Over- and undercontrolled clinic referral problems of Jamaican and American children and adolescents: the culture general and the culture specific.

Child behavior problems and corresponding clinic referral patterns may be significantly influenced by cultural factors. Prevailing values and childrearing practices within a culture may discourage development of some child problems while fostering others. We explored this possibility, focusing on clinic referral problems of two different societies: (a) Jamaica, where the Afro-British culture discourages child aggression and other undercontrolled behavior and possibly fosters inhibition and other overcontrolled behavior, and (b) the United States, where undercontrolled child behavior is seemingly more generally accepted. We coded clinic-referred problems listed by parents of Jamaican and American youngsters (N = 720). Cross-cultural differences were striking: Overcontrolled problems were noted more often for Jamaican than American youngsters, whereas the converse was true for undercontrolled problems. These and other findings suggest that factors such as culture and sex may be linked to substantial differences in the problems for which youngsters of different countries are treated in clinics.