The impact of social class was explored on Brazilian mothers' and daughters' conceptions of who should, and who actually would control decisions regarding the daughters' actions. Participants were 126 middle class and 126 lower class girls aged 11–16 years, and their mothers. No social class differences were found in daughters' judgments about who should control decisions. Lower class daughters perceived mothers as exerting greater actual control than did middle class daughters. Lower class mothers claimed higher control over prudential and conventional matters than did middle class mothers. Findings that daughters and mothers in both social classes viewed personal matters as under the daughters' control challenged the notion that interdependence is fostered by the mother–daughter relationship and are consistent with more recent views that an individualism–collectivism dichotomy should not be used to characterize cultures.
Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization (Public worlds, Vol. 1). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
2.
Ardilla-Rey, A., & Killen, M. (2001). Middleclass Colombian children's evaluations of personal, moral, and social-conventional interactions in the classroom. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 246–255.
3.
Boyd, C.J. (1989). Mothers and daughters: A discussion of theory and research. Journal of Marriage and Family, 51, 291–301.
4.
Chan, D., Gelfand, M., Triandis, H., & Tzeng, O. (1996). Tightness–looseness revisited: Some preliminary analyses in Japan and the United States. International Journal of Psychology, 31, 1–12.
5.
Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering: Psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender. Berkeley: University of California Press.
6.
Cross, S.E., & Madson, L. (1997). Models of the self: Self-construals and gender. Psychological Bulletin, 122, 5–37.
7.
Fischer, L.R. (1991). Between mothers and daughters. Marriage and Family Review, 16, 237–248.
8.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
9.
Gilligan, C. (1996). The centrality of relationship in human development: A puzzle, some evidence and a theory. In G.G. Noam & K.W. Fischer (Eds.), Development and vulnerability in close relationships (pp. 237–261). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
10.
Haidt, J., Koller, S.H., & Dias M.G. (1994). Affect, culture, and the morality of harmless offenses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,65, 613–629.
11.
Hasebe, Y., Nucci, L., & Nucci, M. (2004). Parental control of the personal domain and adolescent symptoms of psychopathology. Child Development, 75, 1–14.
12.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
13.
Jordan, J.V. (1997). A relational perspective for understanding women's development. In J.V. Jordan (Ed.), Women growth in diversity: More writings from the Stone Center (p. 942-942). New York: Guilford Press.
14.
Killen, M., & Smetana, J. (1999). Social interactions in preschool classrooms and the development of young children's conceptions of the personal. Child Development, 70, 486–501.
15.
Kohn, M.L. (1969). Class and conformity: A study in values. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
16.
Kohn, M.L., & Schooler, C. (1983). Work and personality: An inquiry into the impact of social stratification. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
17.
Liechty, M. (2002). Suitably modern: Making middle class culture in a new consumer society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18.
Martin, C.L., & Ruble, D.N. (1997). A developmental perspective of self construals and sex differences: Comment on Cross and Madson. Psychological Bulletin, 122, 45–50.
19.
Miller, J.G. (1994). Cultural psychology: Bridging disciplinary boundaries in understanding the cultural grounding of self. In P.K. Bock (Ed.), Handbook of psychological anthropology (pp. 139–170). Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood.
20.
Nucci, L. (1981). Conceptions of personal issues: A domain distinct from moral or societal concepts. Child Development, 52, 114–121.
21.
Nucci, L. (1996). Morality and personal sphere of actions. In T. Reed, E. Turiel, & T. Brown (Eds.), Values and knowledge (pp. 41–60). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
22.
Nucci, L. (2001). Education in moral domain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Nucci, L., Camino, C., & Milnitsky-Sapiro, C. (1996). Social class effects on North-eastern Brazilian children's conceptions of areas of personal choice and social regulation. Child Development, 67, 1223–1242.
24.
Nucci, L., & Milnitsky-Sapiro, C. (1995). The impact of region and social class onBrazilian mothers' conceptions of children's areas of personal choice. Unpublished manuscript, University of Illinois at Chicago.
25.
Nucci, L., & Smetana, J.G. (1996). Mothers' concepts of young children's areas of personal freedom. Child Development, 67, 1870–1886.
26.
Nucci, L., & Weber, E. (1995). Social interactions in the home and the development of young children's conceptions within the personal domain. Child Development, 66, 1438–1452.
27.
Oyserman, D., Coon, H.M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3–72.
28.
Rothbaum, F., Pott, M., Azuma, H., Miyake, K, & Weisz, J. (2000). The development of close relationships in Japan and the United States: Paths and symbiotic harmony and generative tension. Child Development, 71, 1121–1142.
29.
Schwartz, S.H. (1990). Individualism–collectivism: Critique and proposed refinements. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 21, 139–157.
30.
Shweder, R.A., Mahapatra, M., & Miller, J.G. (1987). Culture and moral development. In J. Kagan & S. Lamb (Eds.), The emergence of morality in young children (pp. 1–83). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
31.
Smetana, J.G. (1995) Parenting styles and conceptions of parental authority during adolescence. Child Development, 66, 299–316.
32.
Smetana, J.G. (2000). Middle class African-American adolescents' and parents' conceptions of parental authority and parenting practices: A longitudinal investigation. Child Development, 71, 1672–1686.
33.
Smetana, J.G. (2002). Culture, autonomy, and personal jurisdiction in adolescent–parent relationships. In H.W. Reese & R. Kail (Eds.), Advances in child development and behavior, Vol. 29 (pp. 51–87). New York: Academic Press.
34.
Smetana, J.G., & Asquith, P. (1994). Adolescents' and parents' conceptions of parental authority and adolescent autonomy. Child Development, 65, 1143–1158.
35.
Smetana, J.G., & Chaung, S. (2001). Middle class African-American parents' conceptions of parenting in early adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2, 177–198.
36.
Smetana, J.G., Crean, H.F., & Daddis, C. (2002). Family processes and problem behaviors in middle class African-American adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 12, 275–304.
37.
Smetana, J.G., & Daddis, C. (2002). Domain-specific antecedents of psychological control and parental monitoring: The role of parenting beliefs and practices. Child Development, 73, 563–580.
38.
Smetana, J.G., & Gaines, C. (1999). Adolescent parent conflict in middle class African-American families. Child Development, 70, 1447–1463.
39.
Smith, L.M., Hill, E.W., & Mullis, R.L. (1998). Relational perceptions in mother–daughter attachments. Marriage and Family Review, 27, 37–49.
40.
Strauss, C. (2000). The culture concept and the individualism–collectivism debate: Dominant and alternative attributions for class in the United States. In L. Nucci, G.B. Saxe, & E. Turiel (Eds.), Culture thought and development(pp. 85–114). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
41.
Tisak, M., & Turiel, E. (1984). Children's conceptions of moral and prudential rules. Child Development, 55, 1030–1039.
42.
Triandis, H., Bontempo, R., Villareal, M., Asai, M., & Lucca, N. (1988). Individualism and collectivism: Cross cultural perspectives on self-ingroup relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1006–1020.
43.
Turiel, E. (2002). The culture of morality: Social development, context, and conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
44.
Wainryb, C., & Turiel, E. (1994). Dominance, subordination, and concepts of personal entitlements in cultural contexts. Child Development, 65, 1701–1722.
45.
Wampler, K.S., & Rastogi, M. (1999). Adult daughters' perceptions of the mother–daughter relationship: A cross-cultural comparison. Family Relations, 48, 327–336.
46.
Yau, J., & Smetana, J.G. (2003). Adolescent–parent conflict in Hong Kong and Shenzhen: A comparison of youth in two cultural contexts. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 201–211.
47.
Xu, F. (2000). Chinese children's and mothers' concepts regarding morality, social convention, and children's personal autonomy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago.
