Cultural variations in maternal regulatory responses during a waiting task

The goal of the present cross-cultural study was to investigate mothers’ pattern of responses in a delay of gratification situation for their toddler and its effect on toddlers’ emotions by using a person-centered approach. We also tested whether this effect was mediated by toddlers’ own regulation strategies. Fifty-one European American, 30 Israeli-Jewish, 52 Turkish, and 40 Romanian mothers of 2-year-old children were videotaped while the child was asked to wait for a reward until mother finished paperwork. Mothers’ regulatory responses, children’s emotions (anger and sadness), their emotion regulation strategies, and task-compliance were coded. Four profiles of maternal responses could be identified, which mostly varied in quantity across the countries. Country differences in toddlers’ anger and sadness were explained by maternal profiles. Profiles with emphasis on distraction were related to lower levels of toddler anger and sadness. This effect was partly due to the fact that toddlers applied strategies like distraction and self-soothing in concordance with mothers’ effort to regulate in a similar way. Overall, the person-centered approach gave an interesting insight into dyadic dynamics in such a demanding situation for toddlers. The distribution of profiles across these four countries point to cultural variations in emotion socialization and development beyond dichotomous perspectives of cultural norms like individualism and collectivism.