour in cultural context have received increasing research attention. We investigated the effect of parenting on child adjustment using a multi-method design, comparing English and Turkish families. The socioeconomically diverse samples included 118 English and 100 Turkish families, each with two children aged 4–8 years. Mothers completed questionnaires as well as parent–child interaction being assessed using a structured Etch-a-Sketch task with each child separately. Children were interviewed about their relationships with their mothers using the Berkeley Puppet Interview. Multiple-group Confirmatory Analysis was used to test Measurement Invariance across groups, and a multi-informant approach was used to assess parenting. We found partial cross-cultural measurement invariance for parenting and child adjustment. Strikingly, the association between parenting and child adjustment was stronger among English families than Turkish families. Culturally distinct meanings of both parenting and child behaviour must be considered when interpreting their association

A cross-cultural examination of SNS usage intensity and managing interpersonal relationships online: the role of culture and the autonomous-related self-construal

Perception of the autonomy and relatedness of the self may be influenced by one's experiences and social expectations within a particular cultural setting. The present research examined the role of culture and the Autonomous-Related self-construal in predicting for different aspects of Social Networking Sites (SNS) usage in three Asian countries, especially focusing on those aspects serving interpersonal goals. Participants in this cross-cultural study included 305 university students from Malaysia (n = 105), South Korea (n = 113), and China (n = 87). The study explored specific social and interpersonal behaviors on SNS, such as browsing the contacts' profiles, checking for updates, and improving contact with SNS contacts, as well as the intensity of SNS use, hypothesizing that those with high intensity of use in the Asian context may be doing so to achieve the social goal of maintaining contact and keeping updated with friends. Two scales measuring activities on other users' profiles and contact with friends' profiles were developed and validated. As predicted, some cross-cultural differences were found. Koreans were more likely to use SNS to increase contact but tended to spend less time browsing contacts' profiles than the Malaysians and Chinese. The intensity of SNS use differed between the countries as well, where Malaysians reported higher intensity than Koreans and Chinese. Consistent with study predictions, Koreans were found with the highest Autonomous-Related self-construal scores. The Autonomous-Related self-construal predicted SNS intensity. The findings suggest that cultural contexts, along with the way the self is construed in different cultures, may encourage different types of SNS usage. The authors discuss study implications and suggest future research directions

Cultures and Families: a 30-nation psychological study

Η ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ ΒΡΙΣΚΕΤΑΙ ΜΕΣΑ ΣΤΟ ΑΡΧΕΙΟ PDFThe abstract is available in the PD

Chinese Malaysian Adolescents’ Social‐Cognitive Reasoning Regarding Filial Piety Dilemmas

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142977/1/cdev12725.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142977/2/cdev12725_am.pd

Security lies in obedience - Voices of young women of a slum in Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Existing literature shows that young people, especially women, have poor knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health. Many of the difficulties young women experience are related to beliefs and expectations in society making them more vulnerable to reproductive ill health. The objective of this study was to explore how young women living in a slum in Islamabad are prepared for marriage and how they understand and perceive their transition to marriage and the start of sexual and childbearing activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty qualitative interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with young women residing in a slum of Islamabad. Content analysis was used to explore how the participants represented and explained their situation and how decisions about their marriage were made.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The main theme identified was <it>security lies in obedience</it>. The two sub-themes contributing to the main theme were <it>socialization into submissiveness </it>and <it>transition into adulthood in silence</it>. The theme and the sub-themes illustrate the situation of young women in a poor setting in Pakistan.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The study demonstrates how, in a culture of silence around sexuality, young women's socialization into submissiveness lays the foundation for the lack of control over the future reproductive health that they experience.</p