Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, Utrecht University.
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa.
Dev Psychol. 2018 Jun;54(6):999-1010. doi: 10.1037/dev0000494. Epub 2018 Mar 5.
The present study explored cultural differences in parental beliefs about motor development across 2 Western cultures: Israel and the Netherlands. Can 2 cultural models be distinguished regarding infant motor development in Israel and the Netherlands or are parental beliefs about motor development similar across these cultures? Using a questionnaire containing closed and open questions, beliefs of 206 Israeli and 198 Dutch parents of first-born children between 2 and 7 months old were analyzed. Based on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, distinct cultural models were found showing that the Dutch attributed a bigger role to maturation and children's own pace than to stimulation. The Israeli parents found stimulation of motor development important and discussed active stimulation more elaborately. When discussing supportive activities, the Israeli parents mentioned specific activities, whereas the Dutch parents used more general, vague expressions about support. Moreover, the Israeli parents discussed the need for expert advice and advice from relatives and other parents more than the Dutch parents, who rely on their own observations, books, or websites more often. The cultural background was the strongest predictor of parental beliefs about motor development. Parental education, age, children's birth weight, gender, and having seen a physical therapist showed weaker relations with parental beliefs. Altogether, 2 distinguishing cultural models can be found, raising the question whether infant motor development can be approached similarly across Western cultures. Besides this implication for science, practitioners should also be aware of differences between cultures and between parents. (PsycINFO Database Record
本研究探讨了 2 个西方文化体（以色列和荷兰）中父母对运动发展的信念的文化差异。在以色列和荷兰，是否可以区分出 2 种关于婴儿运动发展的文化模式，或者这些文化中的父母对运动发展的信念是否相似？本研究使用了一份包含封闭和开放问题的问卷，分析了 206 名以色列和 198 名荷兰首胎儿童 2 至 7 个月大的父母的信念。基于定量和定性分析，发现了截然不同的文化模式，表明荷兰人更倾向于将成熟和儿童自身的节奏归因于运动发展，而不是刺激。以色列父母认为运动发展的刺激很重要，并更详细地讨论了积极的刺激。在讨论支持性活动时，以色列父母提到了具体的活动，而荷兰父母则更倾向于使用一般、模糊的表达来描述支持。此外，以色列父母比荷兰父母更需要专家建议和亲戚和其他父母的建议，而荷兰父母更依赖于自己的观察、书籍或网站。文化背景是父母对运动发展的信念的最强预测因素。父母的教育程度、年龄、孩子的出生体重、性别以及是否见过物理治疗师与父母的信念呈较弱的关系。总的来说，可以发现 2 种不同的文化模式，这引发了一个问题，即在西方文化中是否可以相似地对待婴儿的运动发展。除了对科学的影响外，实践工作者也应该意识到文化之间和父母之间的差异。
