Cultural Differences in Beliefs and Practices Concerning Talk to Children

• Published in: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research Vol. 45; no. 5; pp. 916 - 926
• Main Authors: Johnston, Judith R, Wong, M.-Y. Anita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rockville, MD ASHA 01.10.2002; American Speech Language Hearing Association; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Subjects: Asian people; Baby talk; Beliefs; Biological and medical sciences; Child Development; Child rearing; Child, Preschool; China; Cross cultural studies; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Crosscultural studies; Culture; Educational aspects; Families & family life; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Language; Language acquisition; Language development; Maternal Age; Medical sciences; Methods; Mother-Child Relations; Mother-Preschool child interactions; Non tumoral diseases; Otorhinolaryngology functional investigation (larynx, voice, audiometry, vestibular function, equilibration...); Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Parent and child; Preschool Children; Social aspects; Speech; Surveys and Questionnaires; Upper respiratory tract, upper alimentary tract, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands: diseases, semeiology; Verbal Behavior; Verbal learning; Western countries; Young Children; China; Human; Communication disorder; Survey; Type; Language; Chinese; Exploration; Child; Culture; Ethnic group; Language disorder; Parent child relation
• ISSN: 1092-4388; 1558-9102
• DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2002/074)

Sporadic observations of non-Western culture groups have made it clear that the large literature on child-directed talk primarily describes Western parent-child interaction patterns. The current study used a survey instrument to contrast the childrearing beliefs and related verbal interaction practices of Chinese and Western mothers of preschoolers. Stepwise regression procedures indicated that culture differences in ratings for 6 belief statements and 5 interaction patterns accounted for 66-67% of the total variance. Discriminate functions derived from the regression analyses identified members of the two culture groups with 94-95% accuracy. The findings call into question the advice commonly given to parents of children with language delay and point to specific areas where practices more harmonious with Chinese culture could be recommended.