Abstract
Poverty is known to influence parenting values, parenting stress, psychological adjustment, and social support according to North American research. The purpose of this study was to determine whether poverty might work in similar ways in a collectivistic Latin culture. The participants were primary caregivers in two distinct communities in the Dominican Republic: the Campos (extremely poor villages) and the middle-class areas of San Cristobal, a small city. As predicted, Campos mothers endorsed conformity and obedience as parenting goals, whereas San Cristobal mothers valued exploration and self-direction in their children. Unlike poor mothers in the US, and contrary to our expectations, Campos mothers reported relatively good social support and less parenting stress than did San Cristobal mothers. Furthermore, Campos mothers were not more depressed than San Cristobal caregivers, although the Campos mothers did report more somatic symptoms. In our Dominican sample, being better educated and being less well adjusted are linked to the experience of greater parenting stress, whereas social support is predictive of less parenting stress. These findings suggest that not all prevailing theories with regard to maternal poverty and parenting can be adapted uncritically to cultures like that of the Dominican Republic, where poverty is the situation of the majority.
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