The current study examined the parenting beliefs and practices of Taiwanese, Chinese immigrant (all first-generation immigrants in the UK) and English mothers, and the compliance of their young children (aged 5–7), in order to elucidate the effects of child temperament, culture and acculturation strategies on reported parenting beliefs and practices, observed parental behaviour, child behaviour, mother–child interaction dynamics and children’s compliance. The data were collected from a total of 90 families with 5- to 7-year-old children in Taiwan and the UK. Child temperament, parenting beliefs and practices and acculturation were assessed using questionnaires, and parental behaviour, child behaviour, dyadic interaction dynamics and child compliance were assessed using observation in two tasks (Etch-A-Sketch and clean-up). Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the Chinese immigrant parents to gather more information regarding their acculturation and parenting. Cultural differences were found between groups in reported as well as observed parenting and children’s compliance. The Taiwanese mothers reported greater use of Chinese-specific parenting and physical coercion and were observed to use more (gentle and assertive) physical intervention than both the Chinese immigrant and English mothers. The Chinese immigrant mothers reported a higher degree of child autonomy than the Taiwanese and English mothers, and also reported cultivation of their children’s independence. The stronger the Chinese immigrant mothers' affiliation with Chinese culture, the more they reported adopting the Chinese-specific parenting style; the longer they had been in the UK, the less they reported authoritarian parenting. The English mothers were rated as more responsive and less negatively controlling than the Chinese immigrant mothers; they also showed more positive affect than both the Chinese immigrant and Taiwanese mothers. There were few cultural differences between groups in the children’s behaviour, although Taiwanese children showed more situational compliance than Chinese immigrant children. Further regression analyses showed that child characteristics, such as child age and temperament, affected the parents’ and children’s behaviour as well as dyadic interactional dynamics. Committed compliance, situational compliance and opposition were associated with different predictors, suggesting that they are qualitatively different and are associated with different developmental processes. Committed compliance may develop as children grow older, mediated by surgency; situational compliance, on the other hand, was associated with authoritarian parenting and mothers’ use of negative control, which varied by culture. Child opposition was predicted by neither child characteristics nor parenting. These findings provide valuable insights into parenting and children’s compliance in different cultural contexts. The results underscore the importance of looking at human development from a holistic perspective. The active role that children play in shaping their developmental process, their parents’ parenting and the culture they live in should all be taken into account when attempting to understand their development.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:44:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4459.pdf: 6181899 bytes, checksum: 9e1db597a6ecb8a8e0694c39910b8026 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-21 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The family is of fundamental importance in child development. Although neglected in many studies, the father is a unique contributor to his child s development, but remains absent from early intervention programs. This study aimed to determine the effect of a home-based intervention for fathers on their child s development, the interaction of both parents with their child, and the effects on home envorinment and on stress, depression, level of coping, parental and marital satisfaction, perceptions of family functioning and social support and empowerment of both parents. Six families of children with Down s syndrome, between 1 and 2 years of age had their children s development evaluated using the Operationalized Portage Inventory, in two São Paulo in country cities. The Questionnaire for the Characterization of the Family System was used to capture demographic information about the families; parts C and D of the General Guide of Transcription of Interview Data to evaluate the participation of fathers and grandparents; the Interview for the Characterization of Brazilian Fathers Role in the Education of a Child with an Intellectual Disability to evaluate fathers involvement; HOME Inventory to assess stimulation ofered to the child in the home environment; QRS-F and Lipp s Inventory of Stress Symptoms to measure parents stress; Beck s Depression Inventory to assess the existence and the level of depression; FACES III to evaluate the perception of family functioning; Coping Strategies Inventory to assess the level of coping; Social Suport Questionnaire to evaluate the perception of social suport; PSOC to assess parental satisfaction; Scale of Marital Satisfaction to assess marital satisfaction and FES to evaluate parents empowerment. In order to observe fatherchild, mother-child and father-mother-child interactions, it was used the Protocol for Categorizing the Analysis of Filmed Interactions, the Definitive System of Observational Categories and a Protocol for the Evaluation of Dyadic/Triadic Interaction. It was observed that all children had developmental delays. Parents asessment indicated: low levels of stress related to the child s presence, absence of stress among fathers, stress among all the mothers, high levels of self-esteem and empowerment, one father with depression, high levels of cohesion and adaptability, the use of various coping strategies, wide social networks and satisfaction with social support and good marital satisfaction among couples. In addition, all offered home environments that stimulated and supported their children, and family interactions were satisfatory, although they differed in some respects between fathers and mothers and in dyads and triads. The training activities conducted by the fathers, based on the Portage Inventory contributed to the development of new repertories in their children, positive behaviour in interactions were more frequent over time and a decrease in indices of stress among the mothers. The other parents charateristics assessed didn t alter generally during the families participation in the study. The stimulation and support in the home environment became better or worse depending on the family. The relation between some results and research in this field is discussed. It was concluded that early intervention programs should abandon the child-centered model to adopt a familycentered model, in which fathers are an important parent for family functioning and for child development. / A família tem importância fundamental no desenvolvimento infantil. Negligenciado em muitos estudos, o pai constitui contribuinte singular no desenvolvimento de seu filho, mas continua ausente nos programas de intervenção precoce. Este estudo teve o objetivo de conhecer o efeito de uma intervenção domiciliar com este genitor como treinador no desenvolvimento da criança e na interação de ambos os genitores com a criança, além dos efeitos no ambiente domiciliar e no estresse, depressão, no nível de enfrentamento, na satisfação parental e marital, na percepção do funcionamento familiar e do suporte social e no empoderamento de ambos os genitores. Seis famílias de crianças com Síndrome de Down com idade entre 1 e 2 anos tiveram o desenvolvimento de suas crianças avaliado por meio do Inventário Portage Operacionalizado, em duas cidades do interior paulista. Foram utilizados o Questionário de Caracterização do Sistema Familiar para caracterizar demograficamente as famílias; as partes C e D do Guia Geral de Transcrição dos Dados de Entrevista para avaliar a participação do pai e dos avós; o roteiro de Entrevista de Caracterização do Papel do Pai Brasileiro na Educação da Criança com Deficiência Mental para avaliar o envolvimento paterno; o Inventário HOME para avaliar a estimulação oferecida à criança no ambiente domiciliar; o QRS-F e o ISSL para medir o estresse dos pais; o Inventário de Depressão de Beck para avaliar a existência e o grau de depressão; o FACES III para avaliar a percepção do funcionamento familiar; o Inventário de Estratégias de Coping para avaliar o nível de enfrentamento; o Questionário de Suporte Social para avaliar a percepção do suporte social; o PSOC para avaliar a satisfação parental; a Escala de Satisfação Conjugal para avaliar a satisfação marital e a FES para avaliar o empoderamento dos pais. A fim de observar as interações pai-filho, mãe-filho e pai-mãe-filho utilizou-se o Protocolo de Categorias de Análise das Filmagens de Interação, o Sistema Definitivo de Categorias Observacionais e o Protocolo de Avaliação da Interação Diádica/Triádica. Observou-se que todas as crianças apresentavam atrasos de desenvolvimento. A avaliação dos genitores indicou: baixos níveis de estresse em relação à presença da criança, ausência de estresse entre os genitores masculinos, estresse para todas as mães, altos índices de autoestima e empoderamento, depressão em um pai, altos índices de coesão e adaptabilidade familiar, diversas estratégias de enfrentamento, ampla rede e satisfação com o suporte social e boa satisfação conjugal entre os casais. Além disso, todos ofereciam ambiente domiciliar que estimulava e apoiava as crianças e as interações familiares foram satisfatórias, porém, diferentes em alguns aspectos entre pais e mães e nas díades e tríades. As atividades de treino realizado pelo pai, baseadas no Portage, desenvolveram novos repertórios na criança, comportamentos positivos nas interações foram mais frequentes com o passar do tempo e houve diminuição dos índices indicativos de estresse nas mães. As demais características parentais avaliadas não sofreram alterações generalizadas durante a participação das famílias no estudo. A estimulação e o apoio no ambiente domiciliar sofreram melhoras e pioras dependendo da família. Discute-se a relação entre alguns resultados e pesquisas na área. Conclui-se que programas de intervenção precoce deveriam abandonar o modelo centrado na criança para adotar um modelo centrado na família, na qual o pai constitui genitor relevante para o funcionamento da mesma e para o desenvolvimento dos filhos.