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It is an undisputed fact among attachment researchers that children need stability and continuity in their caregiving environment for optimal developmental outcomes. However, anthropological studies show that informal and often temporally limited kinship-based foster care, including changes of children's primary caregivers, is widespread in some cultural contexts and considered normative and thus beneficial for children. Based on ethnographic interviews with Nso families in northwestern Cameroon, we analyzed the dynamics of caregiving arrangements and relational networks during infancy and early childhood. Exploring household compositions, caregiving responsibilities, children's preferred caregivers, and foster care arrangements revealed multiple caregiver networks, with the importance of the mother decreasing and the importance of alloparents and peers increasing as the children grow older. Also, families have fluid boundaries, with about one-third of the children changing households in the first three years of life. The Nso children's experiences reflect a relational cultural model of infant care as a cooperative task and a communal conception of attachment. The results are discussed in relation to attachment theory's claims about universal patterns of development.

Attachment studies mostly follow the Western middle-class model in theory and methods. To demonstrate that the assessment of children's caregiving context is an often neglected, but crucial prerequisite for attachment studies, we (a) conducted a literature analysis of attachment research in non-Western contexts and (b) empirically investigated the caregiving arrangements and cultural concepts of attachment figures in three cultural groups in Costa Rica: rural Guanacaste, urban San José, and rural indigenous Bribri. All persons involved in caring for 65 infants (7-20 months) participated in the study, resulting in a total of 179 semistructured interviews. The samples showed differences in caregiving practices, with the urban sample resembling Western middle-class contexts emphasizing the maternal importance; the two rural samples showing extensive caregiving networks; however, differently composed. Moreover, the three samples revealed culturally specific concepts of potential attachment figures. The study emphasizes the need for culturally sensitive conceptual and methodological approaches in attachment research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Joint attention (JA) is an early manifestation of social cognition, commonly described as interactions in which an infant looks or gestures to an adult female to share attention about an object, within a positive emotional atmosphere. We label this description the JA phenotype. We argue that characterizing JA in this way reflects unexamined assumptions which are, in part, due to past developmental researchers' primary focus on western, middle-class infants and families. We describe a range of cultural variations in caregiving practices, socialization goals, and parenting ethnotheories as an essential initial step in viewing joint attention within inclusive and contextualized perspectives. We begin the process of conducting a decolonized study of JA by considering the core construct of joint attention (i.e., triadic connectedness) and adopting culturally inclusive definitions (labeled joint engagement [JE]). Our JE definitions allow for attention and engagement to be expressed in visual and tactile modalities (e.g., for infants experiencing distal or proximal caregiving), with various social partners (e.g., peers, older siblings, mothers), with a range of shared topics (e.g., representing diverse socialization goals, and socio-ecologies with and without toys), and with a range of emotional tone (e.g., for infants living in cultures valuing calmness and low arousal, and those valuing exuberance). Our definition of JE includes initiations from either partner (to include priorities for adult-led or child-led interactions). Our next foundational step is making an ecological commitment to naturalistic observations (Dahl, 2017, Child Dev Perspect, 11(2), 79-84): We measure JE while infants interact within their own physical and social ecologies. This commitment allows us to describe JE as it occurs in everyday contexts, without constraints imposed by researchers. Next, we sample multiple groups of infants drawn from diverse socio-ecological settings. Moreover, we include diverse samples of chimpanzee infants to compare with diverse samples of human infants, to investigate the extent to which JE is unique to humans, and to document diversity both within and between species. We sampled human infants living in three diverse settings. U.K. infants (n = 8) were from western, middle-class families living near universities in the south of England. Nso infants (n = 12) were from communities of subsistence farmers in Cameroon, Africa. Aka infants (n = 10) were from foraging communities in the tropical rain forests of Central African Republic, Africa. We coded behavioral details of JE from videotaped observations (taken between 2004 and 2010). JE occurred in the majority of coded intervals (Mdn = 68%), supporting a conclusion that JE is normative for human infants. The JA phenotype, in contrast, was infrequent, and significantly more common in the U.K. (Mdn = 10%) than the other groups (Mdn 3%). We found significant within-species diversity in JE phenotypes (i.e., configurations of predominant forms of JE characteristics). We conclude that triadic connectedness is very common in human infants, but there is significant contextualization of behavioral forms of JE. We also studied chimpanzee infants living in diverse socio-ecologies. The PRI/Zoo chimpanzee infants (n = 7) were from captive, stable groups of mixed ages and sexes, and included 4 infants from the Chester Zoo, U.K. and 3 from the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan. The Gombe chimpanzee infants (n = 12) were living in a dynamically changing, wild community in the Gombe National Park, Tanzania, Africa. Additionally, we include two Home chimpanzee infants who were reared from birth by a female scientist, in the combined U.S., middle-class contexts of home and university cognition laboratory. JE was coded from videotaped observations (taken between 1993 and 2006). JE occurred during the majority of coded intervals (Mdn = 64%), consistent with the position that JE is normative for chimpanzee infants. The JA phenotype, in contrast, was rare, but more commonly observed in the two Home chimpanzee infants (in 8% and 2% of intervals) than in other chimpanzee groups (Mdns = 0%). We found within-species diversity in the configurations comprising the JE phenotypes. We conclude that triadic connectedness is very common in chimpanzee infants, but behavioral forms of joint engagement are contextualized. We compared JE across species, and found no species-uniqueness in behavioral forms, JE characteristics, or JE phenotypes. Both human and chimpanzee infants develop contextualized social cognition. Within-species diversity is embraced when triadic connectedness is described with culturally inclusive definitions. In contrast, restricting definitions to the JA phenotype privileges a behavioral form most valued in western, middle-class socio-ecologies, irrespective of whether the interactions involve human or chimpanzee infants. Our study presents a model for how to decolonize an important topic in developmental psychology. Decolonization is accomplished by defining the phenomenon inclusively, embracing diversity in sampling, challenging claims of human-uniqueness, and having an ecological commitment to observe infant social cognition as it occurs within everyday socio-ecological contexts. It is essential that evolutionary and developmental theories of social cognition are re-built on more inclusive and decolonized empirical foundations.

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures.

Global Early Childhood Development (ECD)—an applied field with the aim to improve the “brain structure and function” of future generations in the global South—has moved to the center of international development. Global ECD rests heavily on evidence claims about widespread cognitive, social, and emotional deficits in the global South and the benefits of changing parenting practices in order to optimize early childhood development. We challenge these claims on the grounds that the leading ECD literature excludes research from anthropology, cultural psychology, and related fields that could provide crucial insights about childrearing and children's development in the targeted communities. We encourage anthropologists and other scholars with ethnographic expertise on childhood to critically engage with global ECD. To facilitate such an endeavor, this article sketches the history, scientific claims, and interventions of global ECD, points out the critical potential of ethnographic research, and suggests strategies to make ethnography more relevant.

Summary Background SITAR (SuperImposition by Translation And Rotation) is a shape invariant growth curve model that effectively summarizes somatic growth in puberty. Aim To apply the SITAR model to longitudinal mandibular growth data to clarify its suitability to facial growth analysis. Subjects and methods 2D-cephalometric data on two mandibular measurements (AP: articulare–pogonion; CP: condylion–pogonion) were selected from the Denver Growth Study, consisting of longitudinal records (age range: 7.9–19.0 years) of females (sample size N: 21; number of radiographs n: 154) and males (N: 18; n: 137). The SITAR mixed effects model estimated, for each measurement and gender separately, a mean growth curve versus chronological age, along with mean age at peak velocity (APV) and peak velocity (PV), plus subject-specific random effects for PV and mean size. The models were also fitted versus Greulich–Pyle bone age. Results In males, mean APV occurred at 14.6 years (AP) and 14.4 years (CP), with mean PV 3.1 mm/year (AP) and 3.3 mm/year (CP). In females, APV occurred at 11.6 years (AP and CP), with mean PV 2.3 mm/year (AP) and 2.4 mm/year (CP). The models explained 95–96 per cent of the cross-sectional variance for males and 92–93 per cent for females. The random effects demonstrated standard deviations (SDs) in size of 5.6 mm for males and 3.9 mm for females, and SDs for PV between 0.3 and 0.5 mm/year. The bone age results were similar. Conclusion The SITAR model is a useful tool to analyse epidemiological craniofacial growth based on cephalometric data and provides an array of information on pubertal mandibular growth and its variance in a concise manner.

The aim of our study was to explore young children’s social and learning environments in contexts that are different from the predominant Western lifestyle. We expected different cultural groups, both living in Costa Rica, to provide their 6- to 18-months old children with different learning environments. Our sample consisted of 26 Bribri families and 24 Guanacastecan families. To test the impact of formal education we additionally divided the whole sample into a higher schooling sample (18 families; at least one parent had completed secondary school) and a lower schooling sample (32 families). We used a multi method design including interviews, questionnaires and spot observations and analyzed the data following the qualitative approach of thematic analysis. Additional chi-square tests showed that Guanacastecan caregivers and caregivers from families with higher formal education provide their children with a more distal socialization style (verbal and object-centered behavior). Caregivers from families with lower formal education engage more in proximal behavior (primary care, body contact, and stimulation). Bribri families also put more emphasis on interdependence-oriented socialization goals. Guanacastecan caregivers highlighted independence-oriented socialization goals. Our study confirms socialization strategies and children’s learning environments respectively emphasizing more distal or more proximal experiences and indicates that sociodemographic profiles (especially formal schooling) must be taken into account when studying children’s development across different cultures.

The development of socioemotional competencies is central for children's development in general. Infants are equipped with basic predispositions to acquire environmental information. However, contexts and cultures differ with respect to their emphasis on particular developmental domains. Two developmental pathways for which research evidence is available have been characterized: the Western middle-class perspective and the perspective of rural traditionally living farming families. Infants have different social experiences with respect to their caregivers, their behaviors, and their social regulation. The developmental focus of Western middle-class children is on individualistic agency, which implies that socioemotional development is subordinated to self-development. The developmental focus of the rural traditionally living farmer child is on social connectedness and social responsibility. Self-development is part of the development of communal agency. This review discusses the ethical implications of regarding the Western middle-class pathway as universal and normative and emphasizes the need to consider different pathways as normative.

This paper briefly characterizes two conceptions of child development, attachment theory and psychobiological approaches. Both share commonalities (e. g. focusing on infancy; relying on ethological approaches; studying parent - child regulations). They also show marked differences, e. g. in methodology and moral evaluations. However, both approaches are based on the same implicit, taken for granted assumptions that are outlined with respect to cultural differences. Particularly caregiving networks and interaction strategies can be distinctly different in different cultural environments. Two socialization strategies with different values and practices of child development are introduced.Western middle-class families and traditional rural farmers in non-Western countries are selected because information is available in a research landscape where participants from non-Western middle class are rare.They can be regarded as embodying different cultural models with different emphases on autonomy and relatedness. Finally, implications for the clinical practice are discussed.Zusammenfassung In diesem Beitrag werden zunächst zwei Konzeptionen kindlicher Entwicklung charakterisiert, die Bindungstheorie und psychobiologische Ansätze. Beide Konzeptionen weisen Gemeinsamkeiten auf; z. B. setzen beide einen Schwerpunkt auf das erste Lebensjahr, beide verwenden ethologische Annahmen und beide beschäftigen sichmit Eltern-Kind-Interaktionen. Beide Ansätze unterscheiden sich aber auch substanziell, z. B. in derMethodologie und auch in den Implikationen für moralische Bewertungen. In diesem Zusammenhang ist es wichtig, dass beide Ansätze auf den gleichen impliziten, als selbstverständlich erachteten Annahmen basieren.Diese Annahmen werden mit besonderem Blick auf kulturelle Unterschiede diskutiert. Definition undOrganisation des Beziehungsnetzwerkes können sehr unterschiedlich sein, wie auch die Interaktions- und Regulationsstrategien. Es werden zwei Sozialisationsstrategienmit unterschiedlichen Normen und Praktiken dargestellt. Westliche Mittelschichtfamilien und traditionell lebende Bauern in nicht westlichen Ländern sind deshalb ausgewählt, weil es dazu verlässliche Informationen gibt, während über viele nicht westliche Kontexte ansonsten kaum Informationen verfügbar sind. Beide kulturellen Kontexte unterscheiden sich darin, wie die menschlichen Grundbedürfnisse nach Autonomie und Verbundenheit verstanden und in Sozialisationsstrategien umgesetztwerden.Abschließendwerden Implikationen für die klinische Praxis formuliert.

CORRESPONDENCE to: Black, M. M., & Richter, L. M. (2022). "Different is not deficient: respecting diversity in early childhood development." The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 6(12), e26. ; https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00276-0, An estimated 250 million children under 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are considered to be at risk of not achieving their full developmental potential because of inadequate care. 1 This assessment was crucial for establishing the Nurturing Care Framework, a roadmap for improving early childhood development globally. Although the number is still based on proxy measures (stunting and poverty rates), newer research draws directly on indicators of nurturing care, provided by UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. On the basis of these data, in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Dana McCoy and colleagues 2 claimed that the problem is even bigger: they calculated that 74·6% of children in LMICs aged 3–4 years do not even receive minimally adequate nurturing care. This figure increases to 92·1% for sub-Saharan Africa and to 99·5% in Chad. 2

Caregiver-infant interactions in Western middle class often take place in dyadic play settings, engaged in infant-initiated object stimulation, and surrounded by a positive emotional tone, reflecting a distal parenting style. With this study we aim to investigate whether the same conception of caregiver-infant interaction is embodied in the proximal parenting style. For this purpose, we compare the context and pattern of caregiver-infant interactions in two cultural groups in Costa Rica: Urban middle-class families in San José and rural indigenous Bribri families. Naturalistic observations and caregiver interviews revealed significant differences between the groups, with San José families resembling the Western middle-class interaction pattern. Among the Bribris, adult-child play is uncommon so that children interact with adults in primary care settings and with older siblings in play settings. Bribri interactions are further characterized by emotional neutrality. The groups did not differ in terms of body contact. Also, caregivers in both samples took the lead in interactions more often than infants. The results are discussed in the context of an autonomous-relational style as combining psychological autonomy and hierarchical relatedness. We argue that early childhood theories and intervention programs need to abandon the assumption that Western middle-class strategies are universal and recognize locally relevant patterns of caregiver-infant interaction.

In diesem Beitrag wird die Bedeutung des kulturellen Kontextes fur das Verstandnis der kindlichen Entwicklung diskutiert. Am Beispiel der Bindungsforschung wird aufgewiesen, dass die Kenntnis ethnografischer und okologischer Dimensionen und darauf bezogener kultureller Modelle, Uberzeugungssysteme und Verhaltenskonventionen unabdingbar ist, um Definition, Funktion und Ontogenese psychologischer Konstrukte zu verstehen. Ein solches Vorgehen hat methodische Implikationen, die die ungeprufte Anwendung standardisierter, in einer Kultur entwickelter Verfahren in anderen Kulturen ausschliest. Es werden entsprechende methodische Zugangsweisen vorgestellt. Die ethischen Implikationen einer universalistischen Sichtweise werden aufgewiesen. Kontextualisierte, ethnografische Forschung wird als Notwendigkeit aus wissenschaftlicher sowie ethischer Perspektive gefordert.

Humans need other people to survive and thrive. Therefore, relatedness is a basic human need. However, relatedness can be conceived of very differently in different cultural environments, depending on the affordances and constraints of the particular context. Specifically, the level of formal education and, relatedly, the age of the mother at first birth, the number of children, and the household composition have proven to be contextual dimensions that are informative for norms and values, including the conception of relatedness. Higher formal education, late parenthood, few children, and a nuclear family drive relationships as emotional constructs between independent and self-contained individuals as adaptive in Western middle-class families. The perspective of the individual is primary and is organized by psychological autonomy. Lower formal education, early parenthood, with many children, and large multigenerational households, drive the conception of relationships as role-based networks of obligations that are adapted to non-Western rural farm life. The perspective of the social system is primary and organized by hierarchical relatedness. Social development as developmental science in general, represented in textbooks and handbooks, is based on the Western middle-class view of the independent individual. Accordingly, developmental milestones are rooted in the separation of the individual from the social environment. The traditional rural farmer child’s development is grounded in cultural emphases of communality which stress other developmental priorities than the Western view. Cross-cultural research is mainly interpreted against the Western standard as the normal case, but serious ethical challenges are involved in this practice. The consequence is that textbooks need to be rewritten to include multiple cultural perspectives with multiple developmental pathways.

This paper is based in a conception of culture that is rooted in contextual/demographic parameters. It is argued that the degree of formal education is influencing the age of first parenthood, the number of children and family composition. Particular norms and values as well as behavioral conventions are related to the socio demographic milieus. Socialization goals, parenting beliefs and parenting behaviors are framed by these cultural models. Two prototypical cultural models, psychological autonomy with psychological relatedness, characteristic for Western middle class parents and hierarchical relatedness with action autonomy, characteristic for non Western rural farmers will be outlined with respect to children’s learning environments during infancy. Consequences for socioemotional development will be highlighted with respect to children’s socio emotional development. It is important to apply mixed method methodologies to assess local meaning systems along with behavioral observations. It is concluded that one system cannot be evaluated according the assumptions and values of another other system – a practice that unfortunately is widespread. Implications for application are discussed and ethical challenges are diagnosed.