**2. Socialization goals: What do Brazilian mothers value in the education of their children?**

The characteristics parents want to foster on their children or their socialization goals reflect their cultural models and are important parts of the social-cultural context of children's development. Three studies have focused on mothers' socialization goals (Seidl-de-Moura et al., 2008, 2009; Vieira, Seidl-de-Moura, Macarini et al., 2010). They studied, respectively, mothers from seven cities and five geographic regions (N=349); from Rio de Janeiro (N=200), and from 12 localities, state capitals and small cities (N=600).

Mothers' Socialization goals were studied using two different kinds of instruments. One was the Socialization Goals Interview (SGI), developed by Harwood (1992), which consists of open questions asked to mothers about the qualities they expect their children to have in the future. It was used in Seidl-de-Moura et al. (2008, 2009) study. The open ended question made to all participants was: "What qualities would you like your child to possess as an adult?". Mothers' answers were coded in terms of individual word and phrase descriptors according to different categories described in the published papers: Self-maximization; Self-control; Lovingness; (4) Proper demeanour; and Decency. The categorizations were submitted to independent judges and presented adequate consistency scores. The first two categories (Self-maximization and Self-control) have been considered as characteristic of goals of autonomy and individual development, whereas Proper Demeanour and Decency reflect sociocentric goals of interde‐ pendency (Harwood, 1992). The score in each category was determined by dividing the number of descriptors for each category by the total number of descriptors (Leyendecker et al., 2002). The scores' distributions in the Self-control's category presented several wild outliers. For this reason, this variable was not included in the next analyses.

The Scale of Socialization Goals (Keller et al., 2006), adapted for Brazilian use, was the instrument employed in Vieira, Seidl-de-Moura, Macarini et al. (2010). It includes a list of ten items indicating opinions about parents' goals to their children's future during their first three years of life. For each item the mothers marks in a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from "Not important" to "Very important". In the original instrument (Keller et al., 2006), a Principal Components Factor Analysis produced two dimensions: autonomy (with five items) and relational goals (with five items). One example of the first dimension is "to develop competi‐ tiveness", whereas one example of the relational dimension is "to learn to obey elderly persons". The authors report good Cronbach's Alphas (*α*) for both dimensions (autonomy =. 93, and relational =.88).

Two studies have indicated that mothers studied have goals for their children oriented to both the development of autonomy and towards relatedness. Seidl-de-Moura et al. (2008) observed that mothers from state capitals presented an autonomous-related profile. Considering their socialization goals, they want their children to be happy, healthy, self-confident, successful, self-sufficient, and adaptable, to make good decisions, to be assertive, have a good education, and to stand up for themselves (Self-maximization). They value equally qualities of appropri‐ ate behavior in the context of being part of or getting along with a larger group, both in terms of being respectful and well brought up and of fulfilling role obligations within the family (Proper demeanor). Mothers from this study showed different perspectives, either more oriented towards goals of interdependency or autonomy, depending if they live in medium, large or very large cities. Mothers' educational level was a significant factor in their socializa‐ tion goals. Mothers with higher levels of education tended to give more importance to goals of autonomy than mothers with lower levels of education.

about their children); and the way they talk to them (narrative envelope). Finally, some results on children's social-emotional development will be presented. Our assumption is that data on mothers reflect somewhat the trajectory they favor in the orientation of their children's development. Results on young children's self recognition and self-regulation tasks show congruency with the trajectory of related autonomy evidenced in mothers' answers to belief

**2. Socialization goals: What do Brazilian mothers value in the education of**

The characteristics parents want to foster on their children or their socialization goals reflect their cultural models and are important parts of the social-cultural context of children's development. Three studies have focused on mothers' socialization goals (Seidl-de-Moura et al., 2008, 2009; Vieira, Seidl-de-Moura, Macarini et al., 2010). They studied, respectively, mothers from seven cities and five geographic regions (N=349); from Rio de Janeiro (N=200),

Mothers' Socialization goals were studied using two different kinds of instruments. One was the Socialization Goals Interview (SGI), developed by Harwood (1992), which consists of open questions asked to mothers about the qualities they expect their children to have in the future. It was used in Seidl-de-Moura et al. (2008, 2009) study. The open ended question made to all participants was: "What qualities would you like your child to possess as an adult?". Mothers' answers were coded in terms of individual word and phrase descriptors according to different categories described in the published papers: Self-maximization; Self-control; Lovingness; (4) Proper demeanour; and Decency. The categorizations were submitted to independent judges and presented adequate consistency scores. The first two categories (Self-maximization and Self-control) have been considered as characteristic of goals of autonomy and individual development, whereas Proper Demeanour and Decency reflect sociocentric goals of interde‐ pendency (Harwood, 1992). The score in each category was determined by dividing the number of descriptors for each category by the total number of descriptors (Leyendecker et al., 2002). The scores' distributions in the Self-control's category presented several wild

and from 12 localities, state capitals and small cities (N=600).

outliers. For this reason, this variable was not included in the next analyses.

The Scale of Socialization Goals (Keller et al., 2006), adapted for Brazilian use, was the instrument employed in Vieira, Seidl-de-Moura, Macarini et al. (2010). It includes a list of ten items indicating opinions about parents' goals to their children's future during their first three years of life. For each item the mothers marks in a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from "Not important" to "Very important". In the original instrument (Keller et al., 2006), a Principal Components Factor Analysis produced two dimensions: autonomy (with five items) and relational goals (with five items). One example of the first dimension is "to develop competi‐ tiveness", whereas one example of the relational dimension is "to learn to obey elderly persons". The authors report good Cronbach's Alphas (*α*) for both dimensions (autonomy =.

scales.

**their children?**

6 Parenting in South American and African Contexts

93, and relational =.88).

The study of mothers from Rio de Janeiro (Seidl-de-Moura et al., 2009) confirmed some tendencies of the study mentioned above. Answers to the SGI were coded in five categories and their subcategories: Self-maximization (SM), Self-control (SC), Lovingness (L), Proper demeanor (PD) and Decency (D), and scores in each of them were calculated. Mothers in this study indicated the valuing of autonomy as an end-product of their socialization efforts. Scores on Self-maximization were indeed the highest. Autonomy, however, is not valued in this group without references to sociocentric preoccupations. The second highest mean score was Decency, which refers to personal standards of behavior, concerns that the child behaves respectfully, gets along well with others, and fulfills reciprocal obligations. The analyses did not indicate a significant difference between Self-maximization and Decency mean scores. However, the variation in scores may indicate that mothers from this city present diverse profiles regarding what they expect their children to become.

After further investigation of the subcategories used, specific patterns of beliefs were identi‐ fied. The highest mean in the Self maximization category is in the subcategory related to the development of the child's talents and potential (including economic). In this sample, the three aspects of autonomy (emotional and physical well-being, psychological independence, and economic success) did not correlate, indicating the complexity of a parenting cultural model oriented towards autonomy. This complexity is complemented by the results in the subcate‐ gories of Decency. The highest mean observed was in Personal integrity and religious values, which relate to basic societal standards, such as being hardworking and honest. Mothers want their children to achieve success and fulfill their potential, but through hard work and with honesty. The study's results related to the importance of the "development of the child's personal and economic potential" show an interesting pattern that could be related to this increase of educational opportunities in the country's recent history. Mothers with the highest educational level gave fewer responses in this subcategory than mothers with less than high school education. Maybe mothers who have a higher level of education take for granted the fulfillment of their children's potential more than mothers who had fewer opportunities to study. This result is complemented by the observation that mothers who had higher level of education give more answers related to self well-being as a socialization goal for their children than mothers with less years of formal education.

For example, "Proper Presentation" was influenced by city of origin. Mothers living in Belém attributed greater value to this dimension than mothers living in Porto Alegre. The former city is located in North of Brazil, with strong influence of the indigenous culture. The latter city is located in South of Brazil, with greater influence of the European colonization. In addition, the importance of stimulation is related to mothers' educational level. Mothers with a higher

Brazilian Mothers' Cultural Models: Socialization for Autonomy and Relatedness

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/57083

9

In Vieira, Seidl-de-Moura, Macarini et al. (2010), using Keller´s scales and a sample of 606 mothers from state capitals and small cities, it was observed that mothers from capitals report more practices of stimulation and value more these practices than the ones from small cities. In small cities, mothers with a higher educational level reported having more stimulation practices with their children. It was observed the inclusion of autonomy values and practices in a context traditionally more interdependent, which can be interpreted to be the result of social-economic changes in small cities. However, in small cities there was a greater appreci‐ ation of relatedness. In capitals, both relatedness and autonomy are valued. The conclusion is that there is a dynamic relationship between autonomy and relatedness depending on the place of the mothers' residence (capital or small city). Although differences were observed, charac‐ teristics of autonomy and relatedness were present in mothers' beliefs in both contexts.

**4. Mothers' ideas about their children: What are the characteristics of**

Complementing data presented on mothers' goals for their children's development and their related practices of care, mothers' ideas about their children were the focus in Seidl-de-Moura et al. (in press) study. Considering mothers' answers to the request to describe their children, we could infer the most valued characteristics, and thus the predominant cultural model

A group of 94 mothers from two Brazilian cities (Rio de Janeiro and Itajaí) participated. An open question was used, based on studies by Harkness and Super (2005). As part of a larger study, mothers were interviewed individually and asked to talk about their target child, describing him/her. The instruction was: "Tell me about your son/daughter. How would you describe him/her?" Mothers could talk freely about their children and were not limited in the number of descriptors they could use. All the adjectives and expressions reported in the description were listed and constituted the *corpus* for analyses. For data reduction, we followed two kinds of procedures: a) the same from the studies that use the SGI (Seidl-de-Moura et al., 2008, 2009); b) the ones from Harkness and Super (2005). Similar to the procedures adopted by the latter researchers, we analyzed the adjectives and expressions used, the ones most frequently used, and the patterns that could be inferred. The analyses in the first case were conducted in a similar way as the ones related to socialization goals, although the categories were not previously defined, as in the SGI studies. Rather, the categories emerged from data. The steps in data reduction in this case were the following: first, through repeated readings of mothers' descriptions of their children, common patterns or categories were identified;

**Brazilian children according to their mothers?**

indicated in these descriptions.

educational level show more stress on the stimulation of their children.
