**10. Conclusion**

African culture is rich. We should not neglect it out rightly because it is that which makes us Africans. Let us embrace our good parenting practices so we can nurture responsible youth for the African continent.

### **Author details**

Patricia Mawusi Amos\*

Address all correspondence to: pathogrey@gmail.com

University of Education, Winneba, National Centre for Research into Basic Education (NCRIBE), Winneba, Ghana

[13] Santrock, J.W. (2006). *Life-Span Development (10th Ed.).*New York: McGraw Hill Com‐

Parenting and Culture – Evidence from Some African Communities

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**Author details**

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Patricia Mawusi Amos\*

76 Parenting in South American and African Contexts

(NCRIBE), Winneba, Ghana

Address all correspondence to: pathogrey@gmail.com

2009 from www.nigeriansinamerica

University of Education, Winneba, National Centre for Research into Basic Education

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**Chapter 5**

**Cultural Variations in Parenting Styles in the Majority**

From anthropological perspective culture may be defined as a whole complex of traditional behaviour which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, religion and customs, and any other capabilities, and habits, that have been acquired and developed by the human race, as members of societies, and which is successively learned by each generation. In addition culture also consists of learned ways of acting, feeling and thinking, [1, 2]. The implication from this definition is that culture could be learned, acquired, experienced, and transmitted from one generation to another generation, or can be transferred from one place to another through

From psychological perspective culture was conceptualised as a dynamic and socially interactive process and as comprising of two components [3]. One component deals with the creation of shared activity which is reflected in the cultural practices of members of the society. The second component deals with the creation of shared meaning which leads to cultural interpretations collectively given to behavioural patterns in the society. The cultural practices are regarded as the material side of culture while the shared meaning represents the symbolic side of culture and the interpretation and evaluation of the world. This perspective signifies

From cross cultural perspective, two types of cultures have been identified and differentiated into individualistic and collectivistic cultures [4]. From this perspective it is believed that culture shapes people's values and beliefs, and that specific attitudes and values differ between

> © 2013 Akinsola; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

the fact that culture is both inside and outside the individual [3].

the individualistic and collectivistic societies [4].

**World Evidences from Nigeria and Cameroon**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Esther F. Akinsola

**1. Introduction**

acculturation.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/57003

**1.1. Culture and parenting strategies**
