| In this study, dyadic play in a culturally diverse sample was observed and coded. Thirty mother--child dyads participated, of which 10 were Chinese immigrant families, 10 Hispanic immigrant families and 10 were native born Caucasian Americans. The age of the mothers ranged from 23-39 ( M = 31, SD 3.81) age of the fathers from 25-41 ( M = 33.34, SD 4.40). The age of the children ranged from 18 -- 36 months, (M = 26.70 months, SD 6.05). Of the 30 children, 17 were male and 13 were female. The education level of parents ranged from Junior High School through Graduate School and was well balanced across all groups. Twenty four of the 30 children in the study had siblings. Eight of the children in the study received a therapeutic service and siblings of 7 of them were reported to have received a therapeutic service. Fifteen families reported that they had private health insurance: Medicaid status was used as a proxy for income. A questionnaire of Parental Beliefs about Play and Development was completed as well as an observation of parent-child play. The type of play, child behaviors and level of parental scaffolding were coded to determine the relationship between the parents' responses to the questionnaire and their actual play. Responses to the questionnaire were summarized to form 3 groups---parents who believed that play and development were interactive, that development was fixed, and that development was based solely upon maturation. Parents who believed that play and development were interactive demonstrated higher levels of scaffolding behavior of their child in play F(2,27) = 4.74 p<0.01. There was no effect observed for socioeconomic status or the presence of a disability upon parental beliefs; there were some differences in beliefs about development by ethnicity. The focus of this study was not to reveal cross cultural differences but rather, to ensure that there was enough cross cultural representation to demonstrate that the findings are likely to apply to parents in general, rather than to parents belonging to a specific SES, race or culture. |
