The aim of this study was to examine sociocultural influences on the development of specific sociocognitive developmental milestones. The-self-recognition and self-regulation skills of 2-year-old children were assessed in two autonomous- relational cultural contexts: educated, urban, middle-class-families from Costa Rica (N = 19) and Mexico (N = 15). These two cultural groups are-representative of a consistent pattern of an autonomous-relational Latin-American cultural model; there were no differences between the two groups in mothers' socialization goals, maternal behavior during mother-child play, and toddlers'-self-recognition and self-regulation. As predicted by ecocultural models of-development, consistent cultural models emerged: Sociodemographic factors were associated with -mothers' relative emphasis on autonomous socialization goals and lower levels of directive and didactic play. There were also significant correlations between facets of mothers' cultural models and toddlers'-development of-self-regulation, but not self-recognition. This study provides further evidence that the sociocognitive development of children's self-regulation during the second year is dependent on the "ecological imprint" that is provided by their mothers' cultural model. Furthermore, the same mechanisms that account for cross-cultural differences also seem to account for intracultural variation in maternal behavior and toddlers' development.

This paper is aimed at analyzing verbal and nonverbal strategies in terms of body contact, face-to-face contact, and discourse style during the first three months of life in two cultural communities that have been characterized as embodying different cultural models of parenting: German middle-class, and Nso farmer families. It can be demonstrated that the Nso mothers have significantly higher rates of body contact during the assessments of free-play interactions during the first 12 weeks than the German women. The German women on the other hand demonstrate the expected increase of face-to-face contact, whereas the Nso women demonstrate a significantly lower and stable pattern of face-to-face contact over the assessments. The German mothers use an agentic discourse style, whereas the Nso mothers use a relational discourse style. Moreover, body contact and a relational discourse style form one parenting strategy, whereas face-to-face contact and the agentic discourse style form another parenting strategy. The results demonstrate culture-specific parenting strategies that not only differ with respect to the amount of behaviors expressed, but also the developmental course of particular behaviors. It is also evident that socialization strategies are expressed in different behavioral channels. The role of sociodemographic variables is particularly discussed with respect to their impact for defining sociocultural environments.

This prospective longitudinal study is aimed at contributing to the understanding of cultural diversity concerning maternal parenting behaviors and conversational styles on one hand and continuity in parenting strategies on the other hand. It could be demonstrated that German middle-class families from Berlin and Indian Hindu middle-class families from Delhi represent two different cultural environments embodying different parenting strategies. The Berlin mothers focus on the cultural model of independence, whereas the Delhi mothers focus on the cultural model of autonomous relatedness. These different orientations are expressed in nonverbal and conversational behaviors with 3-month-old babies as well as in the play styles with 19-month-old toddlers. It could also be demonstrated that the parenting styles form continuous socialization environments. Especially the conversation styles that mothers use while talking to their 3-month-old babies were good predictors for the play styles with their 19-month-old toddlers. The results are discussed with an emphasis on parenting strategies as continuous and consistent cultural projects.

Cultures differ with respect to parenting strategies already during infancy. Distal parenting, i.e., face-to-face context and object stimulation, is prevalent in urban educated middle-class families of Western cultures; proximal parenting, i.e., body contact and body stimulation, is prevalent in rural, low-educated farmer families. Parents from urban educated families in cultures with a more interdependent history use both strategies. Besides these cultural preferences, little is known about the relations between these styles as well as the behavioural systems constituting them. In this study therefore, the relations between the styles and the constituting behaviours were analysed in samples that differ with respect to their preferences of distal and proximal parenting. The hypothesized differences between the samples and the negative relationship between distal and proximal parenting, as well as between the respective behavioural systems can clearly be demonstrated. Furthermore, the impact of the sociodemographic variables with respect to the parenting strategies can be shown. Results were discussed as supporting two alternative parenting strategies that serve different socialization goals.

In this longitudinal study, the authors addressed intracultural variation on fathers' interactions with their 3-month-old infants, their ideas about parental care, and the timing of their children's self-recognition at the age of 18-20 months. Participants were 24 middle-class German fathers and their firstborn children. Two behavioral clusters emerged: a more proximal parenting style with extensive body contact and a more distal parenting style with extensive object stimulation. Fathers in the distal cluster had significantly more education than did fathers in the proximal cluster. Children who had experienced more distal parenting were more likely to recognize themselves in a mirror than were children with more proximal parenting. The authors discuss the results with respect to fathers' influence on child development and patterns of intracultural variation.

Children's socialization environments reflect cultural models of parenting. In particular, Euro-American and Chinese families have been described as following different socialization scripts. The present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los Angeles and Beijing. Euro-American parents' behaviors towards their children, as well as their parental ethnotheories are assumed to express the cultural model of autonomy; whereas Chinese parents' socialization strategies are assumed to be shaped by the cultural model of relatedness. The results reveal that Euro-American and Chinese mothers embody different cultural models in their verbal parenting behaviors and verbalized parenting strategies. However, the differences are not consistent and there are no differences with respect to non-verbal parenting behaviors. The results are discussed as illustrating the complexity of cultural models of parenting, where cultural messages are expressed differently in different domains.

The present study about fatherhood in Germany addresses the issue of changing paternal behaviour in the German middle class between 1977 and 2001. Against the background of the ongoing phase of individualization in Germany, videotaped interactions between fathers and their 3-months-old infants are analysed. The results reveal a shift towards more autonomy and independence in the fathers' behaviour. This can be seen in increases and decreases of particular paternal behaviour patterns, which are related to either independence and autonomy or interdependence and relatedness. In sum, between the two points in time the fathers show an increase in the frequencies of object stimulation and contingent responses to infant signals in the face-to-face-context on the one hand and a decrease in the frequencies of body contact and interactional warmth on the other.

This longitudinal study focuses on the development of eye contact and the contingency of maternal reactions to infants' signals from the age of 3 to 6 months. Eighty-seven 3-month-old infants participated in this study. The amount of eye contact and of social contingencies experienced as prompt maternal responses was assessed micro-analytically based on videotaped mother – infant interactions. The ability to detect contingencies in non-social contexts was assessed by a visual expectation paradigm. The general pattern of the results shows decreases in eye contact and increases in contingencies during development, although this general pattern was not shown by all mothers. Furthermore, the results show that increases in the experience of early social contingencies are related to the ability to detect contingencies in the visual expectation task. The unexpected increase in maternal contingencies over time is discussed as reflecting a possible increase in the significance of association learning after the age of 3 months.