In this study I compared independence and interdependence in Canadian (N = 43) and South Asian immigrant mothers (N =49) and their children (Canadian: N = 44, South Asian: N = 47), living in Edmonton, which is an Anglophone city in Western Canada. Canada and South Asia have been classified as individualistic and collectivistic cultures respectively (Hofstede, 1980). I used self-report measures to assess mothers inter/independence orientations on several dimensions, namely family allocentrism, Asian values, self-construal, traditionalism and modernity. In addition, I assessed socialization for independence or interdependence in a story-telling task with mothers and children. I found that South Asians were more interdependent in private domains such as family relations and independent in public domains such as employment and education. Mothers in both cultures gave importance to the development of independence as well as interdependence in their children. However, in the story-telling task, South Asian mothers encouraged more interdependence than Canadian mothers. South Asian children also showed more interdependent orientations than Canadian children. This study demonstrates that a domain-specific description best explains peoples independence and interdependence. In addition, this study also emphasizes the utility of using a mixed methods approach to understand the socialization process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/1225 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Nagpal, Jaya |
| Contributors | Nicoladis, Elena (Psychology), Noels, Kimberly (Psychology), Galambos, Nancy (Psychology), Kirova, Anna (Early childhood education), Clancy, Patricia. M. (Linguistics, University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1973718 bytes, application/pdf |
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