An International Perspective on Parenting: Social Change and Social Constructs

Author(s): Anne-Marie Ambert

Source: Journal of Marriage and Family , Aug., 1994, Vol. 56, No. 3 (Aug., 1994), pp.
529-543
Published by: National Council on Family Relations

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/352865

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 ANNE-MARIE AMBERT
York University

An International Perspective on Parenting:

Social Change and Social Constructs

Three general areas of research and social con- of the Western emphasis on mothering and on in-
cern pertaining to parenting are discussed within tense emotional bonding between parents and
an international perspective focusing on recent children is utilized to illustrate how the biases
social changes as well as on constructs of parent- arising out of particular Western constructs affect
ing. First, I critique ideological biases arising out research paradigms. In a second step, this critical
analysis is expanded by linking it to social
of a particular Western definition of parenting--
in this case, mothering-that affect research changes that are taking place internationally in
paradigms. This critique is then expanded by order to offer a glimpse into areas of parenting
linking it to current international social changes that beg to be addressed empirically and within a
in order to offer a glimpse into areas of parenting less ethnocentric framework. And, third, I illus-
that could be addressed empirically. And, third, trate how current socioeconomic changes and up-
consideration of socioeconomic changes and up- heavals affect the experience of parenting, which
heavals leads to the suggestion that the experi- may became a more difficult enterprise in the
ence of parenting may become more difficult in near future in most countries of the world. These
the near future in most countries of the world. particular areas of concern were selected because
This discussion is informed by a critical analysis they are relevant to international developments
based on perspectives that view childhood, and that can be presumed to affect not only the par-
hence parenting, as social constructs evolving enting role but research paradigms as well (Bron-
with sociohistorical changes. fenbrenner, 1979; Elder, Modell, & Parke, 1993).
The discussion is informed by a critical perspec-
tive viewing both childhood and parenting as so-
In this article, three general areas of research and cial constructs that evolve with sociohistorical
social concern pertaining to parenting are dis-
changes.
cussed within an international perspective focus-
Although my focus here is on parenting, dis-
ing on recent social changes as well as on con-
cussions of parenting cannot be divorced from
structs of parenting. First, the combined example
perspectives on the nature of childhood. Histori-
cally and cross-culturally, the debate about the
nature of childhood has raged from times im-
Department of Sociology, York University, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, M3J 1P3
memorial (Colin, 1986; Hughes, 1989). Each age
(Aries, 1962), each society reinvents or rediscov-
ers childhood within its own sociohistorical
Key words: adolescence, childhood, motherhood, parenting,
youth. framework (Wartofsky, 1983). The nature of

Journal of Marriage and the Family 56 (August 1994): 529-543 529

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 530 Journal of Marriage and the Family

childhood is fluid, anchored This as

linkage
itbetween
is in what
thewe conceive
prevail-to be
ing world views supporting the nature societies
of childhood andand
that ofcreated
parenting is
by societies (Hendrick, 1990; Jenks, 1982; based less on the natural unavoidability of parents
Kessen, 1979, 1983; Prout & James, 1990). In for children's survival and well-being as on soci-
most societies, children and early adolescents are ety's structure and socioeconomic requisites,
viewed within the context of the family (Oldman, which not only place children in the context of
1991). Consequently, as one cohort or one culture family, but "parentalize" (see Zukerman, 1993, p.
defines what childhood is, parenting is construct- 237) and, I will add, "maternalize" them. Thus,
ed, whether explicitly or implicitly. What consti- where one sees children, one "sees" parents.
tutes parenting is as much a cultural invention as When one sees children who have problems, one
what constitutes childhood (Pomerleau, Malcuit, looks for parents, especially mothers. When one
& Sabatier, 1991; Whiting & Whiting, 1960) and, seeks solutions to children's problems-even
in this century, adolescence (Hurrelmann, 1989; when societally caused (by poverty for in-
Sebald, 1992). It is an ideology (Heyns, 1991, p. stance)-one immediately turns to parents who
9). As a socially defined phenomenon, the requi- are then scrutinized by a variety of establish-
sites and boundaries of parenting will differ by ments, whether legal, medical, or psychological,
historical period, culture, class, and ethnicity or or, in the past, religious. The perspective herein
race (see also Gergen, 1973). utilized views parenting as a social construct and
The bulk of the relevant behavioral and social posits that research paradigms on parenting are
sciences are the product of American and Euro- influenced by the ideological orientations of the
pean masculine knowledge. Moreover, English main knowledge producers and concerned profes-
has become the international language of scientif- sionals in this field. In essence, although very few
ic exchange. Consequently, the nature of parent- would deny that studies of parenting are culture
ing, it can be argued, is becoming the naturebound, of our literatures too frequently still present
North American parenting with hues of Western the results as if they were universally applicable
European influence. Within such a potential for (see also Kessen, 1993).
homogeneity, and under the current Western
monopoly on knowledge (see also Freidson, IDEOLOGICAL BIASES IN PARENTING RESEARCH
1986; Schroyer, 1970) in the behavioral and so-
cial sciences, there is a danger that one can fail to The above critique applies most particularly to
carry on a discourse on parenting as an evolving the concept of mothering as the primordial and
construct, as opposed to a fixed entity that is necessary ingredient in children's development,
viewed as "nature bound" within one particularly with attendant concepts of bonding or attachment.
dominant type of society. Yet, obviously, the so- While it may be that mothers are indeed the most
cial definition of "nature" itself shifts, even important persons and parents in a majority of
though each new definition is believed to be the children's lives in modern, urban, and technologi-
definitive one. In the past century, under Western cal societies, this should not be taken to mean that
masculine hegemony, parenting has been succes- one mother is a necessity of human nature. In-
sively encoded in religious strictures, then moral- deed, the Western focus on individual mothers at
ized, medicalized, psychologized, psychiatrized, the core of children's development is not univer-
and more recently legalized (Hendrick, 1990; see sal. Many anthropologists question it as an ethno-
also Morgan, 1985; Schtitze, 1987)-frequently centric phenomenon (LeVine, 1990; Takahashi,
all of these together in the past decade, in what 1986; see also Kessen, 1975, p. 31). For instance,
Habermas (1987) would call the colonization of Whiting and Edwards (1988, p. 94) have found
parents' lifeworld. Parenting is constantly being that, in some societies, mothers initiate very few
constructed according to the ideologies and the nurturing acts; this observation led them to sug-
paradigms of those sciences and professions that gest that current stereotypes of the nature of the
happen to dominate at any point in time in terms maternal role should be revised.
of dictating what is good for children. Once what In addition, multiple mothering and even mul-
is "in the best interest of the child" has been de- tiple parenting takes place in many agrarian and
fined, what parents should be and should do is gathering societies (Rogoff, Mistry, Gbncti, &
implicitly and explicitly constructed. Whatever Mosier, 1991), such as the Efe of Zaire (Morelli
notions of childhood predominate will thus shape & Tronick, 1991; Tronick, Winn, & Morelli,
the form that parenting should take. 1985), where several women in a small communi-

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An International Perspective on Parenting 531

these forms of of
ty share in the care and supervision multiple parenting are disappear-
children,
where all the members of the ing, at least a are
village betterresponsi-
understanding of the source
ble for all the children, andand perpetuation
where older of our own biases would be
siblings
helpful-including
or other youngsters are often an understanding of how
small children's
caretakers as well as their main mothers continueof
source to be singled out (Bretherton,
psycho-
logical comfort and discomfort (LeVine & 1991) in spite of the fact that so many babies have
LeVine, 1981; Olson, 1981: Weisner & Gal- gainfully employed mothers and are cared for by
limore, 1977). To some extent, one encounters other persons or institutions. This prise de con-
multiple parenting among African Americansscience is especially crucial in view of the fact
(Collins, 1992; see also Hunter & Ensminger, that Western journals, because of their salience in
1992) and even more so in some Caribbean com- the international scientific and social welfare
munities. However, while children experiencecommunity, are exporting paradigms that may be
multiple "mothering" in many societies, this situ- harmful in other societies and frequently no
ation becomes aberrant when members of such longer apply to many segments of our own popu-
societies migrate. For instance, in traditional lations. Moreover, these traditional paradigms im-
Polynesian cultures, this form of multiple parent- prison us within a very limited intellectual per-
ing and even of sibling parenting often results spective
in that prevents us from focusing on recent
conflicts with the main society into which Poly- social changes and from asking pertinent research
nesians may move and where they can be labelled questions.
negligent because the mother continues to dele- We may briefly reflect here on certain mater-
gate "her" role to others (Ritchie & Ritchie, nal characteristics that are currently correlated to
1981). Multiple parenting then becomes "dys- a bewildering range of children's ills, problems,
functional." Because they do not correspond andtobehaviors (from colon irritation to hyperac-
the prevailing ideologies and structures in tivity) the that may be caused by malnutrition and
larger society, such forms of parenting in turn poverty and, in other societies, are actually
prove to be maladaptive to the children caught caused
in by intestinal parasites, wars, or famines.
the middle of two traditions and in urban environ- Many studies in clinically oriented journals exem-
ments that are often more dangerous than the en-plify this problematic, unidirectional causal pat-
vironment from which the parent emigrated. tern, with maternal depression as the current
These forms of parenting also become punitive to crown jewel of this genre of mother blaming. (For
the mothers as they are stigmatized by child-wel- a well-balanced review, see Zahn-Waxler, Den-
fare professionals for their negligence. It is scant ham, lannotti, & Cummings, 1992). What we ob-
surprise that, overwhelmed by cultural and soci-serve here is the development of a scholarly and
etal changes and, consequently, new dictates,clinical culture focusing on maternal depression.
non-Western ("nonscientific") forms of parenting This culture is in part perpetuated by the referenc-
are disappearing. ing system (the "Whoozle effect"; Gelles, 1980):
What these examples illustrate is that these As studies correlating maternal depression to all
modes of parenting place a serious question markills affecting children are at times indiscriminate-
on much of the literature that emphasizes the ne- ly tossed in review papers and introductions,
cessity for a child to have only one adult attach-without a proper evaluation of their contents or
ment figure, usually the mother, in order to ma- ecological validity, a myth is perpetuated. With
ture normally. This question mark, it should be the best of intentions, the gatekeepers of certain
noted, does not do violence to attachment theory journals find the syndrome of maternal depression
when properly interpreted (Bretherton, 1993). highly appealing because it so conveniently fits in
Small children need a stable, secure, and caring traditional patriarchal ideologies (Thorne &
immediate environment. That this environment is Yalom, 1992) and in the functioning of various
the mother in industrialized societies is a socio- mental health professions. Often without proper
historical phenomenon (see also Hinde & Steven- control variables such as poverty or marital mis-
son-Hinde, 1991). The notion of parents, espe- ery (which can depress both mothers and chil-
cially of mothers, as the necessary source of chil- dren)-as well as considerations of heredity
dren's current and later personal stability does which
not can transmit problematic propensities
across generations-the culture of maternal de-
hold cross-culturally nor, for that matter, histori-
cally. Much more research is needed in this do-
pression carries potentially deleterious conse-
main. If research cannot be carried out because
quences for mothers and children, especially if it

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 532 Journal of Marriage and the Family

complementary way
is transposed into other ecological of reading the where
contexts Rossi and
it might be irrelevant. Rossi One should
findings may be that,be as reminded
adolescents and
here of the "schizophrenogenic parents becomemother"-that
more independent becauseis, of
the mother who used toschool, "cause"
work, peer schizophrenia
affiliations, and teenage sub- in
her child-so much en vogue, cultures (allso much
of which generallyabused in
separate children
the 1950s and 1960s, anfrom unfortunate
parents in terms of less time paradigm
spent together,
that was eventually abandoned and fewer sharedby serious
activities), parents simplyre- re-
searchers but that still persists spond to their children's behavior
among many and demands
prac-
titioners and in the popular for independence.
media.They do so by lowering their
At a related level, additional investment,research
at least in terms of and the-
personal attention
ory biases have arisen from definitions
and supervision of attach-
(for a related view, see Hauser &
ment that evolved as a result Bowlds, 1990,of social changes.
p. 402).
Historically oriented researchers Western parents-and, more (Engstler
recently, especial-&
Ltischer, 1991, p. 13; Zelizer, ly mothers-have1985) acquired have demon-
other nonfamilial de-
strated how children have mands on acquired
their time and outletsmorefor their emotions
emo-
tional value for parents in Western
(employment, commuting, societies
leisure, dating) and in
this century. In past centuries, while
children may become thereinwas
less important these twoor
could be an emotional parent-child respects than they have bond, children
been in the recent past.
were above all an economic Moreover,resource
the literature on fordivorceparents,
clearly indi-
either as workers or as insurance for
cates that at least one their
parent, generallyold age.
the father,
Moreover, the current emphasis can easily divest himselfon ofparent-child
material and even af-
attachment strictly in terms fective of
parenting investment (see Furstenberg
emotionality is still &
not applicable for many contemporary Cherlin, 1991; Maccoby & Mnookin, societies1992). Chil- in
the world. This is not intended dren from a previous to marriage
mean may that, in
have less af-
such societies, parents may fectivenot
value for
beparents, especially when at-
affectively new
tached to their children. Rather,
children are born in ait means
remarriage (Ambert, that
1989).
other types of bonds At exist or become
times, children coexist-bonds
less attached to their
based on familial honor, descent,
noncustodial ethnic
parent (White, or & reli-
Brinkerhoff, Booth,
gious affiliation, and paternal 1985). Studies have also found that
authority, for stepchildren
exam-
ple (for an autobiographical leave homeaccount,
earlier than children who doFarma-
see not have
ian, 1992). It is parenthetically a stepparent interesting
(e.g., White & Booth, 1985). that Thus,wein
possess little research on NorththeAmerica, effect
there may bethat these
a shift away from
other bases for attachment the chargedhave
affectivity on and personality
exclusivity in parent-
development and on the child parenting
relations that had experience
developed in the West it-
self. since the early 1900s and gave rise to so much of
Moreover, even in North America, this intense our current research, theorizing, and clinical focus
level of parental affective investment may well on attachment, child development, and, especially,
have reached a plateau as a result of new pres- on mothers and mother-child bonding. One can
sures placed on the family. For instance, Rossi therefore argue that recent social changes may re-
and Rossi (1990) have established a correlation quire a recasting of our constructs of parenting
between parents who encourage independence and even childhood.
and self-reliance in their children and "less in-
vestment in parenting responsibility, and a more
SOCIAL CHANGES: SUGGESTED AREAS OF
casual approach to home maintenance, dress, and
RESEARCH ON PARENTING
demeanor in public" (p. 112). One could read
here that parents who encourage independence The above section was intended to touch on only
need independent children as they have other a few of the biases issuing from the Western con-
matters to attend to (including working for wages struct of parenting (especially mothering) in an
to support their children) as do their children (see effort to highlight the notion of parenting as a so-
also Roussel, 1989). In a subsistence economy, in cial rather than a purely natural phenomenon.
contrast, parents and children engage in the same Redirections for research were also incidentally
activities or in different activities within earshot suggested. In this section, I pursue this theme of
of each other, so that independence is counterpro- the social construction of parenthood, but more
ductive (LeVine, 1983). A second and perhaps broadly and with the goal of broaching some

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An International Perspective on Parenting 533

areas of parenting related to out

finding social changes
what types that
of parents/children are rel-
are particularly neglectedatively in empirical
untouched by this resocialization
research. process
Admittedly, an entire range comparedof to those
topicswho are could
"successfully"
bereso-
covered; I have elected to cialized. focus onofareas
The role of par- im-
these parents'/children's
enting affected by current mediatesocioeconomic
environment in supporting or up-preventing
heavals in the world. This thisperspective
transformation should has the(e.g., de
be considered
double advantage of beingAnda, 1984).
contemporary, as well
as of forcing us to look at Another parentingarea of interest are those families
within its
specific sociohistorical as whose well asmigrates
head ecological
for work or con-
where the entire
texts (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1986),with
family migrates and thus work
temporary at permits,
some of the contexts of its social construction. whether to Germany, Switzerland, France, Japan,
As waves of immigrants and refugees continue or the United States, for seasonal work or for sev-
spreading throughout the world, there is obvious-eral years. The children may attend the public
ly a need to do more research on immigrant par-school system (Ahearn & Athey, 1991); some are
enting. We want to know how parenting, as a even born in the host country. These temporary
role, an institution, and an existential phe- migrants or "guest workers" are generally of low
nomenon, is affected by families' migration tosocioeconomic origins, engage in menial work,
other countries (e.g., Buriel, 1993; Detzner, and often suffer from racial or ethnic discrimina-
1992). The key variable here, in addition to ethnic tion in the host country (see Auernheimer, 1990).
and racial composition, is the degree of cultural Parents face two general sets of problems: adapta-
difference existing between the home society and tion to and survival in the host country and then
the host society. This is especially relevant when readaptation back home-if they return. In the
the host country is more technologically and eco- latter case, readaptation often occurs with chil-
nomically "advanced." LeVine and LeVine dren who are more fluent in the language of the
(1985) have already shown that, when moving employer country than that of their home country
from an agrarian to an urban economy (whether and who have considerably altered expectations
because of actual emigration or rapid internal so- and lifestyles that may conflict with those of the
cial change), children become an economic liabil- home country. We unfortunately have no detailed
ity to their parents as they are transformed into knowledge of these processes of parents' (and
consumers rather than producers-an interesting children's) adaptation. Nor do we possess much
replay, but in a different context, of what took information on the effect on parents and children
place in the last century and early in this century of the current waves of anti-immigrant backlash,
in Western countries. They also found that chil- at times violent, occurring in some European
dren become less obedient, perhaps because their countries.
knowledge of the new environment (facilitated by A third area of interest is a comparison of the
the school system) is greater than their parents', parenting role and experience in rural versus
because they are exposed to the peer influence ofurban environments, especially in countries with
similarly uprooted children, and/or because par- low per capita income. Weisner (1979) observed
ents have lost the social support and communal in Kenya in the 1970s that children were more ag-
childrearing features of the home village (Austin, gressive and disruptive in urban than in rural
1976; Bekombo, 1981). areas. In contrast, Kessen (1983) has noted that
These realistic "laboratory" or naturalistic ex- children in a large city of China were somewhat
perimental situations constitute ideal settings to more disciplined than those in rural areas-al-
study the processes through which parents reeval- though all were more disciplined than American
uate their role and that of their children as they children. Thus, the rural and urban comparison
move into a totally different socioeconomic envi- does not produce similar results cross-culturally.
ronment. How is the reconstruction of the immi- At the time of Kessen's study, parents in urban
grants' parental role different when the migration China benefited from a very organized and value-
takes place into a Western society, compared with homogeneous support system in terms of day care
a situation of internal migration triggered by eco- and schools. In contrast, the countryside was less
nomic or political changes? What role do Western homogeneous. In the Kenyan example, the oppo-
child-welfare professionals (legal, medical, and site was the case: The urban environment was in a
social workers) and school systems play in this state of flux because of the arrival of former rural
reconstruction? One may also be interested in inhabitants whose traditional lifestyle was dis-

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 534 Journal of Marriage and the Family

these situations
rupted and who, as is the case have inmultiplied
mostin "develop-
the past
decade, the collective
ing" countries (Hollnsteiner & Taqon, parenting burden
1983), has in- had
settled into overcrowdedcreased
andto the often
point where the
illegal
United Nations
shanty-
has
towns at the peripheryhad ofto step
thein militarily
cities. to feedThis
children and par-
example
from Kenya in the 1970s is countries
ents. These particularly relevant
often see entire generations
as entire African tribes, nations,
of children wiped outand countries
or generations of children are
currently dislocated who because of
lose their parents civil
and grow wars,
up in groups of
famines, and droughts. children, or as indentured laborers or child-prosti-
This leads us to another issue that is acute as tutes, or in military camps, as boy-soldiers (Fyfe,
of this writing: parenting in countries that 1989), are terrorists, and thieves. What happens to
struck by violent revolutions or civil wars (Gar- girls, except for prostitution, is not so well docu-
barino, Dubrow, Kostelny, & Pardo, 1992; Gar- mented. What is even less well documented is
barino, Kostelny, & Dubrow, 1991), ethnic how these groups of orphaned children, as well as
cleansing, environmental destruction, famines and these boy-soldiers and girl-prostitutes will them-
utter scarcity (Scheper-Hughes, 1990), some oc- selves parent later on-that is, if they survive into
curring synchronously. Because tens of millions adulthood. Such queries would obviously not be
of families and parents are affected by these polit- well served by theories focusing on an exclusive
ically created problems involving parts of all the mother-child bond or on a narrow conception of
continents, research on parenting under these and parenting, as discussed in the previous section.
other extreme conditions is far from being an eso- The above questions are urgent, especially in
teric enterprise. Unfortunately, such conditions some societies where tens of thousands of such
are at times too dangerous to research or, because children exist-what is often called a lost genera-
so many lives are at stake, it is morally reprehen- tion but which, at least demographically, repre-
sible to carry out research when one should rather sents the future of its society. In such countries, in
be helping or advocating. But the families could
part populated by masses of older children who
be studied after "normal" conditions have been
have lost their parents and their entire family
reestablished or relocation has taken place,structure,
and and who often have developed brutally
research on parenting could be approached retro-
deviant lifestyles, a historical step is abruptly ini-
spectively. We would learn much about human tiated. We need to learn about the mechanisms
resilience, not only in extreme conditions cross-
through which these children will rebuild earlier
culturally, but also in extreme conditions thatfamily
are structures or will move on to develop new
likely to persist or be repeated-for these wars, ones that may or may not be compatible with
famines, and relocations have become a way of changed environment. One could, therefore,
their
life, part of the culture of entire generations of
research not only the social reconstruction of par-
parents and children, and part of the general enting
fab- among current parents but also among
ric of several societies. Once again, one can logi-children who, as they grow up within dislocated
cally expect that parenting becomes transformed environments, will evolve parenting roles for
radically and rapidly, as parents face unpre- themselves, whether successful or not.
dictable, uncontrollable, and often hopeless situa- I began this inquiry within a perspective that
tions. What are the dynamics involved in the views parenting as a culture-bound concept that is
transformation of the parental role and existentialconstantly reinvented or socially constructed as a
experience? What new social constructs emerge? response to sociohistorical and economic devel-
The level of parenting investment required is
opments. From that vantage point, we have also
currently high in most societies of the world,seen al- some of the biases that have emerged from a
though the reasons and the types of investment failure to retain a comparative and historical per-
differ from culture to culture and, within spective,
each and how professional interests and out-
culture, by social class (for a review of parentingdated ideologies can be particularly refractory to
investment theories, see Lancaster & Gelles, change. Finally, I went on to suggest new re-
1987). As we have seen in Africa, for instance, search foci stemming from current international
where civil wars, droughts, and famines are en- developments that are unavoidably affecting the
demic (see Ennew & Milne, 1989), the parenting parenting experience. In the next section, I pursue
investment required just to allow children to sur- these arguments one step farther and orient them
vive, without even considering their health and toward a discussion linking social changes and
development, is enormous (Johansson, 1987). As constructs to social and moral concerns regarding

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An International Perspective on Parenting 535

the existential condition of parenting.

is high unemployment and The hy-
poverty, and when the
economy of a country
pothesis is advanced that parenting as a whole is depressed,
has become a
more complex and difficult currently
role and a near universal
experience,phenomenon (Elder,
not only in most Western Conger,
countries, but 1992;
Foster, & Ardelt, also in
Lempers, Clark-
countries that are developingLempers, & Simons,or
rapidly 1989;are
Voydanoff,
dis- 1990).
rupted by political and environmental catastro-
Poverty and deprivation make parenting prob-
phes. It is also hypothesizedlematic
that the
because near
they future
increase obstacles (Halpern,
may reserve more parenting 1990),
difficulties.
risk factors, and the simultaneous presence
of both (Rutter, 1987). Indeed, studies indicate
NEW COSTS IN THE PARENTING EXPERIENCE that children in poverty suffer more from the en-
tire gamut of physical, emotional, and behavioral
Western societies, especially North American, problems (Klerman, 1991; McLeod & Shanahan,
have seen a spiralling increase in juvenile delin- 1993; McLoyd & Wilson, 1991). In North Ameri-
quency, violence among children, gang wars, and ca, stressors such as unemployment, poverty, and
unsupported adolescent pregnancy, to name only children's problems can disrupt parenting (Web-
a few changes. By many indicators, American ster-Stratton, 1990). Robertson, Elder, and Skin-
youngsters' quality of life has very recently dete- ner (1991) have also found that, in times of stress
riorated (Furstenberg & Cherlin, 1991, pp. 8-9; and economic hardships, even support from one's
Uhlenberg & Eggebeen, 1986). As children's en- family exerts costs on the recipient parents. With
vironments have become more complex, more the increase in poverty, deprivation, and civil
dangerous, and less supportive, we can expect strife across the world, these findings beg for a
parenting to become more difficult. Garbarino, cross-cultural perspective, especially so since
Kostelny, and Dubrow (1991) and Garbarino, studies have shown that youngsters have a much
Dubrow, Kostelny, and Pardo (1992) have docu- more difficult time when formerly agrarian soci-
mented the traumas of children, and to some ex- eties are dislocated by the globalization of capi-
tent their mothers, who are caught in the web of talism (e.g., Leacock, 1987).
violence in Chicago housing projects where those In addition, single parenting, mainly mother-
on the economic margin live. For my part, I have ing, has increased substantially throughout the
documented the negative impact of peer abuse, world, although the reasons for this increase may
both on child victims and on their parents, in differ locally (Jolly & Cornia, 1984). In Western
largely middle-class environments (Ambert, countries, without omitting poverty, the main im-
1994). Even schools have long been a breeding mediate reasons lie in higher rates of divorce and
ground of antisocial problems (Bronfenbrenner & single mother childbearing. In other societies, sin-
Weiss, 1983, p. 400). More recently, they have gle mothering may be the direct result of poverty,
become armed camps. Yet, in the past, parents wars, raping of women as an act of war, large-
felt secure knowing their children were safe at scale exploitation of young girls as prostitutes,
school. and migration of males for employment. Single
Economic changes have also had profound ef- mothers everywhere are disproportionately repre-
fects on parenting. The economic benefits of chil- sented at or below the poverty level (Altimir,
dren are now harvested by society rather than by 1984; Duncan, 1991), a phenomenon that has
individual parents (Frones, Jensen, & Solberg, been called the "pauperization of motherhood"
1990; Qvortrup, in press). Indeed, children not (Oppong, 1988), along with the better known
only become tomorrow's work force and tax base, concept of the feminization of poverty. Moreover,
but they also constitute work opportunities for a there is a substantial literature pointing to in-
variety of child-welfare personnel and profession- creased difficulties with respect to single parent-
als (Kovarik, 1992). On the individual level, ing, especially by women (for a perspective on
statistics show that, in Western societies and less economically advanced societies, see
Japan, adults who become parents see their dis- Hollnsteiner & Tagon, 1983)-in great part be-
posable income diminish; in addition, parents and cause of low economic resources related to
their children live in more crowded conditions women's inferior status (McLanahan, Astone, &
than nonparents, especially when children are Marks, 1991). We also know that women in gen-
young (Qvortrup & Christofferson, 1990; Sham- eral are more bound to the parenting role (Scott &
gar-Handelman, 1991). Furthermore, parenting Alwin, 1989), so that any socially imposed in-
and childhood become more difficult when there crease in parenting investment and difficulties

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 536 Journal of Marriage and the Family

will fall largely on female

are more
shoulders
peer-oriented (Meeus,
across1989; Youniss
the &
world. As a continuation Smollar,
of the 1985). Since consumerism
two previous now affects
sec-
more aspects of
tions, it is additionally relevant topeople's
point lives out
than inthat
the recent
we have little comparative research
past (Zinneker, on
1990), one may single
logically wonder
mothering resulting from whether
thethis more intense and longer
multiplicity of consumerist
caus-
es found internationally. socialization (see also Bozon, 1990) may not con-
tribute to is
Another element to consider rendering
thatparents
the more helpless, yet
config-
more burdened. Added to the
uration of Western adolescence has stress changed
of either their
(Modell & Goodman, 1990) in directions that own unemployment or financial vulnerability, and
may increase parental difficulties and/or lead to a to the knowledge that reciprocity may not neces-
restructuring of parenting. While the phenomenon sarily benefit their old age, parents are confronted
of youth cultures is nothing new in the West, con- with the necessity of supporting older adolescents
temporary adolescent and even preadolescent and even young adults who are either unem-
ployed, precariously employed, or have to pro-
groups partake of a variety of subcultures that dif-
fer from youth subcultures of past centuries and long their passage through the educational system
even decades in at least five ways. (a) The subcul- in order to improve their future.
tures' main goals are recreational and consumer- It can be added that, in North America and
oriented; (b) they are characterized by commodi- Western Europe, parents and children share fewer
ties produced by adults for the teenage market for activities and engage in less face-to-face interac-
economic profit (Schlegel & Barry, 1991, p. 204); tion than in the recent past (Demo, 1992). Yet, the
(c) these subcultures, based on a global economy cross-cultural literature indicates that adolescents
as opposed to a regional one, are becoming inter- are less likely to get into trouble when they spend
national or universal (Qvortrup & Christofferson, more time with adults and less with peers
1990, p. 27; Youniss & Smollar, 1989); (d) al- (Schlegel & Barry, 1991, p. 138). At the same
though volatile, temporary, and mediated to some time, as we have seen in a previous section, litera-
extent by gender (Nava, 1992), class, and ethnici- ture from the U.S., Germany, and even Japan in-
ty (Chisholm, Brown, Btichner, & Krtiger, 1990), dicates that parents now place more emphasis on
these adolescent subcultures are more cohesive independence and autonomy in children's devel-
opment (Alwin, 1990; Tromsdorf, 1983), a phe-
and less fragmented for each individual child than
are the adult subcultures for each individual nomenon
par- that reinforces the influence of youth
ent (Small & Eastman, 1991); (e) current youth cultures and eventually contributes to those
subcultures are often in opposition to parents'"forces converging to reduce the family's impact
values and beliefs (LeMasters & DeFrain, 1989, on adolescent development and values" and to
p. 11)-although this last characteristic is notweaken
en- "parental ability to effectively direct be-
havior" (Castle, 1986, pp. 345-346). Dornbush et
tirely new in that youth subcultures have histori-
cally been viewed within an intergenerational al. (1985) have also shown that adolescents in
conflict perspective. This changing configuration
mother-only families are more susceptible to peer
group influence, an element that can complicate
of Western adolescence is spreading to other soci-
eties via mass markets and media, where it can this type of parenting.
also be presumed to affect parenting, and more so Daily life offers evidence to the effect that
adolescents have become much less tolerant of
than in the West where these changes had at least
some precedents in past decades. parental supervision, at least in North America,
Baethge (1989, p. 33) argues that, as our eco-while at the same time their environment has be-
nomic system prolongs education and postpones come more dangerous and offers them more ques-
employment (Galland, 1991)-although part-time tionable lifestyle alternatives (Hamburg & Takan-
student employment is prevalent in North Ameri- ishi, 1989; Small & Eastman, 1991). Paradoxical-
ca (Greenberger & Steinberg, 1986)-youth re- ly, lack of supervision is a salient feature in the
definition of what constitutes maltreatment and
ceive an increasingly "consumerist socialization."
This situation may contribute to an increase in
neglect of adolescents by parents (Garbarino,
Schellenbach, & Sebes, 1986). In some states,
parental responsibilities. First, parents in large
part subsidize this socialization that benefits soci-
new legislation penalizes parents for their adoles-
ety-in this case, its profit-oriented economy. cents' crimes and truancy by imposing parental
Second, studies indicate that it is particularly in
payments, fines, or jail terms. Moreover, proper
areas of consumption and leisure that adolescentsmonitoring of adolescents has also been related to

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An International Perspective on Parenting 537

Milne, 1989; Jolly

lowering their risks of victimization in&the Cornia, 1984). In contrast,
com-
munity at large (e.g., Small & Kerns,
the parental 1993).
role is less difficult when society sup-
Thus, one can immediately ports
see parents,
that and parents may
when the goals of schools, par-
be caught between adolescents' (and their
ents, child-welfare peers')
professionals, and peers con-
demands for less monitoring, verge as was the
often case in China (Kessen,
buttressed by 1975) as
a variety of professionals and well as at an earlier
media, onstage
theof the
oneformer Soviet
hand, and on the other hand Union environmental (in- & Barry,
(Bronfenbrenner, 1970; Schlegel
cluding legal) requisites pointing 1991, p. 204).to a need for
more monitoring-each requesting Despite this
oflack of societal support,
parents two the loss
opposite types of behavior.ofYet we family
traditional havestructures
no pro- (Berardo, 1990),
cess research on how parents and face this
lack of value contradic-
conformity, Westernized par-
tion nor on how they manage entsto areimpose
more policed than in
their the past (see
will
on, convince, or reason withDonzelot, their1979). They have to submit to a vast
nonconforming
and even delinquent adolescents in regions
array of experts and must eventhat
delegate much of
penalize them for the latter's theirtruancy
parenting responsibilities,
and crimi- as well as their
nality. self-empowerment, to day cares, schools, profes-
This analysis should not be equated with sci- sionals, and other child-welfare personnel in what
entifically obsolete but socially well entrenched is the professionalization of parenting and, as we
theories depicting adolescence as a necessarily tu- have seen, more particularly of mothering. Yet,
multuous period. As Steinberg points out (1990, there is surprisingly little research on the impact
p. 264), it is important to keep in mind the dis- on parents of being so disempowered. Moreover,
tinction between the fact that the environment is with migrations, technological changes, and eco-
dangerous and conflictual and the fact that ado-nomic restructuring and encroachment, we al-
lescence per se is not necessarily problematic. Aready observe an increase in youth and adult un-
second caveat is that adolescent independence isemployment (Coffield, 1987, p. 91), especially in
not herein equated with detachment from parents.less economically advanced countries (Jolly &
This interpretation of individuation is currently Cornia, 1984). This phenomenon is likely to grow
part of a very popular cultural creation in psy-in the near future, at least temporarily, to further
chology, even though sound research disproves it complicate parenting on many fronts (see Liem &
(Steinberg, 1990): Indeed, adolescents who are Liem, 1990; also Elder, 1974). As our world be-
detached from their families are more at risk of comes less predictable, there may be more ran-
incurring problems than adolescents who are con- domness that can affect parenting and children's
nected to their parents. Once again, as with moth- lives (LeMasters & DeFrain, 1989, p. 46).
erhood and parent-child bonding, we meet social
constructs of adolescence developed within a very CONCLUSIONS
particular type of socioeconomic niche (Elder,
Modell, & Parke, 1993, p. 249) and even racial- Within a theoretical perspective viewing parenting
cultural context (Giordano, Cernkovich, & De- as a social construct, I have, in a first step, cri-
Maris, 1993; McKenry, Everett, Ramseur, & tiqued Western definitions of parenting (more par-
Carter, 1989), without paying attention to the im- ticularly mothering) including the designation of
pact of these contexts on theory development an intense emotional bonding between parents and
(Bronfenbrenner, 1989, p. 225; Bronfenbrenner, children being both "natural" and universal. A
Kessel, Kessen, & White, 1986). goal of this critique was to illustrate how the ideo-
To conclude this section, we see that so long logical biases of knowledge producers and practi-
as social structures are not more child oriented, so tioners influence research as well as social defini-
long as economies do not invest in children and tions, and are maintained in the literature, the pop-
their parents (Miller & Coulter, 1984), but inular media, and in professional practices in the
weaponry, political corruption, and space explo-face of contradicting intra- and cross-cultural evi-
ration, parents carry the entire moral responsibili-dence. In a second step, I have expanded upon the
ty of child care and raising. Parents who aretheory of the social construction of parenting by
marginalized by poverty and discrimination carry linking it to social changes that are taking place
a disproportionate financial burden in terms of internationally in order to offer a glimpse into
their children's care (Kamerman, 1984), and fre- questions that beg not only for research, but re-
quently fail at even keeping them alive (Ennew &search of a less traditional and ethnocentric type

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 538 Journal of Marriage and the Family

(Rogoff, 1990). Consideration of social

dren live and participate changes
in also alter the nature of
has, in a third step, led tothis
thestage proposition
of life, and one should expect class
that par- dif-
enting, both as a role and ferences
as anin this respect.
individual experi-
ence, is possibly becomingIf more
these and other trends discussed interna-
difficult earlier are
any indication
tionally, although the reasons may of what the nearregionally.
vary future portends, it
It is reasonable to advance here the notion that our
can be predicted that parents will be held even
social constructs of parenting, and more particu- more accountable and responsible for their chil-
larly of mothering-at least in Western soci- dren's survival, health, well-being, and even so-
eties-lag behind social changes and may conse- cially acceptable behavior than they have been in
quently place undue hardships on parents, and recent decades. These developments are occurring
more specifically on mothers. synchronously with changes in family structure
With the withdrawal of children from full-time and functions, part of what Coleman (1993) de-
employment, the emergence of obligatory school- scribes as the decline of primordial institutions,
ing, consequent segregation from the adult world, and others refer to as family decline (see Pope-
and attainment of new rights aimed at protecting noe, 1993). These familial and ecological trends
children's well-being, the definition of childhood combined could lead to a situation where chil-
was drastically although slowly altered, first in dren's interests conflict with parents' (Trivers,
the West, then gradually and unevenly throughout 1974)-and this is already happening to some ex-
the world. The definition of parenting was ac- tent. These changes occur at a time when, para-
cordingly recast by the child-welfare movement, doxically enough, parents may have become a
by policy makers, and later on by professionals. more important factor in children's protection and
Parents acquired new and lengthened obligations. well-being because societies, after having divest-
They also lost rights and privileges pertaining to ed parents of many of their functions, have failed
their children's health and education, and more at adequately fulfilling these themselves.
particularly to their contribution to the family Another complication is that the Western En-
economy (Zinneker, 1990). Indeed, even at the glish-speaking monopoly on scientific knowledge
dawn of this century, family sustenance was still concerning parenting and children may unwitting-
a primary factor dictating children's employment ly contribute to the unravelling of patterns in "de-
status in North America (Walters & Briggs, veloping" societies. This may occur as more edu-
1993), along with work opportunities (Horan & cated classes in these societies become acculturat-
Hargis, 1991). History is being replayed, albeit ed to a scientific approach to human development
more abruptly and on a larger international scale, and parenting. Social, legal, and behavioral writ-
in the sense that childhood and adolescence are ers are today's counterpart of the missionaries of
again undergoing changes fueled by economicpast re- centuries. Students from different parts of the
world who attend graduate schools in Europe or
structuring with the addition, this time, of the in-
fluence of consumerist media. North America are indoctrinated into theories that
To begin with, because of a diminished supplymay be inappropriate for the social context to
of jobs and the necessity to produce a more which they return. Moreover, once graduated, if
skilled/educated labor force, the economy re- they are to advance academically, these profes-
quires an additional prolongation of schooling sionals will have to publish largely within the
and consequent financial dependency on parents, purview of what is acceptable to the gatekeepers
disregarding the latter's capacity to support their of the disciplines. Their research may thus have
youth. At the same time, international fiscal con- to carry Western trademarks. In addition, those
strictions and civil wars may well render this de- who are clinically trained will be so on the basis
pendency more costly to parents and children as of theories of mothering, bonding, attachment,
most societies are neither willing nor able to offer and adolescence that may be inapplicable at best
substitutes for the well-being of youngsters. and at worst detrimental to the functioning of
Moreover, the mass market economy that controls their own society. It is an intriguing question to
the media and entertainment industries con- ponder what our theories of parenting would in-
tributes both to erode families' traditional social clude had they been developed and exported to us
capital (Coleman, 1990) and to provide young-by members of some African, Asian, or Oceanic
sters with choices that are incompatible with defi- tribal societies. Certainly, the social constructs of
nitions of childhood accepted even a decade ago. parenting would be different.
Similarly, the more dangerous environments chil-

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 An International Perspective on Parenting 539

In conclusion, the scientific establishment NOTE is

faced with several tasks. Flowing from the three
David Demo, Glen H. Elder, Jr., and Allison James pro-
areas of discussion in this article, the following
vided helpful comments on an earlier draft of this
could, among many others,paper. be I logically suggest-
also gratefully acknowledge the constructive
ed. (a) We should broadly scrutinize suggestions made by the the episte-
anonymous reviewers. The re-
mologies, ideologies, and professional search for this work was supported by
vested in-Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant
terests (Gergen, 1988; Smith, 1987; Thompson,
#410-91-0046.
1992) that motivate us to pursue theoretical and
empirical perspectives on parenting, and more
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