TY - JOUR
T1 - African American and European American Mothers' Limit-Setting with Their 36 Month-Old Children
AU - LeCuyer, Elizabeth Anne
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments The project described in this publication was supported in part by the University of Rochester CTSA award number UL1 RR024160 from the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health. The author would like to thank Judy Brasch, Jahaira Capellan, Jobena Robinson, Christina White, and Kiera Anderson for their assistance with data collection, management, and/ or coding, Cornelia Porter for her thoughtful review of the findings, and Din Chen for his statistical expertise.
Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - Current literature suggests that African American (AA) parents may use higher levels of control and more authoritarian decision-making and disciplinary practices, but sometimes with less negative effects relative to European-American (EA) parents. Descriptive observational studies of actual limit-setting and disciplinary behaviors in AA families, however, are lacking. In this study, maternal limit-setting behaviors and patterns were observed, described, and compared in 50 AA and 66 EA mothers (ages 18-53) with their 36 month-old children. Controlling for demographic risk and children's gender, there were no ethnic differences in the distribution of maternal limit-setting patterns, and an authoritative limit-setting pattern was the most common pattern in both ethnic groups. AA and EA mothers using an authoritative pattern used firm control along with greater use of less-directive and empathic strategies such as reasoning, distractions, and sensitive support of their child's autonomy. These data provide support for the normative use of age-appropriate authoritative limit-setting in AA and EA mothers with 36 month-old children.
AB - Current literature suggests that African American (AA) parents may use higher levels of control and more authoritarian decision-making and disciplinary practices, but sometimes with less negative effects relative to European-American (EA) parents. Descriptive observational studies of actual limit-setting and disciplinary behaviors in AA families, however, are lacking. In this study, maternal limit-setting behaviors and patterns were observed, described, and compared in 50 AA and 66 EA mothers (ages 18-53) with their 36 month-old children. Controlling for demographic risk and children's gender, there were no ethnic differences in the distribution of maternal limit-setting patterns, and an authoritative limit-setting pattern was the most common pattern in both ethnic groups. AA and EA mothers using an authoritative pattern used firm control along with greater use of less-directive and empathic strategies such as reasoning, distractions, and sensitive support of their child's autonomy. These data provide support for the normative use of age-appropriate authoritative limit-setting in AA and EA mothers with 36 month-old children.
KW - African American
KW - Child discipline
KW - Cultural diversity
KW - Parental discipline
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U2 - 10.1007/s10826-012-9690-1
DO - 10.1007/s10826-012-9690-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84892477873
VL - 23
SP - 275
EP - 284
JO - Journal of Child and Family Studies
JF - Journal of Child and Family Studies
SN - 1062-1024
IS - 2
ER -