Brazilian mothers' socialization goals: intracultural differences in seven Brazilian cities

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate Brazilian mothers' socialization goals. The participants in the study were 349 primiparous mothers, whose ages ranged from 17 to 47 years (mean = 26.6 years), who had children aged between 1 and 48 months (mean = 16.4 months). The families were living in seven different cities representing each of the five geographical regions of the country. A scale to evaluate the families' socio-economic status and an interview about socialization goals were used. The answers were coded in five categories defined in previous studies: self-maximization, self-control, lovingness, proper demeanor, and decency. Comparison of the means showed that Brazilian mothers gave more emphasis to self-maximization and proper demeanor than to the other categories, presenting a pattern that fosters the development of children's autonomous—relational selves. The intracultural variation found was related to the different cities studied. GLM results showed main effects of both city size and mothers' educational level on their socialization goals. These findings contribute to the understanding of characteristics of socialization goals related with autonomy and sociocentrism.