Children, Families, and Communities in Brazil: A Cultural-Ecological Approach to Child-Rearing Values and Practices

In this chapter we argue that variations in parents’ child-rearing values, beliefs, and practices cannot be understood by viewing cultures as simply fitting somewhere along an “independent vs. interdependent” or “individualistic vs. collectivist” continuum. Instead it makes more sense to consider cultures as differing along two orthogonal dimensions (autonomy–conformity and relatedness–separation). Cultural-ecological theory requires attending to the everyday activities and interactions in which people engage, and how those activities and interactions are influenced (a) by the cultural group in which people live, (b) by the historical time in which they are growing up, and (c) by individuals’ own personal characteristics. We use this theory to make sense of families and children in different communities in Brazil. Specifically, we show that within-society cultural differences of region, education, and income in Brazil are clearly reflected in parents’ child-rearing values and beliefs and how those values and beliefs have changed over historical time. Most important, however, and as the theory predicts, these variations in values and beliefs have a strong influence on the activities and interactions in which parents engage with their children.