Her they engage in various caregiving activities, even when they come from the same nation. As we found here in every country, Teale (1986) observed that book reading to children is unevenly distributed even across low-income families in San Diego, CA; book reading occurred 4 or 5 times a week in some homes, but only about 5 times in a year in others. This is not to say that there are not also systematic cross-national differences in caregiving; as we have seen, there are. This study focused on variation across rather than within countries. Country-Level Factors and Caregiving What accounts for country-level differences in caregiving in the developing world? To begin to address this question, we explored the HDI. Country-level HDI factors related to many caregiving activities. Despite considerable diversity among parents in low-SES families, research points to developmental disparities based on sociodemographic risk status even within the first 2 years of life (Brooks-Gunn Duncan, 1997; Parks Bradley, 1991; Rostad, Nyberg, Sivberg, 2008). For example, Halle et al. (2009) identified significant disparities in cognitive and socioemotional development as early as 9 months of age in a nationally representative U.S. sample based on low income and low maternal education. Here, we found that among life expectancy, education, and GDP, GDP was most consistently and uniquely associated with cognitive and socioemotional caregiving. Limitations and Future Directions This study has limitations that raise additional questions about caregiving in developing countries. The MICS relies on self-reports of specific caregiving activities, surveyed at only one point in time. Consider just these three parameters of the study. First, observations of actual practices would constitute a stronger data base than reports. Second, the MICS uses a limited number of specific and presumably universal (etic>) items to quantify caregiving. Yet, caregivers in different countries may engage in other country-specific (emic) forms of caregiving that adequately substitute for specific MICS items. Fully understanding caregiving cognitions and practices and their meaning requires situating them in context (Bornstein, 1995). The same caregiving cognition or practice can have the same or different meanings in different contexts, just as different caregiving cognitions or practices can have the same or different meanings in different contexts. European American parents use questions during joint book reading as a way of encouraging their children’s cognitive development (van Kleeck, 2003), where Tongan dyads rely on a recitation style (McNaughton, 1995). In some places, parents could display socioemotional involvement predominately through singing to a child, whereas in others parents could demonstrate affection physically. These different Z-DEVD-FMK site displays serve the same function of making children feel loved, valued, and approved of by parents in their respective societies. Moreover, next to quantitative aspects of caregiving qualitative aspects matter a great deal. Consider play. Two mothers could equate in their frequencies of play, yet one mother might solicit sequences of high-level play that challenge and advance her HMR-1275 molecular weight child’s play skills, whereas another mother might solicit low-level play that does not advance her child’s skills. InNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptChild Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 January 01.Bornstein.Her they engage in various caregiving activities, even when they come from the same nation. As we found here in every country, Teale (1986) observed that book reading to children is unevenly distributed even across low-income families in San Diego, CA; book reading occurred 4 or 5 times a week in some homes, but only about 5 times in a year in others. This is not to say that there are not also systematic cross-national differences in caregiving; as we have seen, there are. This study focused on variation across rather than within countries. Country-Level Factors and Caregiving What accounts for country-level differences in caregiving in the developing world? To begin to address this question, we explored the HDI. Country-level HDI factors related to many caregiving activities. Despite considerable diversity among parents in low-SES families, research points to developmental disparities based on sociodemographic risk status even within the first 2 years of life (Brooks-Gunn Duncan, 1997; Parks Bradley, 1991; Rostad, Nyberg, Sivberg, 2008). For example, Halle et al. (2009) identified significant disparities in cognitive and socioemotional development as early as 9 months of age in a nationally representative U.S. sample based on low income and low maternal education. Here, we found that among life expectancy, education, and GDP, GDP was most consistently and uniquely associated with cognitive and socioemotional caregiving. Limitations and Future Directions This study has limitations that raise additional questions about caregiving in developing countries. The MICS relies on self-reports of specific caregiving activities, surveyed at only one point in time. Consider just these three parameters of the study. First, observations of actual practices would constitute a stronger data base than reports. Second, the MICS uses a limited number of specific and presumably universal (etic>) items to quantify caregiving. Yet, caregivers in different countries may engage in other country-specific (emic) forms of caregiving that adequately substitute for specific MICS items. Fully understanding caregiving cognitions and practices and their meaning requires situating them in context (Bornstein, 1995). The same caregiving cognition or practice can have the same or different meanings in different contexts, just as different caregiving cognitions or practices can have the same or different meanings in different contexts. European American parents use questions during joint book reading as a way of encouraging their children’s cognitive development (van Kleeck, 2003), where Tongan dyads rely on a recitation style (McNaughton, 1995). In some places, parents could display socioemotional involvement predominately through singing to a child, whereas in others parents could demonstrate affection physically. These different displays serve the same function of making children feel loved, valued, and approved of by parents in their respective societies. Moreover, next to quantitative aspects of caregiving qualitative aspects matter a great deal. Consider play. Two mothers could equate in their frequencies of play, yet one mother might solicit sequences of high-level play that challenge and advance her child’s play skills, whereas another mother might solicit low-level play that does not advance her child’s skills. InNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptChild Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 January 01.Bornstein.
