TY - JOUR
T1 - The development of temperament and maternal perception of child
T2 - A cross-cultural examination in the United States and Japan
AU - Senzaki, Sawa
AU - Shimizu, Yuki
AU - Calma-Birling, Destany
N1 - Funding Information:
We appreciate members of the Child's Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Baby Lab at Saitama University who helped with data collection, coding, and analyses. We also want to sincerely thank all participating families. Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R15HD094138 to the first author and a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to the second author (No. 15KK0075 ).
PY - 2021/2/15
Y1 - 2021/2/15
N2 - Previous research shows cross-cultural differences in adult personality and child temperament, yet the developmental origin of these cultural differences remains unclear. To understand a potential role of socialization grounded in cultural values, this study investigated culturally specific maternal perceptions of child and children's development of temperament in the U.S. and Japan. Maternal perception of child was assessed via maternal interview in the U.S. (n = 42) and Japan (n = 40). Six months after the interview, child's temperament was assessed. Cross-cultural differences in maternal perception of child and child's temperament, and the relation between the two were analyzed. US-American infants scored higher on the surgency/extraversion trait than Japanese infants, whereas Japanese infants scored higher on the negative affectivity/neuroticism trait than US-American infants. US-American mothers used more positive evaluation and private/autonomy descriptions of their infants, whereas Japanese mothers used more negative evaluation and context-specific descriptions of their infants by making references to other people, time, or location. Child's negative affectivity trait was closely related to maternal perception of child's social/context characteristics and negative evaluations. The findings provide support for the socio-cultural framework of temperament development and suggest an important consideration of cultural factors when designing educational and parenting programs.
AB - Previous research shows cross-cultural differences in adult personality and child temperament, yet the developmental origin of these cultural differences remains unclear. To understand a potential role of socialization grounded in cultural values, this study investigated culturally specific maternal perceptions of child and children's development of temperament in the U.S. and Japan. Maternal perception of child was assessed via maternal interview in the U.S. (n = 42) and Japan (n = 40). Six months after the interview, child's temperament was assessed. Cross-cultural differences in maternal perception of child and child's temperament, and the relation between the two were analyzed. US-American infants scored higher on the surgency/extraversion trait than Japanese infants, whereas Japanese infants scored higher on the negative affectivity/neuroticism trait than US-American infants. US-American mothers used more positive evaluation and private/autonomy descriptions of their infants, whereas Japanese mothers used more negative evaluation and context-specific descriptions of their infants by making references to other people, time, or location. Child's negative affectivity trait was closely related to maternal perception of child's social/context characteristics and negative evaluations. The findings provide support for the socio-cultural framework of temperament development and suggest an important consideration of cultural factors when designing educational and parenting programs.
KW - Culture
KW - Socialization
KW - Temperament
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U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110407
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110407
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091804307
VL - 170
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
SN - 0191-8869
M1 - 110407
ER -