Similarity of Mothers’ and Preschool Teachers’ Evaluations of Socialization Goals in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Abstract

This study examines the similarity of socialization goals of a group of mothers with different cultural backgrounds and their children’s respective preschool teachers in Germany. Additionally, the researchers were interested in the relationship between the degree of mother-teacher similarity and maternal satisfaction with child care. Questionnaire data of nonmigrant (n = 464), Turkish migrant (n = 83), and Former Soviet Union (FSU) migrant (n = 112) mothers and their respective preschool teachers (n = 244) were analyzed. Significant cross-cultural differences between mothers and teachers were evident in the lower correlation of socialization goal evaluations between migrant mothers and teachers, and higher absolute difference scores for migrant mothers. However, maternal satisfaction with institutional child care was not related to similarity of socialization goals and was generally high across all groups. Results point to the importance of cross-cultural differences in child-rearing ideas in terms of the interaction between parents and child care professionals.

Keywords:

• parent-child caregiver relationships
• Turkish immigrants
• FSU immigrants
• socialization goals
• maternal satisfaction

FUNDING

This article is part of the NUBBEK project (Nationale Untersuchung zur Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung in der frühen Kindheit). The NUBBEK research group provided data. The NUBBEK project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (BMFSFJ), the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Jacobs Foundation, and the Federal States of Bavaria, Brandenburg, Lower Saxonia, and North Rhine-Westfalia.

Notes

1. 1. Defined as families with children younger than age 18 and at least one parent with migration background.

2. 2. This group is usually called (Spät)Aussiedler. As a best translation, “repatriates” is further used throughout the text.

3. 3. First-generation mothers’ mean age was 34.26 years (SD = 4.70), whereas second-generation mothers’ mean age was 31.66 years (SD = 3.94).

4. 4. For better comprehension, Pearson correlations are reported. Fisher z values, however, were quite similar to the reported Pearson correlation coefficients (z = .37 in the nonmigrant group, z = .21 in the Turkish migrant group, and z = .17 in the FSU migrant mother group).

5. 5. There were no significant differences among nonmigrant, Turkish migrant, and FSU migrant mothers regarding mean satisfaction with child care, F(2, 645) = 2.625, ns.