The promotion of independence and interdependence in parent–child interactions across two cultures: Associations with maternal socialization goals

Parents are early socialization agents who promote both independence and interdependence in their interactions with children. However, given that cultural contexts differ in the relative emphasis placed on the self versus others, the manifestations of these behaviours are likely to differ across cultures. This study compares mothers’ observed independence- and interdependence-promoting behaviours during a naturalistic snack interaction with their preschool-aged child in two urban samples from Canada ( n = 112) and Singapore ( n = 136), using a novel coding system. In addition to comparing Canadian and Singaporean mothers in terms of their behaviours, we also examine associations between mothers’ observed behaviours and their self-reported socialization goals. Results show that Canadian mothers generally exhibited more independence-promoting behaviours (i.e., by affirming or complying with child initiatives, orienting to the physical environment, and discussing their own internal states), while Singaporean mothers exhibited more interdependence-promoting behaviours (i.e., by issuing commands and initiating physical touch/control). Singaporean mothers also endorsed stronger interdependent socialization goals than Canadian mothers, which were positively correlated with most observed dimensions of interdependence-promoting behaviour and negatively correlated with one dimension of observed independence-promoting behaviour. Overall, this study describes differences in mother–child interactions across two distinct cultural contexts, while providing evidence suggesting that these behaviours may be informed by contextually relevant parental beliefs about children’s socialization.