A Cross-Cultural Study of Maternal Perceptual Attributions and Behavioral Attributions by Parents and Teachers in Japan and the United States: Dynamic Situational Paradigm of Childrearing Research
Kurachi, Akemi
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/68830
Description
Title
A Cross-Cultural Study of Maternal Perceptual Attributions and Behavioral Attributions by Parents and Teachers in Japan and the United States: Dynamic Situational Paradigm of Childrearing Research
Author(s)
Kurachi, Akemi
Issue Date
1982
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Educational Psychology
Abstract
This study is both a theoretical and empirical exploration of role functions and interpersonal perceptions of parents and preschool teachers in Japan and in the United States.
The aims of this study were: (1) to introduce a new paradigm of childrearing research which addresses the importance of internal role perceptions and role actualization and of situational factors in the analysis of childrearing functions in multiple (home-school) systems of childrearing, (2) to illustrate how the role enactment and role actualization constructs proposed in this paradigm could be addressed by empirical research, and (3) to demonstrate the usefulness of this paradigm for intercultural comparisons by carrying out cross-cultural research.
In the empirical study, three incidents were described, each involving potential conflict between a mother and a teacher about the mother's child (e.g., Mike forgot to bring a form to school and the teacher got angry with him in front of the class, etc.). Subjects were asked to respond to 24 statements, beginning with the "mother would feel" and "the mother would do" on a 7-point-scale. The same 24 statements were used for each incident. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed in five geographic locations in each country. There were 304 usable returns.
Discriminant analyses were carried out for each incident to distinguish American mothers, American teachers, Japanese mothers and Japanese teachers. Further, the 12 "mother-would-feel" statements were used to compute self-, teacher-, and child-locus scores, and an ANOVA and ANCOVA of these scores was carried out for each incident (with culture and role as subject classification factors). The "mother-would-do" statements were analyzed similarly.
In the discriminant analyses, almost all the first discriminant functions distinguished sharply between American and Japanese groups, and there were many other regularities across the incidents. Also, certain individual statements in the questionnaire distinguished powerfully between Americans and Japanese. In the ANOVAs, the culture main effect was almost always very significant, the role main effect was sometimes significant, and in "the mother-would feel" statements, locus of responsibility interacted powerfully with culture (p < .000001) in every incident.
In general, the results of this study have implications for other comparative interdisciplinary studies of Japan and the United States, and raise some fundamental questions about the educational programs and policies in both countries.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
