There are many cultures all over the world and each culture has different ways in which parents raise their children. In the United States, we are socially constructed to be individualized and are raised in way to be that way. Childrearing is a key component in social development (Keller, 2004). Parenting styles depict how fast and when a child develops self- regulation and self- recognition. In this paper, I will focus on the development of self-regulation in infants and the parenting styles that were used.
I will talk about infants brought up in Cameroonian Nso, and Costa Rican cultures.I will also discuss parents in a German Culture who raise their child in ways so they become self –reliant, which is in similar ways of parenting styles for babies who have an earlier experience of self-recognition. What is self-regulation? It is the child’s ability to follow customs and norms taught by their parents and other social figures around them. Compliance is also involved in self-regulation (Kelly, 2004). Compliance is when the child obeys the mother or father because of a well-developed relationship (LeVine & Norman 1994).
In two studies we can observe two different parenting styles, from two different cultures, but both end with their baby becoming compliant and being able to self-regulate itself. Mothers from the Cameroonian Nso culture stress proximal parenting when raising a child. Proximal Parenting is when the caregiver is physically close with a baby by frequently holding or touching (Kelly, 2007). Body contact and stimulation promotes unity within the relationship between the baby and the mother.
Body contact also comforts babies when they are distressed (Kelly, 2007). Babies from the Cameroonian Nso culture were studied and the result showed that they were demonstrating more self-regulation at 18-20 months and also showed to be more compliant than babies who were brought up with a distal parenting style. Distal parenting is when the caregiver remains distant from a baby, providing toys, food, and face-to-face communication with minimal holding and touching (Kelly, 2007).Parents of the Costa Rican culture are interesting because they use both distal and proximal parenting styles. Because of this in-between parenting style it is seen that Costa Rican babies show self-recognition and self-regulation around the same age that the Nso baby show more self-regulation.
Self-recognition is when a baby is able to be aware that they are an individual and they are their own self (Kelly, 2007). A way of being able to test this is with a mirror test. In German Cultures, parents want to raise children who are self-reliant and children that are not spoiled or immature.Mothers in Germany tend to leave infants home alone for short period of time and do not respond to ever cry unless there was a “serious” matter.
When babies cried for company it was not considered to be serious problem (LeVine & Norman, 1994). These parents seem to use a distal parenting style in a sense because they do not constantly hold the baby or always give the baby attention. Due to this parenting style these babies expect less from their parents so they cry less knowing they wont get the attention that they seek (Levine & Norman, 1994).It was not said in the study but because of this parenting technique I wonder if the German babies are able to develop self- recognition earlier than self-regulation due to lack of body contact.
In conclusion, babies develop certain aspects earlier depending on their culture and parenting styles. If a cultures norm for raising a child is to have a lot of body contact then the baby will show earlier signs of self-regulation. If a culture doesn’t believe in a lot of holding and body contact they are using distal parenting and with that infants show earlier signs of self-recognition.
