Parenting in the Costa Rican Context

In this book theoretical implications of developmental psychology approaches related to parental ethnotheories and the context of the mother-child interaction in an specific cultural context are discussed. A relevant subject for psychology is focused on the subjects of cultural, trans-cultural, and developmental psychology. Parental beliefs, conflict resolution strategies, and cultural orientation were assessed in two Costa Rican samples. Mothers from rural and urban contexts and their pre-school children were assessed in three interaction episodes. Assessments concerning collectivism, family allocentrism and socialization goals plus a semi-structured interview were applied. Interdependent cultural orientation among Costa Rican mothers and differences among zone were tested. Despite an interdependent cultural orientation, urban and rural samples showed certain variability concerning interactive components, parental beliefs and cultural values related to conflict resolution and conflict resolution styles. Results allow detailing certain cultural specific values concerning parenting, interaction patterns, parental beliefs and social values related to conflict resolution.