The conceptualization and measurement of parental support is predominately the work of adult researchers from the West. This mixed-method study reports the parental behaviors that adolescents themselves perceive as supportive. Data come from the Cross-National Adolescent Project, a survey of adolescents in 12 nations or ethnic groups in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas, the Balkans, Europe, and the Middle East. The authors find that adolescents in all 12 settings validated the substantive content of existing survey measures of parental supportive behaviors. Adolescents in all settings also expanded the list of supportive behaviors. When parents provide a rare and valued commodity, it is perceived as love. The specific commodities, which include quality time, basic necessities, and support for education, vary across culture. In the discussion the authors describe how parenting strategies that have been interpreted previously as reinforcing distinct cultural purposes may, in fact, serve the same purpose.
Allen, J.P., & Land, D. ( 1999). Attachment in adolescence. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment theory and research (pp. 319-335). New York: Guildford.
2.
Andrews, J.A., Hops, H., & Duncan, S.C. ( 1997). Adolescent modeling of parent substance use: The moderating effect of the relationship with the parent. Journal of Family Psychology, 11, 259-270.
3.
Bandura, A. ( 1977). Social learning theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
4.
Barber, B.K., & Higgins, W.B. ( 2004). The connection with adult caregiver tool: Statistical analyses of data from adolescents in Malawi and Jamaica (Report to UNICEF) . Washington, DC: UNICEF.
5.
Barber, B.K., Stolz, H.E., & Olsen, J.A. ( 2005). Parental support, psychological control, and behavioral control: Assessing relevance across time, method, and culture. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 70(4).
6.
Barrera, M., Chassin, L., & Rogosch, F. ( 1993). Effects of social support and conflict on adolescent children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic fathers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 602-612.
7.
Baumrind, D. ( 1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology Monographs, 4, 1-102.
8.
Baumrind, D. ( 1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11, 56-95.
9.
Berry, J. W., & Dasen, P. R. (Eds.). (1974). Culture and cognition: Readings in cross-cultural psychology. New York: Methuen.
10.
Bianchi, S.M., Robinson, J.P., & Milkie, M.A. ( 2006). Changing rhythms of American family life. New York: Russell Sage.
11.
Bowlby, J. ( 1969). Attachment: Vol. 1: Attachment and loss. New York: Basic Books.
12.
Brook, J.S., Gordon, A.S., Whiteman, M., & Brook, D.W. ( 1986). Father-daughter identification and its impact on her personality and drug use. Developmental Psychology, 22, 743-748.
13.
Chao, R.I. ( 1994). Extending research on the consequences of parenting style for Chinese Americans andEuropean Americans. Child Development , 72, 1832-1843.
14.
Chao, R.K. ( 2001). Extending research on the consequences of parenting style for Chinese Americans andEuropean Americans. Child Development , 72, 1832-1843.
15.
Cobb, S. ( 1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38, 300-314.
16.
Cohen, S., & McKay, G. ( 1984). Social support, stress and the buffering hypothesis: A theoretical analysis. In A. Baum, S. E. Taylor, & J. E. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of psychology and health (pp. 253-267). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
17.
Cohen, S., & Wills, T.A. ( 1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis . Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310-357.
18.
Cooley, C.H. ( 1902). Human nature and the social order. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
19.
Corcoran, J., Franklin, C., & Bennett, P. ( 1998). The use of the social supports behavior scale with adolescents . Research on Social Work Practice, 8, 302-314.
20.
Cutrona, C.E. ( 1989). Ratings of social support by adolescents and adult informants: Degree of correspondence and prediction of depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 723-730.
21.
Cutrona, C.E., & Russell, D. ( 1987). The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress. In W. H. Jones & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol.1, pp. 37-68). Greenwich, CT : JAI.
22.
Cutrona, C.E., & Russell, D. ( 1990). Type of social support and specific stress: Toward a theory of optimal matching. In I.G. Sarason , B.R. Sarason, & G.R. Pierce (Eds.), Social support: An interactional view (pp. 319-366). New York: Wiley.
23.
Frydenberg, E., & Lewis, R. ( 1993). Boys play sport and girls turn to others: Age, gender and ethnicity as determinants of coping. Journal of Adolescence , 16, 253-266.
24.
Georgas, J., Mylonas, K., Bafiti, T., Poortinga, Y.H., Christkopoulou, S., Kagitcibasi, C., et al. (2001). Functional relationships in the nuclear and extended family: A 16-culture study. International Journal of Psychology, 36, 289-300.
25.
Gray, M.R., & Steinberg, L. ( 1999). Unpacking authoritative parenting: Reassessing a multidimensional construct. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 574-587.
26.
Harkness, S., & Super, C.M. ( 2006). Themes and variations: Parental ethnotheories in western cultures. In K. H. Rubin & O. Boon Chung (Eds.), Parental beliefs, parenting, and child development in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 61-80). New York: Psychology Press.
27.
Haugen, G.M.D. ( 2005). Relations between money and love in post-divorce families: Children’s perspectives. Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research, 12, 507-526.
28.
Kagitcibasi, C. ( 2005). Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context: Implications for self and family. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology , 36, 403-422.
29.
Maccoby, E.E., & Martin, J.A. ( 1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In P. H. Mussen & M. E. Hetherington (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Socialization, personality, and social development (Vol. 4, pp. 1-101). New York: John Wiley.
30.
Markus, H.R., & Kitayama, S. ( 1991). Culture and self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.
31.
Millman, M. ( 1991). Warm hearts and cold cash: The intimate dynamics of families and money. New York: Free Press .
32.
Mmari, K., Michaelis, A., & Kiro, K. (in press). Risk and protective factors for HIV among orphans and non-orphans in Tanzania. Culture, Health, and Sexuality.
33.
Newcomb, M.D., & Bentler, P.M. ( 1986). Loneliness and social support. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 12, 530-535.
34.
Oyserman, D., Coon, H.M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analysis . Psychological Bulletin, 128(1), 3-72.
35.
Peterson, G.W., & Hann, D. ( 1999). Socializing parents and children in families. In S. Steinmetz, M. Sussman, & G. W. Peterson (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and the family (rev. ed., pp. 327-370). New York: Plenum.
36.
Peterson, G. W., Steinmetz, S. K., & Wilson, S. M. (Eds.). (2005). Parent-youth relations: Cultural and cross-cultural perspectives. Binghamton, NY: Haworth .
37.
Pierce, G.R., Sarason, B.R., Sarson, I.G., Joseph, H.J., & Henderson, C.A. (1996) Conceptualizing and assessing social support in the context of the family. In G. R. Pierce, B. R. Sarason, & I. G. Sarason (Eds.), Handbook of social support and the family (pp. 3-24). New York: Plenum .
38.
Raeff, C. ( 2006). Always separate, always connected: Independence and interdependence in cultural contexts of development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
39.
Roehlkepartain, E.C., Mannes, M., Scales, P.C., Lewis, S., & Bolstrom, B. ( 2004). Building strong families 2004: A study of African American and Latino/Latina parents in the United States. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute.
40.
Rohner, R.P. ( 1986). The warmth dimension: Foundations of parental acceptance-rejection theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
41.
Rohner, R.P., Khaleque, A., & Cournoyer, D.E. (2005). Cross-national perspectives on parental acceptance-rejection theory. In G. W. Peterson, S. K. Steinmetz, & S. M. Wilson (Eds.), Parent-youth relations: Cultural and cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 79-98). Binghamton, NY: Haworth.
42.
Rollins, B.C., & Thomas, D.L. ( 1979). Parental support, power, and control techniques in the socialization of children. In W. R. Burr , R. Hill, F. I. Nye, & L. Reiss (Eds.), Contemporary theories about the family: Research-based theories (Vol. 1, pp. 317-364). New York: Free Press.
43.
Sarason, B.R., Pierce, G.R., & Sarason, I.G. ( 1990). Social support: The sense of acceptance and the role of relationships. In B. R. Sarason, I. G. Sarason, & G. R. Pierce (Eds.), Social support: An interactional view (pp. 97-128). New York: John Wiley.
44.
Schaefer, E.S. ( 1965). Children’s reports of parental behavior: An inventory . Child Development, 36, 413-424.
45.
Schlegel, A., & Barry, H. ( 1991). Adolescence: An anthropological inquiry. New York: Free Press.
46.
Scholte, R.H.J., van Lieshout, C.F.M., & van Aken, M.A.G. (2001). Perceived relational support in adolescence: Dimensions, configurations, and adolescent adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 71-94.
47.
Seidman, E., LaRue, A., Aber. J.L., Mitchell, C., Feinman, J., Yoshikawa, H., et al. (1995). Development and validation of adolescent-perceived microsystem scales: Social support, daily hassles, and involvement. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 355-388.
48.
Sinha, D. ( 1997). Indigenizing psychology. In J. W. Berry, Y. H. Poortinga, & J. Pandley (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Theory and method (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 129-169). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
49.
Steinberg, L. ( 1990). Autonomy, conflict, and harmony in the family relationship . In S. S. Feldman, & G. R. Elliot (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 255-276). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
50.
Stryker, S., & Stratham, A. ( 1985). Symbolic interaction and role theory. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology: Theory and method (Vol. 1, pp. 311-378). New York: Random House.
51.
Sudhinaraset, M., McNeely, C., Yang, H., Kritiyapichatkul, C., Barber, B.K., Ward, C., et al. (2007). Development of cross-cultural measures of parental regulation: Qualitative analyses (Report to the World Health Organization) . Washington, DC: WHO.
52.
Vaux, A. ( 1988). Social support: Theory, research, and intervention. New York: Praeger.
53.
Weiss, R.S. ( 1974) The provisions of social relationships. In Z. Rubin (Ed.), Doing unto others: Joining, molding, conforming, helping, loving (pp. 17-26). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
54.
Whiting, B.B., & Edwards, C.P. ( 1988). Children of different worlds: The formation of social behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
55.
Williams, P., Barclay, L., & Schmied, V. ( 2004). Defining social support in context: A necessary step in improving research, intervention, and practice. Qualitative Health Research, 14, 942-960.
56.
Wills, T.A., & Shinar, O. ( 2000). Measuring perceived and received social support. In S. Cohen, L. G. Underwood, & B. H. Gottlieb (Eds.), Social support measurement and intervention: A guide for health and social scientists (pp. 86-135). New York: Oxford University Press.
57.
Wills, T.A., Vaccaro, D., & McNamara, G. ( 1992). The role of life events, family support, and competence in adolescent substance use: A test of vulnerability and protective factors . American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 349-374.
58.
Wolchick, S.A., Ruehlman, L.S., Braver, S.L., & Sandler, I.N. ( 1989). Social support of children of divorce: Direct and stress-buffering effects. American Journal of Community Psychology, 17, 485-501.
59.
Yau-Fai Ho, D. ( 1994). Introduction to cross-cultural psychology. In L. L. Alder & U. P. Gielen (Eds.), Cross-cultural topics in psychology (pp. 3-13). New York: Praeger.
