CULTURAL AND PARENTING COGNITIONS IN ACCULTURATING CULTURES 2. Patterns of Prediction and Structural Coherence

This longitudinal study evaluated prediction and coherence in cultural (acculturation, individualism, collectivism) and parenting cognitions (attributions, self-perceptions, knowledge) in 86 Japanese American and South American acculturating mothers. Mothers’ cultural cognitions when their infants were 5 months old predicted some parenting cognitions 15 months later, particularly among Japanese American mothers. Coherence among mothers’ attributions obtained in both cultural groups when their infants were both 5 and 20 months of age and among Japanese American mothers’ self-perceptions of parenting at both time periods. Although a few relations across types of parenting cognitions were found, domains of parenting cognitions were relatively independent. This study provides insight into the nature and structure of cultural and parenting cognitions in two U.S. acculturating groups.