When Respect Means to Obey: Immigrant Mexican ... - Springer Link

Journal of Child and Family Studies, Vol 7, No. 1, 1998, pp. 79-95

When Respect Means to Obey: Immigrant Mexican Mothers' Values for Their Children Emily Arcia, Ph.D.,1,3 and Alice Johnson, B.A.2

We describe Mexican immigrant mothers' values for their children and their understanding of how children acquire those values. Fifteen mothers were given a Q-Sort task of parental values and interviewed at length using a semi-structured format. Analysis of the mothers' transcribed narratives revealed salient features of a cultural model of child development that constrasts sharply with current professional models. The emergent portrait of children was one of inactive learners whose ability "to understand" dictated social behavior, developed very slowly over the years, and was dependent on parental direction and instruction. KEY WORDS: Mexican; mothers; values; childrearing; culture.

Parents' attitudes, beliefs, end values regarding children and childrearing is one of the oldest issues of interest in the field of psychology. For years studies were conducted on the premise that parental attitudes dictate childrearing behavior and these in turn determine child outcome. But, lack of evidence of strong causal links between parental attitudes and a variety of child outcomes (Holden & Edwards, 1989), coupled with a growing awareness of the complexity of influences that shape children's lives (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Sameroff & Chandler, 1975) resulted in a relative loss of interest in this area of research. However, there has been a resurgence of interest in this area (Goodnow & Collins, 1990; Sigel, 1985). The current goal of the study of parental social cognition is to elucidate the field in its 1Assistant

Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. 2Graduate Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. 3Correspondence should be directed to Emily Arcia, Mailman Center for Child Development (D820), P.O. Box 016820, Miami, FL 33140. Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected].

79 1062-1024/98/0300-0079$15.00/0 O 1998 Human Sciences Press, Inc.

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own right, as a legitimate area for empirical study with an understanding that it exists within a cultural context and that the linkage between parental cognition and child outcome is mediated by numerous factors (see for example, Gaskins, 1996). The attitudes and values that parents hold for their children, and parents' schemas (i.e., their theories about childrearing and about the nature of childhood) are multiply determined. Primary among the determinants are culture (Gutierrez, Sameroff, & Karrer, 1988; Knight, Cota, & Bernal, 1993; Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993; Valsiner & Litvinovic, 1996), parents' educational attainment (Buriel, Mercado, Rodriquez, & Chavez, 1991; Laosa, 1978; Parra & Henderson, 1977), and parents' experiences. From the perspective of traditional cultural anthropology, culture is paramount in determining people's schemas. Ethnotheories are transmitted fairly intactly to members of the social group. On the other hand, from the psychosocial perspective, individuals formulate and revise schemas as needed on the basis of personal experience. There is plenty of evidence to support both perspectives. Whereas numerous cross-cultural studies indicate that parental theories and practices differ across cultures, intra-cultural variability can be explained to a large extent by differences in personal experiences. For example, the impact of personal experience is such in shaping schemas that there is some evidence to indicate that biculturalism, as indicated by competence with two cultures, not only provides a wider knowledge base, but also promotes flexibility or complexity in thinking. Bicultural mothers are more likely than monocultural mothers to envision children's development as the result of the dynamic interplay of multiple factors (Gutierrez & Sameroff, 1990; Gutierrez et al., 1988). As noted by Harkness and Super (1996; p. 289), "A central feature of parents' cultural belief systems, however, is that they are at once individually constructed and culturally shared. As such, they are the product of integration of a variety of experiences in the wider culture and in the family, dynamically changing in interaction with that experience..." Children's behavioral profile is another key determinant of parents' beliefs, values, and theories (Anastopoulos, Guevremont, Shelton, & DuPaul, 1992; Baden & Howe, 1992; Cunningham, Benness, & Siegel, 1988; Dix, Ruble, Grusec, & Nixon, 1986; Quirk, Ciottone, Minami, Wapner, Yamamoto, Isphii, Lucca-Irizarry, & Pacheco, 1986; Quirk, Sexton, Ciottone, Minami, & Wapner, 1984). An example of the impact of children's characteristics on maternal values is provided by Quirk et al. (1984) who compared maternal values for preschool children with and without handicaps. They found that mothers of preschoolers with handicaps placed greater value on their children's physical development than did mothers of children without handicaps. Interestingly, a follow-up study with a cross-

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cultural sample indicated that an orthopedic and/or neurological impairment did not have a direct effect on value ratings but did interact with culture and context to influence mothers' values (Quirk et al., 1986). This finding suggests that parent social cognition is determined by the interaction of multiple determinants, salient among which is culture. Research suggests that Mexican or Mexican American mothers differ from other ethnic groups in various aspects of parenting (Bartz & Levine, 1978; Gutierrez & Sameroff, 1990; Julian, McKenry, & McKelvey, 1994; Knight, Virdin, & Roosa, 1994; Laosa, 1978; Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993). This research, as well as the research that has focused on Mexican mothers themselves, has tended to be dimension specific (Buriel et al., 1991; LeVine, Miller, Richman, & LeVine, 1996; Parra & Henderson, 1977). For example, studies have focused on disciplinary practices (Buriel et al., 1991) or on socialization of cultural values (Knight et al., 1994). With few notable exceptions (Gaskins, 1996), research has not aimed to explain the mothers' worldview, their understanding of the nature of children or their understanding of how children learn and develop. Thus, mothers have been reported to be more or less, higher or lower, along various dimensions without attempting to explain how the dimensions fit within the context of the mothers' schemas. In an ethnographic study of Mayan speaking parents (Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula), Gaskins (Gaskins, 1996) describes children's play as it fits into culturally determined parental schemas of child development. Similar work has not been conducted with Spanish speaking Mexican parents. Our study was designed to describe Mexican mothers' values for their children within the context of their understanding of the nature of children and how children develop those values. A Q-Sort of childhood characteristics was used in conjunction with open ended questions. A Q-Sort was used because it controls for social desirability effects. The items were chosen to elicit maternal values which, unlike specific beliefs, transcend specific situations, represent abstract goals, and reflect a coherent set of attitudes (Holden & Edwards, 1989). In addition, by presenting items which the respondents define and explain themselves, this approach presents the opportunity for the respondent to place the items in a context that is meaningful to them. METHODS Participants Fifteen mothers with at least one child under 8 years of age participated in this study. One mother was dropped from analysis because her socioeconomic status (SES) differed substantially from the other fourteen

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mothers. On average, the mothers had grown up in large families of about 9 siblings. None of the mothers was a firstborn and only one was a second born (M8; see Table 1 for details on identification numbers and characteristics of the mothers). With the exception of one mother who was born in the United States to Mexican parents (M6), all the mothers were born in Mexico. The average length of residence in the United States was about 6 years. Their average age was 30.3 years and their average educational attainment was 7.7 years. Eight mothers were homemakers, the remaining six were employed in jobs that included agricultural labor, housekeeping, and factory work. Thirteen mothers were married or lived in a consensual union. Spouses were employed in agriculture (n = 7) or in unskilled or semi-skilled labor (n = 6). The mother who was born in the U.S. (M6) reported fluency with English. All other mothers reported speaking little or no English. None of the mothers nor fathers had received formal instruction on topics related to child development. The participants' offsprings included 7 infants under 12 months of age, 9 between one and three years of age, 12 between ages three and seven, 5 seven to nine year olds, and 9 offsprings above nine years of age. None of the children had a chronic illness nor a documented or obvious developmental disability. However, two mothers (Ml, M7) reported that their 6 and 7 year olds' behavior at school occassioned complaints. Also, as deemed by the mother, by the interviewer, and by the health clinic personnel familiar with the child, one of the two-year olds (M2) was particularly hyperactive and oppositional. Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Participants

Ml M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M12 M13 M14 M15

Years of Education

Age

Years in the U.S.

Number of Offsprings

6 9 6 9 9 10 11 4 9 12 0 9 10 6

28 30 25 26 30 28 27 34 25 27 21 38 36 50

7 4 2 3 3 28 15 1 3 6 2 5 1 3

2 2 2 2 2 2 5 4 2 2 1 1 3 12

Place of Birth Michoacan Zacatecas Michoacan Mexico, D.F. Michoaca Indiana Tamaulipas Ganjuto Zacatecas Zacatecas Hidalgo Michoacan Mexico, D.F. Mexico

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Procedure Participants were recruited by word of mouth and through announcements at a health clinic. All of the participants gave signed, informed consent. They were interviewed by the second author, who was familiar to most of them as an outreach worker of the health clinic. Interviews were conducted in the mothers' homes and in their language of choice. All but one mother (M6) chose Spanish. Mothers were interviewed twice, approximately two to three weeks apart. Both interviews were transcribed verbatim. The first interview was transcribed and reviewed immediately so that issues that required clarification could be addressed in the second interview. Interview Mothers' values for their children were elicited with a sort and rank order task adapted from prior instruments. Items were selected for inclusion if they were consistent with those reported in the literature to characterize Latino parents' priorities for childrearing (Bruder, Anderson, Schutz, & Caldera, 1991; Mardiros, 1989; Quirk et al., 1986) and if they were supported by pilot testing. Three characteristics that were deemed to be valued by mothers as they acculturated to the mainstream Anglo-American culture (e.g., independent) were also added. The presentation format was modified such that it could be used with respondents with low literacy skills. The Q-Sort involves the presentation of a set of 15 cards, each of which has a characteristic that could be ascribed to a child (e.g., obedient, respectful). Mothers were asked to sort the cards into three groups of five cards each according to the importance that they ascribed to the characteristics. The groups were: very important, somewhat important, and not important. Mothers were then requested to set aside the two most important cards from the very important group and the two least important cards from the not important group. Mothers were asked to define the two top and bottom choices and to provide examples of these. They were asked to identify characteristics that were very similar and to explain how or why they were similar. They were then asked if they saw any characteristics in American children that they did not wish to see in their own children. As the mothers became involved with the task, and provided examples and definitions, the interviewer asked open-ended questions to tap maternal schemas of child development. The aim of the open ended questions was to identify why characteristics were given the ascribed values and to elicit maternal explanations for why children differed in the degree to which they

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possessed the desired characteristics. Throughout the interviews, a special effort was made to request information in a way that would not suggest a specific process. For example, rather than asking how children learned to {characteristic}, mothers were asked, "How do they get to...{characteristic mentioned by mother}?" At the conclusion of the interview, demographic data and data on culturally related behaviors and ethnic identity were collected. Transcription and Analysis The accuracy of all transcriptions was verified by a native Spanish speaker. Transcripts were then coded according to the 15 traits provided for the mothers. Narratives were also coded for the value ascribed by mothers to the behaviors that they described: good, desirable, or ideal; normal, acceptable, expected; and unacceptable, bad, or undesirable. Codes of the descriptions of why and how children vary included: childrearing, age, temperament, gender, peers, school, and experience. Other codes on maternal characteristics and on cultural behaviors and attitudes were included as appropriate. Folio Views was used to create and manage a database of narratives. Analyses were conducted according to standard procedures for qualitative data (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Narratives were sorted according to themes in order to identify patterns. Matrices were constructed to verify the validity of the findings to the whole sample or to mothers with specific demographic characteristics. Finally, summaries of the data were presented to a cultural informant, a Mexican graduate student in psychology, who provided her interpretation of the data and then provided feedback on the investigator's interpretations. RESULTS Valued Characteristics and Their Determinants Q-Sort Items The five highest ranked items were: to have a sense of right and wrong, to be a good student, to be obedient, to be responsible, and to be respectful (see Table 2). The least desirable characteristics included: wanting to be the best or the first, being independent, being close to the family ("apegado"), and wanting to know how or why things happen. Although "having a sense of right and wrong" was the item most frequently selected into the top ranked category, some mothers were obviously

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conflicted over giving a high rank to an item that suggested having knowledge of things that were "wrong." Some mothers would select it into the most important group with an addendum that it was most important if the child only did what was right. In general, the mothers defined being a good student as one who obeys the teacher and wants to learn. Thus, good students complete all assigned work, pay attention, and follow directions. Children should do well in school so that as adults they can have indoor employment and not have to work in the fields. To be obedient, responsible, and respectful were frequently equated with each other. Wanting to be the best or the first was associated with discord, with doing a poor job by rushing, with being pampered, and ill behaved. Those who tried to be first were presumed to act unethically in order to take more than one's share and to ensure that others are not given the recognition that was due. Some mothers distinguished between being first and being the best. Of the two, being the best was seen more favorably. Seven mothers questioned the meaning of independence. Some were quite puzzled how a child might be independent. The following is a partial quote of a mother's (M8) musings as she contemplates the item:

Table 2. Q-Sort Rankings Item to have a sense or what is right and wrongb to be a good student to be obedient to be responsible to be respectful to be well behaved to want to better himself to get along with other children to think for himself9 to be clean and orderlyb to want to know what is happening and why things happenb to cooperate with others to be close to his familya to be independent to try to be the best one or the first one aItems

Average Ranking (que entienda lo que es bueno y lo que es malo)b (que sea buen estudiante)a (que sea obediente) (que sea responsable) (que sea respetuoso)a (que se porte bien) (que quiera superarse) (que se lleve bien con otros ninos) (que piense par si mismo)a (que sea limpio y ordenado)ab (que quiera sabe por que pasa y por que pasan las cosas)b (que coopere con los demas) (que sea apegado con su familia)ac (que sea independiente) (que quiera ser el mejor o el primero)ab

were available in feminine and masculine forms. future research these items should be re-written as two items. Tor Mexican respondents "apegado con" should be replaced with "unido a." bIn

2.0 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.6 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.8 4.1

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Arcia and Johnson What's independent? That he live by himself or what? Or, how is independent? Well, I really don't know more or less what it means. To be, to be independent, well, no, I don't understand well what it means to be independent. For example, if I were independent, what would I be like? (IQue es independiente? iQue viva el solo o que? O, como es independiente? Pues todavia yo no se mas o menos, que quisiera dear independiente. Eso que sea, que sea independiente, pues no, como que no entiendo bien que es ser independiente. Como por ejemplo si yo fuera independiente, como seria yo?)

Mothers did not understand independence in the context of young children. They explained it as living alone and acting without the benefit of others' counsel. Only two mothers gave "independent" a "somewhat important" ranking. They were among the four mothers with the highest educational attainment. References to self-help were rare. Being close to the family was deemed undesirable because it was understood by mothers to mean overly attached. The value attached by mothers to this characteristic may be due to the fact that the sample included 16 children under three years of age and to the fact that all but two of the mothers were recent immigrants who had left their families behind. On the other hand, the characteristic may have been valued more highly if the term "unido" had been used. Although mothers were asked to rank items in terms of what they considered important for all children, most mothers linked their choices to their children's behavioral profiles. They explained their choice in terms of their own children's behaviors. Similarly important in determining their choices were the mothers' personal experiences. For example, one mother (M7) said that she wanted her children to be good students because she herself had done poorly in school.

Desirable Characteristics Analysis of maternal rankings and their responses to open ended questions revealed a portrait of desirable characteristics for young children that was very consistent across the mothers interviewed. Obedience was at the basis of all desirable characteristics. According to the mothers, children should be compliant, well behaved, respectful, and quick to internalize parental values. They should be amenable to parental guidance, but should not be overly attached or demanding. They should not be assertive, place themselves ahead of others, or wish to have more than others. Maternal ideals were most evident in the examples that mothers provided of preschool aged children who readily complied with parental requests or who undertook desirable tasks such as cleaning up toys or sweeping a room without being asked to do so by the parent. Examples that were particularly


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striking to mothers were ones in which children acted of their own accord despite being considered by the mothers to be very young.

Parenting: The Primary Determinant of Valued Characteristics By far, direct verbal instruction by parents was the most commonly cited determinant of the development of desirable childhood characteristics. Unequivocally, from the mothers' point of view, children learn by repeatedly being told what to do and how to do things. Mothers were very definite on this point, stating, "One has to tell them (Ml) (Uno tiene que decirselos);" "Good education does not refer to school. It refers to the education that parents provide at home" (M2) (La buena educacion no se refiere a la escuela. Se refiere a la education que le dan sus padres en la casa). The need to teach children by telling them the course to follow is so important that non-family members or even older children are expected to undertake the task if parents are not available when a child needs guidance. According to the mothers interviewed, instruction must start early and must be very insistent over the years until the parent's message becomes "instilled" (inculcar) or "etched/recorded" (grabado). The quote that follows encapsulates the beliefs expressed by the mothers interviewed. "... As a mother, from the time that they are little, one starts putting those things in their heads... {one starts} when one sees that they more or less understand things, that things are more or less retained {etched}" (M4) (... uno de madre, ya desde chiquitos, pues, les va metiendo eso en la cabeza a ellos... cuando uno ve que mas o menos comprenden las cosas, que mas o menos se les graba). In order to educate their children, parents should give verbal instruction (darks a saber, decirles), scold (reganarlos), reprimand (reprenderlos), and rebuke (llamarles la atencion). Mothers may also use profane language, shout, threaten, and spank. Profanity, shouting, and threatening were indicated by a couple of mothers to be used as a means of communicating to children that the accompanying instruction would be consequated with physical punishment if the children did not comply. "It's a bad word, but I'm just telling her to go upstairs. You know, and the bad word just gives it more anger power, so she can go upstairs" (M6). Spanking was deemed a necessary discipline strategy but, according to the mothers, parents should use physical punishment only after they have verbally instructed their child, and the child fails to comply in spite of being capable of understanding and complying with the expected behavior. Harsh or excessive punishment was deemed as undesirable as the absence of punishment. "A kid doesn't need to get beaten, but a kid needs to get a spanking every once in a while" (M6). Both excessive punishment and lack

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of it were given as reasons for child misbehavior, sometimes by the same mother. "Her {sister} children are naughty because their father did nothing but hit them and never talked to them." "... And then my little brothers would go and create other mischief because no one would correct them {literally, 'no one would tell them anything'} "(M7). ("Los ninos de ella son traviesos, porque el papa de ellos los trataba a puros golpes y nunca les hablaba." "... Y luego mis hermanitos iban a hacer mas travesuras porque nadie les decia nada"). In all the interviews, mothers' discourse on childrearing included a strong sense of urgency. Mothers felt that parental values had to be taught early and insistently because once children stop obeying their parents, it becomes very difficult to guide them. At that time, if they stray, the only recourse left to parents is to provide counsel or advice (consejos) but from a relatively powerless position. "From the time that they are little, if one doesn't correct them, they grow and keep growing ... then, when they are older they comprehend that ... no one meddles in their lives or anything, and then when one tries to tell them {warn them about} good or bad things, it's less likely that they will understand you {abide by what you say}" (M4). (Desde chiquitos, ya, uno si los deja uno asi van creciendo y van creciendo.... entonces, ellos ya mas grandes ya comprenden de que ... nadie se mete en su vida ni nada, y ya cuando uno trata de decirles las cosas buenas, o las malas, es mas diftcil que le entiendan a uno.) Inadequate parenting was suggested by mothers to have substantial negative consequences. Children who are not reared appropriately are ill prepared for life, "pick up vices" (agarran vicios), do not know how to take care of themselves, and do not love their mothers. Other Factors: Age, Temperament, Peers and Personal Experience Aside from parenting, age was the only other factor that emerged as a significant determinant of children's characteristics. References to personality or temperament, to peers, and to children's personal experiences were few and were typically not presented as determinants of valued characteristics. Only two mothers suggested explanations for children's behavior that might be equated to inborn temperament or personality. For example, one reported that children were not all the same and suggested, "... as they say, children are as they are raised {to be}, but that is not true. They already bring their own {characteristics} inside and they are as they are. No one changes them" (Ml) (...como dicen, los ninos son, como uno los cria, pero no es cierto. Ya traen lo de ellos adentro y son como ellos son. Nadie


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los cambia). Another mother (M6), the only one who was born and schooled in the United States, suggested that whereas one daughter was the "lovey-dovey type," her other daughter was the "shy type." Peers were mentioned as influences on children by only two of the fifteen mothers interviewed: the one mother who had been born and raised in the United States (M6) and the only other mother who had completed a few years of schooling in the United States (M7). The way that peers were mentioned by the other mothers suggests a small potential for negative consequences because being young, peers are as ignorant of right and wrong as their own children and could not be expected to provide proper guidance. But, peers were not seen as exerting a strong or purposeful influence. It is noteworthy, however, that the overwhelming majority of the children were pre-adolescents. Personal experience was similarly absent as a factor in learning or as a determinant of characteristics. Indeed, as can be seen from the quote that follows, even personal experience must be labeled and explained by the parent for it to be understood by children: Interviewer: How do they know what is right and wrong? Mother: For example, they go with their friend and something {bad} happens to them. They know it's wrong. Interviewer: How do they get to know what is wrong? Mother: How do they get..? Because of their parents, who tell them what is wrong (M9). Interviewer: iComo saben lo bueno y lo malo? Mother: Por ejemplo, se van asi con sus amigos y les pasa algo. Saben que es malo. Interviewer: iComo llegan a saber cuales cosas son malas? Mother: iComo llegan? Por medio de sus padres; que les dicen lo que es malo.

Modeling did not have a recognized role in children's learning. One mother (M6) who reported that she makes a point of reprimanding her daughter primarily in private was quite amused and surprised when her eight year old scolded her in a similar fashion for forgeting to fulfill a promise. The surprise that this mother exhibited at her daughter having learned her method in addition to her message suggests relative unacquaintance with modeling. Children: Their Nature and Development Mothers' schemas of the factors that shape child characteristics are intrinsically related to their understanding of the nature of children and to their development. Children were definitely and consistently portrayed as inactive learners. They were likened to a tree that must be shaped early in its growth process. According to mothers, children must be molded, imprinted, and set on the right path. They cannot be counted upon to

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determine right from wrong on their own or to abstract meaning from their own experience. This view of children as inactive learners probably explains the importance that mothers placed on obedience and compliance. Children are assumed to acquire values by being made to perform a long series of developmentally more demanding tasks that are unrelated to each other except as expressions of an underlying value which parents must continually identify. For example, an adult learns to accept responsibility by putting away toys in the preschool period, followed by taking appropriate care of books during schoolage and so on. Children's relative ability to understand is the central element in maternal schemas of child development and of their reported management strategies. It was such a strong, recurring theme in the mothers' narratives that the word understand, in the second person and in the infinitive, occurred 158 times throughout the 30 interviews. Understanding was seen as so central to children's behavior that "entiende" (to understand) is used to refer both to the cognitive process of comprehension and to compliance. Throughout the interviews mothers repeatedly referred to acts of non-compliance as "no entiende," and rarely used alternative expressions available in Spanish such as "doesn't mind," (no hace caso) or "does not obey" (no obedece). Children were assumed to understand if they obeyed, and mothers did not distinguish readily between the cognitive and behavioral aspects of compliance. When questioned, mothers acknowledged that children might comprehend and fail to comply, but the distinction was made mostly in response to an interviewer query. In contrast to the developmental stages endorsed by current professional views of child development, for the interviewed mothers, children's ability to understand increases very gradually over the years. More than one mother identified one of her children as "understanding" more than another but, when questioned, could not explain the reason for the difference despite the fact that the children who "understood" best were older by a couple of years. Indeed, one mother (M7) suggested that the older child understood more because being the eldest, he had had more attention from her. In addition, none of the mothers of the 7 two-year-olds related their children's behaviors to the "terrible twos." Anglo-American or professional concepts of developmental stages were not evident. Analyses of mothers' narratives suggested an additional factor in development that was not directly identified by mothers but that might be labeled willfulness. This emerging sense of self might be at the basis of maternal haste to teach appropriate behavior. It might explain why one mother referred to her young child as innocent and "manso" (meek, tame) and might explain why mothers envision older children as unwilling to obey

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if they haven't internalized parental values. "Once they are grown they don't heed you because they don't want to mind you" (M15). (Ya cuando estan grandes no le hacen a uno caso porque ellos no quieren atenderle a uno.) DISCUSSION The purpose of our study was to describe Mexican immigrant mothers' values for their children and their understanding of how children acquire those values. The study's conceptual framework suggested that maternal values would be determined by the mothers' cultural background, by their personal experiences, and by their children's characteristics. Our findings should be considered in light of the study's limitations. First, most of the participants had very low educational attainment and, by their own account, most mothers' schooling was of extremely poor quality. Second, 12 of the 14 participants were recent immigrants. They represent a self-selected group of women who are likely more determined and more disadvantaged than non-immigrants. Further, most of the participants were mothers of very young children. Maternal values may change as children age. Thus, the generalizability of findings is limited to the population of mothers with similar characteristics. Our findings indicated that mothers' rankings of characteristics indeed reflected their perceptions of their children's needs and, sometimes, very specific life experiences, such as having been a poor student or having had male siblings who were not disciplined by their father. However, the impact of personal experience and of child characteristics were not particularly evident in the underlying maternal values nor in the mothers' schemas of how children learn and develop. The major features of mothers' schemas were so consistent across mothers, in spite of differences in educational attainment and in their potential exposure to differing models of childhood, as measured by the number of years that they had resided in the United States, that one must conclude that the shared elements in mothers' schemas identify the features of primary cultural models of child development. The conclusion that maternal schemas shared multiple elements and that these were culturally based, does not imply that mothers' schemas were identical. Had the study focused on specific beliefs and attitudes rather than on core values, inter-individual differences would have likely become more salient. Geography offers an apt analogy of the role of culture and life experiences in determining individuals' schemas. A representation of the landscape from a distant vantage point identifies the large geographical features placed by culture. Inspection at close range shows the details of the terrain created by unique personal experiences.

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The finding of substantial uniformity in core values in this sample is consistent with the interpretation offered by Palacios (1992) of Spanish parents' ideas on children. They suggested that other than education, parental experiences had little impact on parents' ideas. In this sample, differences as a result of education were not evident perhaps because most of the mothers had very low educational attainment and none had completed coursework in psychology or education. Mexican mothers, particularly those of low SES and those who are recent immigrants have been characterized as using more punishment and less reinforcement than higher SES or Anglo-American mothers (Buriel et al., 1991; Laosa, 1978; Parra & Henderson, 1977). Consistent with the findings of this study, they have been noted to place paramount importance on compliance (Gaskins, 1996; Holloway, Gorman, & Fuller, 1988). Our findings do not dispute prior results, but provide a basis for interpretation of maternal behaviors that differs from what has sometimes been assumed. Whereas low SES Mexican mothers' disciplinary strategies have been interpreted as being rejecting, controlling, and hostile, thereby having the potential to result in conduct disorder, diminished self-worth, and high rates of depression in their children (Knight et al., 1994), these findings suggest parenting behavior that may not be optimal for children's academic achievement (LeVine et al., 1996; Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993; Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985), but that is nonetheless consistent with the parents understanding of children's needs and with their perceived responsibility towards their children. Mothers scold, reprimand, and rebuke to ensure that their messages are appropriately etched in the children's minds, where it is likely to remain. Thus, context and the cultural interpretation of parental behaviors may mediate its impact on children's psychological wellbeing. Direct instruction (i.e., explanations) and high rates of punishment, particularly verbal punishment, are consistent with the view of children as inactive learners whose ability to understand emerges slowly over time. A high value on compliance also follows logically from this view of children. How else might a child learn if not through repeated compliance accomplished by repeated scolding and explaining? Other models of learning such as learning through experimentation, observation, and cognitive processing, assume active processing on the part of the child. Given that the participants in our study were women from a wide range of geographical areas in Mexico, and all were Spanish speakers, it was surprising that three central concepts of development were consistent with Gaskin's (1966) findings of Mayan mothers. For both groups of women, children's development and behavior was characterized as being dependent on the children's ability to "understand." Similarly, both groups of mothers view development as a very slow and subtle process, and both

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expect complete obedience from children. This sample, however, differs from the Mayan women in their perceived role as socializing agents. Whereas Gaskins (1996) reported that the mothers she studied allowed development to follow its normal course, the mothers in this sample repeatedly stressed the importance of their role in their children's social development. Consistent with the reports of others (Parra & Henderson, 1977), cognitive and academic development was left to teachers. The portrait that emerged from interpretation of mothers' narratives differs substantially from current professional models of child development. However, it cannot be claimed that it is uniquely Mexican or even unique to low SES Mexican immigrant mothers. Elements of their schemas can also be found in other cultures. For example, Lutz (1985) stated the following of the Ifaluk, a people from the Western Caroline Islands of Micronesia, "It is assumed that correct behavior naturally and inevitably follows from understanding, which should follow from listening. Although the concept of independent will is not absent (this is represented in the concept of tip-,) the greatest stress is placed on the connections between language, listening, understanding, and correct behavior" (p. 61). Similarly, Kohn (1977) noted that parental values may be more a function of social class and education than of ethnicity. These issues should be considered further in future research. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We wish to thank first and foremost the mothers who shared their views and experiences and Raquel Dominguez for reviewing the data and our conclusions. Also, Emily Arcia is indebted to Dora Puig de Zayas for crossing the street to avoid a woman with a clipboard who "would probably ask her how many toothpicks she had at home," a question impossible to answer correctly because it lacked significance to the respondent. This research was made possible by a Minority Supplement Award for Emily Arcia from the National Institute of Mental Health (U01 MH 50447) and from the Leon Lowenstein Center for the Study, Prevention, and Treatment of Disruptive Behavior Disorders. REFERENCES Anastopoulos, A. D., Guevremont, D. C., Shelton, T. L., & DuPaul, G. J. (1992). Parenting stress among families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 20, 503-20. Baden, A. D., & Howe, G. W. (1992). Mothers' attributions and expectancies regarding their conduct-disordered children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 20, 467-85.

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