Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2008 May;44(3):666-80.
doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.666.

Mother-child emotional availability in ecological perspective: three countries, two regions, two genders

Marc H Bornstein  1 , Diane L Putnick, Marianne Heslington, Motti Gini, Joan T D Suwalsky, Paola Venuti, Simona de Falco, Zeno Giusti, Celia Zingman de Galperín
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Mother-child emotional availability in ecological perspective: three countries, two regions, two genders

Marc H Bornstein et al. Dev Psychol. 2008 May.

Abstract

This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitive and optimally structuring, and Italian children were more responsive and involving, than Argentine and U.S. dyads. In terms of region, rural mothers were more intrusive than metropolitan mothers, and boys from metropolitan areas were more responsive than boys from rural areas. In terms of gender, mothers of girls were more sensitive and optimally structuring than mothers of boys, and daughters were more responsive and involving than sons. Understanding how country, region, and gender influence EA exposes forces that shape child development, parent-infant interaction, and family systems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Estimated marginal means of child responsiveness by region and child gender, controlling for maternal age and education. The error bars are standard errors of the means.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abelson R. A variance explanation paradox: When a little is a lot. Psychological Bulletin. 1985;97:129–133.
    1. Aguinis M. Un pais de novela [A fantastic country] Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Planeta; 1988.
    1. Ainsworth M. Infancy in Uganda. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1967.
    1. Ainsworth MDS, Bell SM, Stayton DJ. Individual differences in Strange Situation behavior of one year olds. In: Schaffer HR, editor. The origins of human social relations. New York: Academic Press; 1971. pp. 17–58.
    1. Ammaniti M. Early preventive intervention and home visiting [Special issue] Infant Mental Health Journal. 2006;27(1) - PubMed

Publication types