Child Psychopathology in Context II Cultural Models

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Child Psychopathology in Context II Cultural
Models
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• Views of child development from
  non-industrialized cultures
• Views of child development from other
  non-European cultures
• Views of child development from inner-city
  African-American culture
• Views of child development from cross-cultural
  studies of attachment

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Continuities and discontinuities in Cultural
Conditioning Benedict

• Distinction in perspectives on childrearing and
  child development between Western and
  non-Western, nonindustrialized cultures
• In Western cultures conditioning is
  discontinuous
• In non-Western cultures conditioning is
  continuous
• Areas judged to be distinctly different on the
  continuity- discontinuity continuum
• Responsible nonresponsible status role
• Dominance submission
• Contrasted sexual role

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• Responsible nonresponsible status role
• No clear dichotomy between work and play
• No total dependence on parents but rather
  scaffolding of tasks takes place
• Children conditioned to assume adult roles
  throughout childhood (Ojibwa)
• Dominance-submission
• Son and father refer to each other using same
  term (Latino mothers calling children mommy and
  poppy)
• Reciprocal joking, privileges, and obligations
  no dichotomy of first total submission, then
  total dominance (polarization)
• Obedience not valued, and punishment not applied
• Approval and praise are used

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• Contrasted sexual role
• Continuity different to establish in this area
  because of the inherent discontinuity in sexual
  maturity pre- and post-puberty
• Prepubertal sex play not discouraged because it
  cannot result in reproduction
• Sex can be associated with either pleasure or
  reproduction, but not associated with wickedness
  that affects later performance
• Discontinuity in non-Western cultures minimized
  by rites of passage
• Age groups are solidified to provide support for
  each other
• Tribal rites of passage help to bridge
  discontinuity between feminine boy and
  masculine man

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• Comparisons with Western culture
• Adolescent rebellion exists because of jolting
  effect of entering adulthood without help in role
  progression
• maladjustment, or fixation at preadult level,
  occurs because children fear to use behavior
  previously banned, instead exercising behavior
  approved during formative years
• Physiological explanations of neurotic
  adjustments overlook influence of social
  institutions

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Growing Up Black Ladner
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• Inner-city black childrens emotional development
  differs from middle-class white childrens
  emotional development
• This difference exists because of two
  circumstances
• Racism
• Economic difference
• Because of these two circumstances black children
  need to assume adult responsibilities earlier in
  development
• Become wage earners to support the family
• Become caregivers for younger siblings and
  cousins
• Assume more responsibility for defending oneself
  against racially motivated attacks to survive

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• According to Ladner, these adult responsibilities
  for protection are positive symbols of maturity
• Deeper involvement in shaping their futures
• More control over destinies
• Black child has a more emotionally stable and
  well-integrated personality than his white
  middle-class counterparts, whose protected,
  sheltered lives are representations of the most
  fragile personality the society could produce
  (p. 215)

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• Features of childrearing of inner-city black
  children
• Childrearing done primarily by extended family,
  usually grandmothers
• Peer group contributes to the childrearing
  process
• Adults perceived by children as powerless because
  they cannot eliminate antisocial behavior from
  the community
• Hunger, inadequate clothing because of this
  powerlessness
• Handling of stressful situations with fair amount
  of capability

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• Results of unprotected childhood
• Mature knowledge they have about antisocial
  behavior and their abilities to cope with it are
  symbols of strength that the protected child
  does not share (p.217)
• Although the experiences are harsh and often
  times cruel, children do develop a great amount
  of strength and adaptability that enables them to
  adjust to and cope with this world (p. 218)
• Mrs. Marshalls 16-year-old had given birth to a
  child at 14, and was to become pregnant again at
  16Judy often played hooky from school, talked
  back to her mother and had taken to smoking (p.
  219)

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• Beths parents sheltered her from the street
  life, yet this overprotectiveness seemed to have
  curbed much of her initiation and creativityHer
  life is so insulated that she is in the process
  of developing a reticence and naïveté about life
  that might prevent her from effectively coping
  with the harsh realities of her communityThis
  alternative has probably stifled Beth somewhat
  and rendered her ineffective in dealing with
  traumatic events (p. 220)

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• In early childhood children usually do not stray
  very far from the grandmother/babysitter, and
  when they do, they are promptly brought back to
  the area to which they have been restricted
  (p.221)
• Children in the community are taught to be
  strong and not to allow others to take them for
  grantedif one allows his guards to fall too
  often, he can be taken advantage of (p. 223)
• The negative experiences which blacks in this
  kind of environment have encountered with society
  have fostered and perpetuated within them
  suspicion and hostilityAs a result of such
  attitudes, self-defense mechanisms are deeply
  ingrained in children at very early ages (p.224)

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• Implications of this perspective
• Adaptation preferred to truth, to justice, to
  mental health
• Denial of social plight
• No need to intervene if everything is okay
• Real problems (e.g., teen pregnancy) are
  perceived as affirmations of life and family
• Ambivalence regarding childrearing practices
• Strength of peer group gang activity potential

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• Views of Child Development from Other
  Non-European Cultures
• Views of Child Development from Cross-Cultural
  Studies of Attachment
• Israel Kibbutzim ? C
• Rural Japan ? C
• Northern Germany ? A
• African-American ? A, ?C

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Mention Cultural Critique

• Genital mutilation
• Child labor WTO Convention
• Profit-driven educational systems
• Institutional racism and sexism

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