Respeto and Authoritarian Parenting Among Dominicans in New York City and Dominican Republic

Background and Purpose.  Parenting depends in part on the ecological context within which it unfolds.  For example, research points to the importance of cultural background and parental education as two significant characteristics influencing parenting. Few studies, however, have focused on Latino parenting with consideration for these aspects.  The present study aimed to address this gap by describing parenting—conceptualized as parenting practices as well as culturally-rooted socialization messages—among Dominican mothers of varying educational levels living in the US relative to those living in Dominican Republic (DR).  Methods. For this report, we drew data from two cross-sectional studies of early childhood development. Study 1 included 184 Dominican mothers raising their 3 – 5 year old children in New York City (NYC). Study 2 included 446 Dominican mothers raising their young children in the DR.  Mothers described their education (less than High School 46.8% in NYC, and 18.2% in DR), and reported on their use of socialization messages grounded in the cultural value of respeto and their use of authoritarian parenting practices. The respeto scale (CLSC, Calzada, 2007) includes 20 items (e.g., “I tell my child to defer to adult wishes”) rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (completely agree). The parenting practices measure (PSD, Robinson, et al., 1996) is a 52-item scale (e.g., “I spank when my child is disobedient”), and participants respond on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always).  Results. Dominican mothers in NYC reported more socialization of respeto and lower levels of authoritarian parenting than mothers in DR (respeto: 4.01(.48) vs 3.80(.48); authoritarian: 1.68(.44) vs 1.93(.57)). When participants were compared within countries by education, differences in respeto and authoritarian parenting were significant only in the DR (t(425)=4.14, p<.000 and t(435)=6.53, p<.000 respectively).  Less educated mothers in the DR reported more emphasis on respeto and authoritarian practices than mothers with more formal education (respeto: 4.00(.43) vs 3.76(.48); authoritarian: 2.29(.79) vs 1.84(.47)). When mothers in the US were compared to those in DR by education, mothers in DR with less than HS education reported more authoritarian parenting that those in the US (t(164)= -5.64, p<.000, NYC = 1.72(.47) vs DR = 2.29(.79)). More educated mothers in NYC and DR varied in their endorsement of respeto (t(447)=4.23, p<.000, NYC = 3.98(.45) vs DR = 3.76(.48)) and authoritarian parenting (t(453)=  -3.96, p<.000, NYC = 1.64(.40) vs DR = 1.84(.47)).   Conclusions and implications. This study highlights the role of ecological factors, including cultural context and education, in Dominican mothers’ parenting.  In the DR, more educated mothers were less likely to emphasize respeto and use authoritarian practices than those with less education. Less educated mothers in NYC and DR did not differ in terms of respeto, but did in their use of authoritarian practices.  No group differences based on education level were found among mothers in NYC.  This study has implications for social workers interested in delivering culturally competent parenting interventions to Latinos, by capturing how national context and maternal education shape parenting.