CHILDREARING

IN THE CARIBBEAN:
A Literature Review
Sian Williams
Janet Brown
Jaipaul Roopnarine

for
The Learning Community Programme 2006
of the Caribbean Child Support Initiative

Supported by the Bernard van Leer Foundation

1
———————————————————————

Foreword
The Caribbean Child Support Initiative (CCSI) serves as “an intermediary
resource programme [to] bring people and resources together to enhance
Early Childhood Development capacity and knowledge in the sub-region”1.
The initiative bridges the financial and technical resources of the Bernard
van Leer Foundation (BvLF) in The Hague with those of the Caribbean,
with particular interest in strengthening the care environment for young chil-
dren and their parents and other caregivers.

During 2004 CCSI engaged various partners and research agencies within
the Caribbean region to identify needs for research on childrearing and so-
cialization to inform effective interventions with parents. As part of this dia-
logue, CCSI commissioned a review of the literature from within and
about the region to see what researchers had addressed in relation to the
following questions:

• What is it that parents in the region actually do to raise their children?

• How or what are children in fact learning in their family environments?
• How can interventions be informed by the strengths children and parents
have, their coping strategies and their environmental adjustments and
resilience as well as by what they are not doing?

The preliminary literature review prepared by Sian Williams and Janet Brown
was considered at a meeting of Caribbean researchers in Jamaica in Decem-
ber 2005. The researchers confirmed what the literature review identified:

• research on childrearing and socialisation in the Caribbean is thin;

• the bulk of the research found has been done in Jamaica;
• research which has documented what parents actually do in their child-
rearing practices and what actual beliefs inform these practices does not
appear to exist.

A second review was commissioned by Jaipaul Roopnarine to more specifi-

cally examine and compare child-rearing practices within different sub-
cultures in the Caribbean.

2
The outcomes of these two reviews informed CCSI plans for a gathering of
researchers to focus on the findings of the literature reviews and current re-
search activities on aspects of Caribbean child-rearing practices.

In May 2006 in Roseau, Dominica, seventeen researchers--9 based in the

Caribbean and 8 elsewhere--met with CCSI and BvLF staff members to do
just that, and to point out implications of the work for policy, programmes
and further research. The meeting of researchers stimulated rich exchanges
about fathering and mothering roles in Caribbean contexts here and else-
where, cultural differences in parenting practices, social-emotional develop-
ment within the family and outcomes from early home and preschool set-
tings. A summary report of the meeting is available from CCSI (visit CCSI’s
website: www.ccsi-info.org for more information).

This booklet contains the two commissioned reviews of the Caribbean re-
search literature on this broad topic, and a summary of the research methods
represented within these reviews, noting some implications for the studies’
validity, replicability, applicability, etc. The booklet is intended to support
the work of other researchers, university and other level students of early
childhood development and the family within the Caribbean, and readers
within the general public interested in the evidence garnered on a range of
topics related to young children from work within and about the region.

The importance of under-girding government policies as well as govern-

ment and non-government interventions with evidence garnered from
sound research was strongly reinforced at this meeting. The Caribbean
Child Support Initiative subsequently obtained a commitment from the Ber-
nard van Leer Foundation to support at least four annual gatherings of this
nature starting in 2008 in order to promote more current research in areas
about which too little is known, and to continue to use the evidence from
regional studies to inform its programmes and activities. CCSI will publish
reports of the meetings, policy briefs, and relevant public education materi-
als which emerge from this focus on sound regional research.

Susan Branker-Lashley
Programme Director
Caribbean Child Support Initiative

3
 Acknowledgements

CCSI wishes to thank all the research colleagues who critically read initial
drafts of this literature review and provided additional references:

Patricia Anderson Hyacinth Evans Maureen Samms-Vaughan

Janet Brown Christine Powell Marigold Thorburn
Rose Davies Heather Ricketts Sian Williams
Jaipaul Roopnarine

The Authors
Sian Williams MEd. Early Childhood Services Manager in the UK un-
til 1993 and since that date Consultant and Researcher in ECD in the Car-
ibbean. UNICEF's Caribbean Early Childhood Development Adviser
since 2006.

Janet Brown, M.S.W. Consultant in early child development and

parenting. Head of the Caribbean Child Development Centre of the Uni-
versity of the West Indies from 1984 to 2004. Co-founder of Parenting
Partners Caribbean.

Jaipaul Roopnarine, Ph.D. Professor of Child Development, Depart-

ment of Child and Family Studies, Syracuse University. Research includes
parent-infant interactions in Caribbean immigrant families in the United
States and elsewhere. Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Education, Uni-
versity of the West Indies, St Augustine 2007.

The Artist
Aeron Cargill graduated with honors from the University of the West
Indies in 2007 with a BA in Visual Arts. He has won awards in traditional
pencil portraiture, a national award in Photography, and received the
highest grade in the Caribbean in the 2001 CXC exams for Visual Arts

Special thanks to Lorraine Walker Mendez for assisting with publication

layout tasks.

4
 Table of Contents

Page
1. Childrearing and Socialisation of
Young Children in the Caribbean
(birth to eight years of age)
Sian Williams, Janet Brown

Introduction 6

Section 1: Nurturance, play and early learning 8

Section 2: Gender and child development 32

Section 3: Health and nutrition 48

Section 4: Discipline practices 59

Section 5: Vulnerable children 74

Section 6: Methodologies 91

2. Cultural Bases of Childrearing and

Socialization in African Caribbean
and Indo Caribbean Families
Jaipaul L. Roopnarine 107

5
 Childrearing and Socialisation of Young Children
in the Caribbean (birth to eight years of age)
Sian Williams and Janet Brown

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this review was to discover the extent of the cov-
erage of the research on childrearing and socialization of young
children in the Caribbean and to reflect on the findings.

One of the triggers for the review was the lack of understanding
of what it is that parents in the region actually do to raise their
children. The concern expressed by parent educators is that the
basis for interventions is not informed by local or regional re-
search on actual childrearing practices. For example, philosophies
about the importance of play in child development are
“imported” and not counterbalanced, informed or mediated by
how or what children are in fact learning in their family environ-
ments, through play or otherwise.

A meeting in December 2005 of Caribbean researchers based in

Jamaica provided critical comment on a preliminary literature
review and suggested additional material for inclusion such as
studies on older children where the findings could inform re-
search approaches with younger children and the potential for
longitudinal studies. Communications with researchers in the
United Kingdom and the United States provided insights into
research findings and methodologies used elsewhere in the world
for our consideration. We recognised that the balance of the lit-
erature we have reviewed is skewed to Jamaica as we have not
received many studies from elsewhere in the Caribbean. Thus
this collection of Caribbean studies remains a ‘work in progress’,
calling for ongoing revision.

6
This review, and the one which follows by Jaipaul Roopnarine,
were prepared initially to inform a May 2006 gathering of research-
ers from the Caribbean and elsewhere, persons who are engaged in
research in childrearing and socialization, to exchange experiences
and suggest next steps for research in the region.
This researchers’ dialogue aimed to:
• reflect on what has been learned within the region on which to
build;
• provide an opportunity to reflect on the findings and method-
ologies used in research elsewhere that might inform studies in
the Caribbean;
• identify research ‘gaps’ in the Caribbean and potential lines of
questioning;
• apply a pragmatic focus in identifying priorities and directions
arising for future research, e.g.

⇒ Have the studies that have been done in the region

given us a sound enough basis for interventions with
parents? If not, what are the limitations?
⇒ How can the findings from research inform practice?
⇒ What must we find out to better inform responses?
How? Where?
⇒ Do we need to study what parents/primary care-givers
actually do to rear their children? If so, how can we do
that? Where? What are the approaches - their potentials
and limitations?

It is hoped that readers of this booklet will continue to ask these

important questions, and others noted at the end of each section,
while reading and when preparing to examine for themselves as-
pects of the multiple cultures of child-rearing practices within the
Caribbean.

7
 SECTION 1: NURTURANCE, PLAY
AND EARLY LEARNING

The concept of nurturance(2) refers to practices that promote posi-

tive parent-child interaction, emotional support, parental encour-
agement of a child’s intellectual curiosity and reflection, as well as
their approval of children’s emotional expression. It has a wider
application to positive discipline practices, and this is explored in
the fourth section below. For the purposes of this first section,
nurturance is linked with stimulation and includes studies that have
sought to describe both processes in the childrearing practices of
parents in the Caribbean region.

This review sought out studies that describe what parents actually
do. We found research providing important insights into childrear-
ing practices and developmental outcomes for children, but which

8
acknowledged methodological limitations in identifying what parents
were actually doing.

The seminal work of Grantham-McGregor et al among 75 families

with children between 31 and 60 months in poor surburban Jamaica,
revealed children experiencing a rich social life and authoritarian dis-
cipline, with little conscious encouragement of play or verbal interac-
tion (1). The methodology combined questionnaires for 75 parents
designed to document child-rearing habits and attitudes, with devel-
opmental assessments of 45 children.

The questions parents were asked were generally open ended. Al-
though children had some toys, and some children had books, there
were very few educational toys in these homes and parents did not
recognize their educational value. Few parents played with their chil-
dren, except during cooking when many would give children a little
dough to play with. Outdoor and romping games were played with
children, but teaching and reading to children were infrequently men-
tioned. Parents when asked directly said that they did teach their chil-
dren school-related subjects (although these were frequently inappro-
priate to the child’s level of development) and 20% of the parents
said they enjoyed reading to their children. The researchers tried to
get an idea of the amount of verbal interaction between mother and
children and asked mothers about the questions their children asked
and how many of them they answered. The majority of mothers indi-
cated that they tried to answer questions, or most questions; but 40%
indicated that they only attempted to answer a few. The children
were not being raised with daily routines, with specific bed times or
regular meals eaten together as a family. However, the researchers
noted the close ties that children developed with adults, usually
women, in addition to their parents, living and playing in densely
populated homes and ‘yards’. Whilst there was little attempt to con-
sciously promote cognitive development, the children were stimu-
lated by a rich social life including a variety of routine trips, such as
errands and visits in their neighbourhoods. The children’s level of
development was related to levels of stimulation in the home.

9
Grantham-McGregor notes that it is perhaps “incongruous” to ex-
pect much emphasis to be put on stimulation activities amongst
families who are so poor. To what extent the features of child-
rearing identified reflected poor physical conditions, poor education
of parents or custom and practice is not clear. Indeed the authors
conclude that “many of our findings can be explained by urbaniza-
tion and poverty”. The lack of routines can in part be explained by
the poor physical conditions, and is a finding similar to that in stud-
ies of poor families in other parts of the world. The authors cite Le-
vine (1977) who hypothesized that in Africa a clear priority of the
parents was to teach survival techniques and once these were as-
sured, “the main focus was to produce obedient children”.
This discussion of childrearing practices (1) as symptomatic in part
of poverty and environmental factors is very important. It begs the
question, “What can we realistically expect?” It is hardly surprising
that parents expressed a high degree of support for preschooling
and infant schooling for their children. “Success at school is one
way children may achieve social and economic progress in present-
day Jamaica”. The formality of the parents’ attempts to teach their
children was noted. “The mothers’ ignorance of the appropriate
subjects to teach preschool children in preparation for school,
makes it unlikely that their efforts would be successful”. This is an
area explored in other research on the quality of learning environ-
ments discussed below.

This discussion also cautions us to examine every factor impacting

on a parent’s capacity to rear a child, and not to arrive at a hasty
conclusion that serves to diminish the significance of poverty and
environment relative to the importance of other factors such as reli-
gious belief, cultural norms, history and gender. The authors cite
the work of Levine (1980) in this regard:

“ Each culture contains an adaptive formula for parenthood, a set of

customs evolved historically in response to the most prominent hazards
in the locally experienced environment of parents…also they are de-
signed to maximize positive cultural ideas in the next generation” [our
emphasis]

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 «­»

The importance of beliefs and attitudes of parents for childrearing

was explored in a study in Barbados with 628 parents using a paren-
tal self-report instrument, the Block Child rearing practices report
(2). It aimed to assess child rearing beliefs and attitudes quantita-
tively in order to explain lifestyle patterns and socialisation proc-
esses from a more psychological perspective. Findings for nurtur-
ance scores suggested that parents were generally less likely to
strongly endorse parenting practices relating to support of intellec-
tual curiosity than those relating to physical or emotional nurtur-
ance. “This seems to appropriately reflect the concerns of regional
educators that contemporary Caribbean society stresses the impor-
tance of educational achievement, but does not foster intellectual
independence and creativity”. The data suggest class differences in
levels of parental affection and interest. While some of the items on
the instrument were poorly worded, only one was recorded as hav-
ing a substantial number of “missing” responses. This item con-
cerned parents talking to their children about sex, and because many
seemed unwilling to admit having difficulty in this area, the authors
suggest that it is a crucial issue for further study. [Findings in this
study for restrictiveness (endorsement of practices designed to con-
trol how children behave) are discussed in section 4 below].

«­»

Roopnarine (17) draws on his own and others’ work to describe the
Indo-Caribbean families of Trinidad and Guyana as engaging in
more “collectivistic childrearing tendencies”, i.e. focusing on inter-
personal harmony, interdependence, and respect for elders. Prac-
tices with very young children are described as “relaxed and indul-
gent”, with few feeding and sleeping routines. In other ways, such
as the practice of corporal punishment and in the gender differences
in direct caring for and protection of children, the African Carib-
bean and the Indian Caribbean parents are similar.

11
In a cross-cultural review of early childhood education research (18)
Roopnarine cites LeVine in cautioning against population level gen-
eralisations about how different groups view appropriate and inap-
propriate child behaviours, as well as timetables of expected child
development milestones. For example, criteria for assessing an
“intelligent” child and a “competent” child vary within societies as
well as between them, and therefore parental behaviours to elicit de-
sired outcomes may be driven by different meanings in different
contexts of social class, family structure, ethnicity, etc. A cross-
cultural example of this was given between “low income, African-
and Indo-Caribbean parents [who] see ‘good children’ as academi-
cally competent, cooperative, respectful, compliant, and obedient”.
In Japanese studies of middle-class suburban parents, ‘good chil-
dren’ were seen as those who ‘displayed their thoughts honestly’,
were able to ‘maintain interpersonal harmony’, and worked well
with others in ‘expressing and building the self’. In many of the
Western developed societies, assertiveness and independence are
values encouraged in children. While these are generalisations made
in comparing broad societies, there are within Caribbean societies
parents of differing class, ethnicity, education level and gender who
would identify more with the values of the Japanese or Western par-
ents than the Caribbean values cited above (18, p. 10 citing other
studies).
«­»

Evans reviews studies up to 1989 on the socialisation of the work-

ing class Jamaican child(3). The respective methodologies are not
described and therefore it is not known how the studies compare in
terms of rigour or range. However, there are a number of factors
influencing the socialisation of the young child that are suggested
for consideration. The vast majority of Jamaican children are from
low income groups. The impact of poverty can be felt in the re-
stricted space in the family home or yard. Evans draws on British
research demonstrating the importance of space for developing an
identity and social skills. Very few children have parents who read to
them; limited play or reading materials are in the home and very few

12
educational toys such as puzzles and playing blocks(3a). There is lack
of systematic supervision of children or routine in homes where par-
ents are absent or leave early for work (3b), and children are often late
to school/play truant in these circumstances. Evans refers to interna-
tional studies demonstrating the impact of parental exhaustion and
stress on family functioning and child rearing. Physical and social cir-
cumstances can influence child-rearing techniques and parent-child
interaction – they make up what is understood as the “social ecology”
or the context of childrearing that can shape and influence socialisa-
tion.

Evans identifies the following characteristics of parent-child interac-

tion, many echoing earlier findings (1):

• Children receive a great deal of affection up to the age of about 5

(3a).
• Little family time is spent together such as meal times (3a, b and
c), affecting verbal interaction and language development.
• Even when adults are present, very little effort is made to engage
children in talk (3d).
• There is a lack of specific goals for child development apparent in
limited attempts to praise or give positive guidance and direction
to children (3a, e, f) or rewards (3a), but instead an apparent ten-
dency to react to the child’s misbehaviour with threats, anger, etc.
(see section 4 below).

Evans explores what is known of the beliefs and attitudes influencing

child-rearing practices:

• Children are highly valued by all in the society (3a, f, g).

• Children should obey their parents (3a).
• Little value is given to play as beneficial for children’s develop-
ment (3a). Evans suggests this could explain in part the absence of
toys in the home.

13
In examining the effects of the physical/social setting, parent-
child interaction and parental values and beliefs on the socialisa-
tion of the child, Evans draws on research indicating links to lim-
ited vocabulary of 4 year olds(3d), lack of personal/social respon-
siveness and conceptual development(3h) and lack of independ-
ence and imagination(3i).

These findings are echoed, and in part fleshed out, by subsequent

researchers. Barrow’s recent examination via focus groups and
survey questionnaires in Dominica and Trinidad (15) provides
qualitative information on attitudes and values in relation to par-
enting, and observes that the tradition of community cohesion
and mutual support goes some distance in providing a network of
support and concern around families of young children. Familiar
patterns of child rearing elsewhere in the Caribbean (e.g. the treat-
ment of children as parental property, the administration of harsh
discipline, the belief that some children are “born bad” and can-
not be corrected) appear still to be prevalent although the study
also suggested there was evidence of change and development.

“The good child” in both geographic contexts is described as well

behaved, mannerly, obedient, helpful. If children are too active or
curious, independent or assertive, they are seen as behaving badly,
as “troublesome”. Barrow subsequently sent a team back to se-
lected families within the same communities for a more in-depth
ethnographic look at child-rearing practices and how parents actu-
ally see children in greater detail. The team sought to observe
communication and interaction patterns between children and
their caregivers and assess the influence of the immediate environ-
ment(s) on child-rearing practices, with the overall goal of under-
standing local ideological and cultural constructs of “the child”
and “childhood”. The full report of this work is available from
CCSI (see CCSI website: www.ccsi-info.org.)

«­»

14
Roopnarine (17) cites Handwerker’s Barbados study of 1996 (18)
in describing parent-child displays of affection: 58% of boys and
57% of girls [age not cited] were hugged and touched by their
mothers regularly or “all the time”, while fewer received similar
affection from their fathers (24% boys, 33% girls); Leo-Rhynie’s
work (8) had only 23.6% of Jamaican parents praising children for
approved behaviour, reflecting similar upbringing by their parents.
Roopnarine, in writing of Caribbean immigrant families in the
United States (4) echoes the finding that parents believe that their
children should obey them and expands this to include the belief
that children should care for their ageing parents. He notes that
whilst this belief may be prevalent in the Caribbean today, it is
changing amongst higher-educated first generation children of
immigrants. Beliefs and values that stem from deeply-held reli-
gious beliefs (Indian-Caribbean and African-Caribbean), ethnic
differences, personal and community histories, do influence child-
rearing, but precisely how is not identified. Parents draw more
readily on folk theories and practices handed down through the
generations rather than the advice and guidance of experts and
community agencies (5).

«­»

Children experience multiple caregivers(6) – mother, father and

additional caregivers (family member, early childhood worker,
etc.) in the course of a day. Little is known about the impact on
children of “child shifting”, the experience of having new princi-
pal caregivers at different points in childhood, and the adjust-
ments children make to different emotional and childrearing land-
scapes. The incidence of child shifting has been looked at in a spe-
cial module attached to the annual Survey of Living Conditions in
Jamaica, and it appears to be more a phenomenon with older chil-
dren than with children in their early years. This finding is echoed
in the Profiles Project findings (9).

15
 «­»

Children’s play in the Caribbean is little understood and under-

researched (7). It is observed that parents and early childhood
teachers seem “largely unaware of the possibilities of play being
beneficial to early childhood development or to the early childhood
curricula”(8), but there is no clear idea of what constitutes children’s
play in the Caribbean, or what meanings children ascribe to what
they do.

Related research (12, 13) identified the importance for child devel-
opment of the provision of a safe, healthy, caring and stimulating
home environment, basic learning resources (domestic items used as
toys, specially made toys) and an adult carer and “educator” who is
prepared/able to read to the child each day and in time listen to the
child read to him or her. One research intervention provided a
home visitor who met with parents in their homes and demon-
strated effective child development and care techniques. The fea-
tures of this successful home visiting programme as measured by
the beneficial outcomes for children are as follows:

▪ The visits by a home visitor to the home of a very young child

were made regularly, lasted between half an hour and an hour in dura-
tion, and offered consistent support for at least the first year of the
child’s life, and thereafter as needed. [A weekly planned visit is
best, but findings showed that even when visits occurred at
10/11 day intervals, the outcomes were beneficial for children)
▪ The home visitors have at least secondary education, a background
in practical nursing/early childhood education and experience of working
with young families in clinics or other settings (such as early child-
hood centres, community based organizations, faith based or-
ganizations). The roles of the community health workers/
aides had been expanded with training to include the addi-
tional duties as home visitors. Training provided over two
weeks accompanied by a curriculum manual of ideas and ac-
tivities was sufficient to “re-tool” the experienced community
health workers/aides to undertake the task. There were clear
advantages in integrating the child development/home visiting
functions into existing roles of community health workers/

16
 aides, as these workers have existing credibility and standing
within the community.
▪ A clear focus on working with the parent or primary caregiver to de-
velop his or her understanding of child development and skills
in providing care and stimulating activities for the child. Par-
enting issues are discussed, practices demonstrated and advice
given on health, nutrition and stimulation of the children.
▪ The use of home made toys, books and materials in the home served
to optimize the use of the natural environment as a play and
learning resource and keep the costs of the home visiting pro-
grammes down. The estimated cost of a home visitor’s “kit”
includes the tools needed to make items as well as useful equipment
such as a tape recorder for playing songs and story tapes.
Toys, learning materials and cassette tapes are left in the
homes each week and exchanged for new ones at each visit.
▪ The Manager or supervisor of the programme monitors each visi-
tor conducting a home visit on a monthly basis.

Home visits were found to be more effective than arranging par-

ents’ groups at health centres as parents did not attend frequently
enough for many reasons (care of other children, expense, transpor-
tation). An important aspect of the research process described (12,
13) is that a range of instruments were used to measure children’s
development before the intervention began and at regular intervals
over sixteen to seventeen years to measure the benefits over time.
These instruments need to be used by persons who are specially
trained in conditions that can be rigorously supervised.

«­»

The first comprehensive longitudinal study to “profile” the status of

children and their learning environments was undertaken with a na-
tional sample of children (0.5% of the population of 5-6 year olds)
in Jamaica from 1999-2003(9). The immediate reason for the study
was the concern about grade repetition and primary school failure
and the recognition that there was a lack of information on the pre-
school child – health, upbringing and learning capacities. Measure-
ments of social-economic status, health, anthropometry exposure to
violence, family functioning, parental mental health, parental stress,

17
academic achievement and cognitive function, behaviour problems
and behaviour strengths were combined with measures of the home
and school learning environments. The main findings as regards
the home and parenting practices were as follows:

▪ Jamaican six year olds had a very stable physical environment.

Three quarters lived in homes owned by a close family mem-
ber and 70 percent had lived in only one home all their lives.
▪ Though there was wide variation in the physical status of
homes within different parishes and socio-economic groups.
The majority of children (more than two-thirds) did not have
modern toilet and water facilities. In contrast, more than 80
percent of homes had electronic media available in the form
of television and radio.
▪ Access to transportation and to primary schools was good,
with 99 and 89 per cent respectively, living within two miles
walking distance of these facilities.
▪ Health centres were less accessible, with 70 percent of chil-
dren living within two miles walking distance of a health cen-
tre.
▪ As expected in a developing country, the major wage earner
was employed in a skilled or semi-skilled occupation in the
majority of cases (54 per cent). Ten percent of children lived
in homes where the household head was not employed by
virtue of being unemployed, a pensioner or a homemaker.
▪ Jamaican children lived in relatively large families, with the
average number of siblings on the maternal side being three.
In these young families, the six-year old was most likely to be
the first or second child for their mother.
▪ Jamaican families functioned [in terms of adaptability and
family cohesion on a scale ranging from “extreme” to
“balanced”] similarly to American families, with the majority
of families functioning in the “mid-range” or “balanced”
categories. Only 11 percent of families were identified as
“extreme”. In contrast, Jamaican parents, chiefly mothers,
experienced a much greater level of parenting-related stress
than did American parents. Forty-five percent of Jamaican
parents had levels of parental stress above the 85th percentile

18
 compared with 37 per cent of American parents. Parenting
stress was experienced at all social class levels, but increased
with the age of the pre-school child. Parental mental health
problems were also similar across the Jamaican social classes.
▪ The most common leisure activity for Jamaican six year olds
was watching television, enjoyed by over 80 per cent. A large
proportion (three quarters) also read books at some time, but
the frequency of reading or looking at books over a month
was low. Girls and children of the higher social classes read
more frequently. There was little parental involvement in ei-
ther the watching of television or reading books.
▪ Half of the children were involved in organised leisure activi-
ties, with boys more involved in sports and girls more in-
volved in hobbies. Three quarters of children attended
church fairly regularly, with the majority attending the Evan-
gelical, Pentecostal and Seventh Day Adventist churches.
▪ At this early age, girls were already socialised to perform
chores more so than boys. Less privileged children also per-
formed more chores.
▪ Homes had relatively little physical material to stimulate chil-
dren’s development or encourage appropriate play.
▪ Emotionally, homes also lacked appropriate parent-child in-
teraction to encourage emotional development. This was
particularly true of the homes of the disadvantaged.
▪ The only aspect of the home environments that was similar
across the social classes was the parental attitude to discipline.
American families were more accepting of children and used
less harsh disciplinary measures than Jamaican families. This
was confirmed by the disciplinary index which reported on
measures of discipline used within the home in the week
prior to the survey. Similar discipline was administered to
children of all social classes and both genders.

The above findings from the Profiles Project in Jamaica demon-

strate what makes the difference for children’s outcomes in early child-
hood. Of 19 indicators identified, 5 are the most significant: socio-
economic status, parental education, parental stress, reading books and early
childhood experience. Of these, the first three directly impact on child

19
rearing practices and the fourth and fifth require parental support.
The study demonstrated that the relationship of these five indica-
tors with school achievement and cognitive function at the Grade 1
level was stronger than at the pre-school level suggesting that the
negative impact of these factors worsens over time.

«­»

We have seen (above) from longitudinal studies over 17 years

(12,13) the impact of interventions in the home with children un-
der the age of 3 years to improve parenting practices through edu-
cation, demonstration and regular encouragement. Sustainable and
significant benefits are achievable particularly by poor children
whose psychomotor development had been in jeopardy. The im-
portance of these studies is that they have shown that the interven-
tions that work in the home are those that address parenting practices
directly.

Findings from the follow up at 11-12 years old of an urban sub-

sample of a national birth cohort of 1986-87 (20) bear out the sig-
nificant and sustainable benefits of early childhood development
interventions. The children in this study form a geographical sub-
group of a national birth cohort of 10,000 children identified dur-
ing the Jamaican Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity Study 1986-87
(10). The birth cohort comprised all children born in the months
of September and October 1986 (n=10,500) and the first follow-up
study included all cohort children resident or attending school in
the two most urban parishes in Jamaica: Kingston and St. Andrew.

«­»

The main findings of the Profiles Project as regards the quality of the
learning environments in schools were broadly the same as the findings
in national surveys using the same scale in pre-schools in six other
Caribbean countries. “Similar to homes, the early childhood school
environments (Grade 1) were lacking in [learning] material to ade-
quately stimulate children. In addition, they lacked space and fur-
niture and programme structure. Areas in which schools func-

20
tioned adequately were parent-teacher interaction and language use.
Both private and public Grade 1 environments were similar” (14).

These observations of the learning environments in Caribbean pre-

school and day care centres were undertaken as part of research
studies on nationally representative samples in the Bahamas, Do-
minica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grena-
dines, and on the whole sector in Montserrat and Grenada (a sec-
ond study) between 1998 and 2005(22). The instrument used in the
Profiles Project and in each national survey was the Early Child-
hood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) Revised Edition (1998)
by Harms, Clifford and Cryer. The findings were broadly similar
across the region in terms of relative strengths and weaknesses.
Early childhood learning environments lacked adequate space, ma-
terial, furniture and programme structure. Critically considering
the importance of exposure to books and the process of being read
to in the development of pre-literacy skills and motivations, the
environments lacked books and story-book activities. However, a
relative strength in two thirds or more of learning environments
(except in one country survey) was the quality of staff-child interac-
tions. The combination of teacher directed learning and the lack of
hands-on learning experiences for children appears to have resulted
in a greater emphasis on staff-child interactions, perhaps an indica-
tion that staff are making a virtue out of necessity.

The data in the table which follows on three key indicators taken
from the quality surveys illustrate the range of ratings of
“inadequate” from 34% to 73% on the critical variable of access to
books/picture books and the practice of reading to children. The
high levels of ratings of inadequate provision are repeated for many
of the other 40 indicators that were measured. In contrast, the
range of inadequate ratings for staff-child interaction (with one ex-
ception) is 33% to 10%.

21
 Selected Inadequate Ratings from Quality Surveys

Country #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7
Year 2002 2001 2000 2004 2005 2005 2000
Space and Furnishings 77% 67% 30% 29% 60% 39% 40%
Books and Pictures; 73% 67% 42% 48% 48% 46% 34%
Reading to Children
Staff-Child interaction 55% 33% 21% 10% 17% 23% 10%

In general the learning environments were not structured in a way that re-
flected how children learn best at a very young age. The pace and coverage
of training in how to support learning in the early years is reflected in the
learning environments throughout the region. However, in every country
surveyed, examples of best practices were identified with the potential to set
up mentoring arrangements between centres and key personnel. Several sug-
gested improvements required no financing but changes in attitudes and
working practices from basic health and safety routines to management of
classroom environments. For example, key areas for support to children’s
learning that emerged are:
• managing “differences” between children, helping children learn toler-
ance;
• guiding children to include one another in games, activities and everyday
events at the centre;
• developing rules with children for being fair and kind to each other

«­»

The enduring effects of poverty amongst a range of factors affecting child-

rearing is emphasized in the Profiles findings:

• Poverty impacts directly on children’s development and behaviour.

• Poverty impacts indirectly through parenting, the learning environment,
social exposure etc.

22
Other research in Jamaica provides similar weight to the poverty
factor. Incidence of children’s lifetime exposure to violence as wit-
nesses, victims and perpetrators is higher among children from
lower SES homes for almost all types of violence (16). The increas-
ing number of female-headed households amongst families of the
poor is becoming an institutional norm, and is a direct result of both
male and female impoverishment (10a). Despite evidence that chil-
dren in poor female headed households receive a higher proportion
of the resources available to that household than they do in poor
male headed households (10b), the status of children in all poor
households is of increasing concern in Jamaica, as they are being
raised without the prerequisites for healthy emotional development
(10c).

Research has also shown that the high level of childhood poverty is
linked with early motherhood and with adverse outcomes for chil-
dren in Jamaica (11). The timing of poverty is very important for
determining the intensity of the outcome: the earlier the age at the
first pregnancy the higher the risk. There are 50% more 17 and 18
year olds in school from the wealthiest quintile of the population of
Jamaica than there are from the poorest quintile. The growth of job-
loss in the economy is diminishing opportunities for training and
employment, and increasing stress on young poor families. Employ-
ment opportunities are seen as assisting the emotional development
of children by diminishing stress on families. Re-entry into the edu-
cation and training system for young mothers would break the de-
pendency on “baby fathers”, and assist in the prevention of spiraling
problems triggering domestic violence and abuse. (11)

«­»

At the December 2005 ‘think tank’ in Jamaica [which examined the

first draft of review of the literature], there was a discussion of the
potential in comparing the findings related to parenting knowledge

23
 and practices in the evaluation of the impact of the Roving Care-
givers Programme2 on parenting and child development (21) with
those in the Profiles Project. The evaluation of the Roving Care-
givers Programme used a sample of 163 children aged 12 to 30
months, assigned to either the intervention or control group. The
study found a significant impact of the Programme on parental
knowledge but not on parenting practices.

There were no differences in the parenting practices or parenting

self-esteem scores between the two groups.
In addition to undertaking the comparison on the findings regard-
ing the impact on parents, it was suggested that the developmental
scores of the sample of 163 children aged 12 to 30 months should
be compared with the scores of the children in the Profiles sample
at age six years.

In 2004, for the first time, a module on parenting was incorpo-

rated into the Survey of Living Conditions, conducted every year
in Jamaica using a national representative sample providing data
on demography and consumption. The module is designed for
administration in the home with the primary caregiver, biological
or not, of children under 18 years of age; 90% of the 1098 care-
giver-respondents were female. The instrument is designed as a
series of possible responses to a question/statement with some
opportunity for multiple answers and in some cases for answers to
open ended questions. In the guidance for interviewers selected
by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, the module designers state:

“While the information provided by this module will not be

able to make any direct link between parenting practice and skill
and child outcome, it will certainly shed light on parental practices
and skills from a wide cross-section of the Jamaican society. This
will be a major achievement, marking the first time that
such data that is representative of the Jamaican society, in
terms of geographical location, consumption status, age
———————————————————————
2 A home-visiting programme founded in Jamaica and replicated in four Eastern Caribbean countries by the CCSI.

“Rovers” (trained young women from local communities) visit parents of children between the ages of birth through three with
toys and other stimulation materials to demonstrate activities parents can use with their children to promote their development.

24
 group, education level, union and marital status, will be
available” [our emphasis]

The module sought information on the following issues:

• Child care
• Parenting support
• Parent/child social activities/interaction
• Parent/school involvement
• Parental perception of child’s academic performance/
school/teacher quality
• Parent/child separation
• Discipline and corporal punishment in the home
• Television viewing/supervision
• Parental attitude to early sexual activity
• Parental stress

At the time of this writing, not all the data had yet been mined, but
some of the preliminary report findings of relevance especially to
young children include the following (19):

• Poor, female, younger male, rural and multiple-children

caregivers were all more likely to report feeling trapped by
their parenting roles.
• Forty percent of caregivers were moderately stressed and
17% were highly stressed [by a stress index developed by the
researchers from the data]
• Nearly 1/3 of the caregivers in poverty were highly stressed.
• Stress levels significantly shaped the interactions between
caregivers and children.
• Poorer families tended to employ more restrictive interac-
tion styles.
• Younger and more educated caregivers used more interac-
tive parenting styles.
• Caregivers engaged in relatively low levels of informal learn-
ing activities with young children.

25
 • Corporal punishment was used more with young children
than older ones.
• There was very uneven access to parenting support pro-
grammes or information, but health centres, churches,
schools/PTAs played a pivotal role in supporting rural care-
givers.

An important issue derived from the Parenting module is that of the

interaction between school and parent. The module has a section
that explores some of the barriers to parental involvement in their
children’s schooling. When the data are analysed it will be instruc-
tive to include the findings in this review.

A current three country study (Le Franc, Samms-Vaughan and oth-

ers) in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica, comprising a
sample of 4000 in total is questioning adults about their experiences
in their early years (before the age of twelve) of internal and external
migration, aggression, violence and morbidity. Two thirds of the
sample is just over 18 years of age, a third are older. At this writing
the data are collected but not yet analysed. This study should pro-
vide very useful insights.

«­»

Some questions arising for further discussion from Section 1:

1. What can we realistically expect of parents within serious poverty

conditions (in terms of stimulation/nurturance)?
2. What other factors—apart from effects of poverty—are impor-
tant to examine, e.g. religious beliefs, cultural norms, history,
gender in terms of impact on child-rearing practices?
3. What are the effects of the presence and/or absence of fathers?
If felt as a gap, how is gap filled?
4. What are the mental/social processes engendered in the out-
door, largely informal games children play (as opposed to organ-

26
 ised games or play activities, indoor toys. Are caregivers more
engaged in outdoor activity than indoor?
5. What are the characteristics of friendships and peer relations
amongst children, and the impact they have on their develop-
ment?
6. How can the disjuncture between parents’ educational aspirations
for their children and their understanding of the process of educa-
tion be addressed?
7. How do child-rearing patterns at home affect the child’s adjust-
ment to the institutional demands of school?
8. How much do we know about the impact of the adjustments re-
quired of children who are shifted from one or more homes dur-
ing their formative years?
9. What are the effects on children’s internal lives of loss and migra-
tion?
10. What are Caribbean concepts of “play” and what constitutes play
and its meanings for children? What kinds of play could be
demonstrated to parents as beneficial?
11. How are all these questions affected by the gender of the child?
12. How do we obtain the voices of children on their own experi-
ences of nurturance and play?
13. Are there evaluations of parenting programmes that would pro-
vide insights on parenting practices in the process of change?

Section 1: References

(1) Grantham-McGregor, S., Landmann, J. and Desai, P. (1983)

Childrearing in poor urban Jamaica, in Child: care, health and
development, 1983, 9, 57-71, Blackwell Scientific Publica-
tions. [Study cited Levine, R (1977), Childrearing as cultural
adaptation , in Culture and Infancy: variations in the human
experience, eds. P.H.Liederman, S.R.Tulkin and A.
Rosenfeld, Academic Press, New York; and, Levine, R (1980)
A cross-cultural perspective on parenting, in Parenting in a
Multi-Cultural Society, eds. M.D.Fantini & R. Cardenas,

27
 Longmans, New York]
(2) Payne, M.A and Furnham, A F , (1992) Parental self-reports of
child rearing practices in the Caribbean, Journal of Black
Psychology, Spring 1992, Vol.18, No.2, pp 19-36
(3) Evans, H (1989) Perspectives on the socialisation of the work-
ing class Jamaican Child, Social and Economic Studies, Vol-
ume 38, no3, 177-203 [citing (a) Grant D.R.B., Leo-Rhynie,
E., and Alexander, G., Children of the lesser world in the
English speaking Caribbean, Vol. V: Household Structures
and Settings, Kingston, UWI:PECE, 1983 ; (b) Anderson,
K.V. An Analysis of Certain Factors Affecting the Scho-
lastic Achievement of Lower SES as Compared with Mid-
dle SES Children in Jamaica, unpublished D.Ed Thesis,
Cornell University, 1967; (c) Foner, N., Status and Power in
Rural Jamaica, New York: Teachers’ College Press, 1973;
(d) Jarrett, J., A Survey of the Experiential Background of a
Sample of Lower class Pre-school Jamaican children”, Un-
published B.Ed. I. Study, Faculty of Education, UWI, 1976;
(e)Brodber, E., The child in his social environment, mimeo,
n.d..; (f) Kerr, M., Personality and Conflict in Jamaica, Lon-
don: Collins, 1963; (g) Clarke, E. My Mother who Fathered
Me, 2nd ed., London: George Allen and Unwin, 1966 (h)
Wein,N., Longitudinal Study Progress Report No. 1,
U.W.I., Institute of Education, Bernard van Leer Founda-
tion, 1972; and (i) Watson, E.M., The non-school environ-
ment and children’s creativity, Caribbean Journal of Educa-
tion, Vol.6, No.3, 1979, 178-96
(4) Roopnarine, J.L., Shin, M., and Lewis, T.Y. English-speaking
Caribbean Immigrant Fathers: The task of unpacking the
cultural pathways to intervention in Fagan, J and Hawkins,
A. Eds. (2001) Clinical and Educational Interventions with
fathers, New York, Haworth Press
(5) Roopnarine, J.L. and Brown, J eds. (1997) Caribbean families:
Diversity among ethnic groups , Norwood, NJ:Ablex

28
(6) Flinn, M. (1992) Paternal care in a Caribbean village, in Hew-
lett, B ed Father child relations: cultural and biosocial
contexts, 57-84, New York: Aldine de Gruyter
(7) Roopnarine, J.L., Shin, M., Jung, K., and Hossain, Z. Play
and Early
Development and Education The Instantiation of Paren-
tal Belief Systems in Contemporary Perspectives on Play
in Early Childhood Education, 2003, 115-132, Informa-
tion Age Publishing Inc.
(8) Leo-Rhynie, E (1997) Class, race and gender issues in child-
rearing in the Caribbean in Roopnarine, J.L. and Brown, J
eds, op cit. (5)
(9) Samms-Vaughan, M., 2001, The Profiles Project, Report
No.1, A profile of the status of Jamaican preschool chil-
dren and their learning environments. Department of
Child Health with Caribbean Child Development Centre,
UWI: Mona
(10)(a) Chevannes, B., Behavioural Norms and the Transmission
of
Poverty, Dimensions of Culture. Oral presentation, April
21st 2005, Breaking the Cycle: The intergenerational
transmission of poverty in Jamaica, Planning Institute of
Jamaica. See also (b) HANDA, S (1996) Expenditure
behaviour and children’s welfare: An analysis of female
headed households in Jamaica, Journal of Development
Economics, Vol 50 No 1, pp165-187, Amsterdam and (c)
Newman-Williams, M and Sabatini, F (1995) The eco-
nomics of child poverty in Jamaica, UNICEF, Caribbean
Area Office (CAO), Barbados
(11) Ricketts, H., Responding to the challenges, Parenting. Oral
presentation, April 21st 2005, Breaking the Cycle: The
intergenerational transmission of poverty in Jamaica,
Planning Institute of Jamaica
(12) Grantham-McGregor SM, Powell CA, Walker SP, Chang S,
Fletcher P.(1994) The long term follow-up of severely

29
 malnourished children who participated in an intervention
program. in Child Development 65:428-439.
(13) Powell, C., Baker-Henningham, H., Walker, S., Gernay, J.,
Grantham-McGregor, S. (2004) Integrating early stimula-
tion into primary health care services for undernourished
Jamaican children: a randomised controlled trial, Tropical
Metabolism Research Institute, UWI: Mona
(14) Williams, S. (2005) Quality of learning environments in early
childhood settings: reports of national surveys in Montser-
rat (2002), St. Lucia (2002), Grenada (2000), Dominica
(1999), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (2001)* and the
Bahamas (2004); *with Brown, J. Caribbean Child Devel-
opment Centre, UWI: Mona
(15) Barrow, C. (2005) A situational analysis of Approaches to
Childrearing and Socialisation in the Caribbean: The cases
of Dominica and Trinidad, Caribbean Support Initiative,
Bridgetown, Barbados.
(16) Samms-Vaughan, M. (2005) A Comprehensive Analysis of
Jamaican Children’s Exposure to Violence at 11 – 12
Years. PAHO
(17) Roopnarine, J, and Metindogan, A..(2008) Early Childhood
Education Research in Cross-National Perspective, Un-
published manuscript, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New
York
(19) Ricketts, H. and Anderson, P. (2005) Executive Summary of
Parenting in Jamaica: A Study conducted on behalf of the
Planning Institute of Jamaica.
(20) Samms-Vaughan, M.E. (2000) Cognition, educational attain-
ment and behaviour in a cohort of Jamaica children. Plan-
ning Institute of Jamaica. Social Policy Analysis Pro-
gramme Working Paper No. 5.
(21) Powell, Christine (2004) An evaluation of the Roving Care
givers Programme of the Rural Family Support Organisa
tion, UNICEF Jamaica.

30
(22) Williams, S. National surveys of the quality of learning environ-
ments in early childhood centres (ECEs):
• 2006 - Jamaica: Early Childhood Commission/Dudley
Grant Memorial Trust (basic schools);
• 2005 – Grenada: Ministry of Education (preschools and
day care centres);
• 2005 – Jamaica: Bernard van Leer Foundation/Dudley
Grant Memorial Trust (basic schools in three parishes);
• 2004 - Commonwealth of the Bahamas: Child Focus II
Project/IADB (ECEs);
• 2002 - Government of St. Lucia/UNICEF Caribbean Area
Office (ECEs);
• 2001 - Government of Montserrat/UNICEF Caribbean
Area Office (ECEs);

• 2000 - Government of Grenada/UNICEF Caribbean Area

Office (ECEs);
• 2000 - Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica/
UNICEF Caribbean Area Office (ECEs).
• 2000 –Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines /
European Union (ECEs), with Janet Brown.

31
 SECTION 2: GENDER AND
CHILD DEVELOPMENT

The child development literature for the Caribbean prior to the

1980s was sparse. Neither the annotated bibliography of articles
compiled by the Caribbean Child Development Centre (CCDC) for
the period 1960 through 1980, and a subsequent review compiled
by the Dudley Grant Memorial Trust for the period up to 1995
(20) looked specifically at issues of gender within the family. Un-
der the sub-headings family, and social development, only two articles
seemed directly related: one by Bailey and Parkes (1995) which
examined the stereotyping of gender images in Grades 1 and 3
textbooks in Jamaica, and another from Barbados in 1972 which

32
used the Draw-a-Person test with 8-15 year olds to examine gen-
der identity formation. In the latter study, the author stated that
‘both conflict of cross-sex identity and consistency of feminine
identification occur in father-absent males…” and noted the
critical period of the first two years of life.

Gender of the parent

However, there has been considerable work undertaken on the
matrifocal nature of the family in the Caribbean. The set of studies
in the late 1980s under the Women in the Caribbean Project (21,
22) provided a large body of material that profiles the Caribbean
woman as both worker and nurturer—central to the socialization
of children and perpetuation of cultural norms, the family
“bedrock”. In research conducted in Jamaican urban settings
(16, 17) roughly one-half of fathers live with families; fathers in
visiting unions spend about 4 hours a week with their children
(17, 18). One half of fathers never took their children on out-
ings. Information was lacking on fathers in rural areas. In the
mid-1980s a search for fathers in the literature was triggered by a
survey of education, health and social services related to young
children in the Caribbean (1) which garnered reports from eleven
countries within UWI’s ambit. A call for help with the engage-
ment of fathers in the support and care of their children was one
of the loudest signals sounded by these reports. The literature
search returned very little that could help the University’s child
development centre for the region (CCDC) shape an informed
response to this call.

The title of a seminal ethnography by Edith Clarke in 1957 (2)

seemed to summarise this dearth: My Mother Who Fathered Me.
Although Clarke was describing communities in which 70% of
families did in fact have fathers present, the image of “absentee
fathers” (who are non-resident and/or marginal to family life)
became a cultural “given” in the materials prepared for parenting
education efforts during the 70s and 80s. Most of the rest of
family literature, much of which emerged during the burgeoning

33
research of the women’s movement internationally and in the
Caribbean during the 1970s and 80s, described the matrifocal
nature of Caribbean families generally (females as primary nurtur-
ers, central to family functioning) (3) and relied largely on deficit
perspectives when examining the role of men in relation to their
families—both in terms of partnerships and in terms of parent-
hood—men were NOT present, NOT faithful, NOT sufficiently
responsible, NOT steady financial contributors.

These deficit perspectives of men as fathers are deeply embed-

ded. In the developing economies of the region, the primary ex-
pectation of men as fathers has been that of financial provision,
and the related role of family protector. With large segments of
populations un- and under-employed, this narrow definition rele-
gates many men to marginal existence within and outside their
families. Add high rates of conjugal instability and strong cultural
expectations that a son should financially support his mother and
siblings, and the cultural scaffolding for this deficit framework
becomes glaringly apparent. In the words of a Trinidadian
scholar: “the social construction of the male breadwinner role is
therefore an important mechanism by which men are ensnared
into their own oppression” (4). In Jamaican parlance, men are
“given basket to carry water”.

A joint UWI study by CCDC and the Department of Sociology

and Social Work was undertaken in 1991(5), utilising both quanti-
tative and qualitative approaches to arrive at a clearer picture of
the attitudes and behaviours of Jamaican men in relation to fam-
ily life. Seven hundred men from four different communities of
poor and working class families were surveyed, and in the same
or similar communities focus groups probed key issues with men
and women about men’s participation in the family and contribu-
tions to child-rearing. Two years of field work produced many
confirmations of “hunches” and a few surprises. A brief sum-
mary of these findings is contained in a discussion guide designed
to foster further explorations among community groups (6):

34
▪ The common multiple-union pattern of men adds on more complex obligations
and expectations as the man gets older. Thus a man’s FAMILY
may be defined differently at different points in his life as he views
his familial responsibilities to his parents (especially his mother), to
his siblings and their children, to the mother(s) of his children, to
his outside child(ren) from earlier unions, and to any child(ren)
with whom he may now live with a common-law or married wife.
▪ Men contribute more to family life than is credited. Caribbean women’s
role remains that of primary caregiver of children, and many
women carry this role without their children’s father present in the
home. But the study provides evidence that men are far more in-
volved in positively contributing to family life than popular stereo-
types suggest.
▪ Men are active with their children and in domestic chores, but do not feel en-
hanced by these tasks. The majority of men described their active,
often daily, participation in tidying, playing and reasoning with their
children, and in helping regularly with homework. Up to 50% re-
ported that they also regularly cook, tidy the house and go to the
shop. At the same time, men generally admit that these contribu-
tions in the domestic sphere are perceived still by most men and
some women as primarily “women’s work”; they are not self-
enhancing, particularly if economic circumstances do not permit
contributions in keeping with the culturally prescribed role of
breadwinner and thus family head, roles implying authority and
decision-making status.
▪ Being a father has strong personal meanings for men. Fathering is both
part of a man’s self-definition and his route to maturity.
▪ “Outside” children appear more psychologically vulnerable than “inside” chil-
dren. Children born early in a man’s life, enhancing his sense of
manhood, are often seen later as destabilisers of new partnerships,
and are sacrificed by one or both partners in order to firm the new
union.
▪ Conditions of poverty negatively affect child-rearing practices. High under-
and unemployment, migration to earn, women’s labour market par-
ticipation, the erosion of the extended family’s capacities to assist
with child care—all present barriers for men’s and women’s fulfill-
ment of their understood roles.

35
This study begged more questions than provided answers, at least
in terms of hard data that could speak definitively to the posi-
tioning of men in relation to their families and specifically to
their children. It was a significant study, however, in shifting fu-
ture research away somewhat from the deficit perspectives of
earlier examinations to more open queries into the meanings
family and children hold for men, the socialization of men and
women into the roles they play out on a daily basis, and the his-
torical roots of manifest patterns and behaviours.

«­»

A direct follow-on to the 1993 UWI report cited above was a

wider Caribbean examination of patterns of gender socialization,
undertaken in Dominica, Guyana and Jamaica by the same two
UWI departments (7). Some of the questions raised in this study
included:
▪ Where do men’s and women’s defined family roles origi-
nate?
▪ How do parents perpetuate or change these roles in their
children?
▪ Are attitudes and behaviours of parents changing in the Car-
ibbean, as elsewhere, in relation to gender roles?

As in the earlier UWI fatherhood study, men found it almost im-

possible to separate concepts of manhood from their identities
and roles in relation to women or as fathers to their children.
Manhood was clearly defined (in terms of sexual prowess, earn-
ings and household head/authority) but its components often
worked at cross purposes. Early sexuality (to prove prowess and
heterosexuality in a homophobic society) too often produces
progeny which add obligations before education and earnings
have equipped a man to act as breadwinner. Because the bread-
winner role is primary for a father, un- or under-employment of-
ten place this role beyond his reach, and as noted earlier, nurtur-
ing behaviours remain for both men and women unacceptable

36
male substitutes for financial contribution. Lack of financial sup-
port tends to dilute or negate a man’s claim to family headship,
even if resident.

With these realities, it is not surprising that man-woman relation-

ships were found to be fraught with distrust and disillusionment.
Multiple partnerships for men (culturally “acceptable”) as well as
women (“unacceptable”) have implications not only for union sta-
bility but for the “inside” and “outside” children of these unions.
Women assume de facto family headship when men can’t suffi-
ciently provide for the family or are non-resident, or when women
are larger earners. Unmet expectations contribute to high levels of
domestic abuse—primarily though not exclusively men against
their partners, and of course affecting children of the relation-
ships.

Traditional child-rearing strategies—of protecting and preparing

daughters for independence or a secure partnership, and encour-
aging the development of male “survival” skills via greater inde-
pendence learned outside the home—were described as increas-
ingly ineffective, particularly in poor inner-city populations.
Child-rearing practices were strongly gendered vis-a-vis chores,
leisure activities allowed/encouraged, social skills taught, disci-
pline administered, affection demonstrated, and in preparation for
sexuality. They were also fraught with contradictory messages,
particularly in relation to emerging sexuality and responsibility.
Parents often reported feeling overwhelmed and inadequate to the
challenges, without sufficient child development knowledge or
skills (7).

«­»

From an ethnographic study spanning 12 years in Dominica,

Quinlan and Flinn (26) tested the assumption that father absence
and conjugal instability were related patterns imbedded for succes-
sive generations in early childhood. They concluded that the evi-

37
dence for this hypothesis was weak at best, and that conjugal in-
stability was more strongly correlated with the levels of control
(or not) parents exercised during adolescence.

«­»

It is clear that the global revolution in gender role demands and

shifts has of course also impacted the Caribbean; many younger
and more educated families seem to be generally more comfort-
able with broadened roles for both women and men and with the
corollary of broader domestic load-sharing. But there are many
contradictory views and behaviours as inevitable changes occur,
and the confusion for child-rearing practices remains evident.
Roopnarine (20) examined the degree to which fathers in Jamai-
can common-law relationships were directly involved with their
infant children: fathers spent .52 hours cleaning and bathing in-
fants, .94 hours feeding infants, and 2.75 hours playing in stimu-
lating ways with infants per day. This time investment compared
similarly to men of colour in the U.S. Black Carib men in Belize,
however, were found to engage minimally in social interactions
with young children (21).

«­»

In 2001, the Profiles Project in Jamaica found that “on the sur-
face, children’s emotional environment seemed stable. More
than 80 per cent of children had had only a single mother or fa-
ther figure. However, only two-thirds of children (at age six)
had both biological parents as their parenting figures and less
than a half lived with both their biological parents. Relationships
between parents had proven to be very unstable with more than
40 per cent of biological parents reporting no relationship with
each other by the time their child was six years old.

“Just over 40 per cent of children were physically separated from

their fathers and just under 20 per cent from their mothers. The

38
 main reason for separation from mothers was migration, and from
fathers, the ending of the parental relationship. Migration was also
an important factor in separation from fathers and parental inade-
quacy for separation from mothers. More fathers were providing
financial support (81 per cent) than were credited with providing
emotional support as the father figure (74 per cent).” (19)

«­»

In 2005 Dr. Patricia Anderson of UWI launched a study to repli-

cate and extend the 1991 fatherhood study, surveying Jamaican
men from four communities, but this time including a middle
class sample, a group which to date has been largely ignored in the
research. New questions were determined through a series of
focus groups with middle class and working class fathers, and
through a pilot test of new questions. These questions, which seek
to tap dimensions of masculinity and father role identification,
were added to the original questionnaire. The focus groups also
were used to help ensure that key areas of additional investigation
were covered, especially the nurturance aspects of men's fathering,
the gate-keeping role of mothers, changing attitudes to parenting,
load sharing, etc. This study will signal any changes in perceived
or actual family roles of men and women over the nearly 15 years
between studies. One initial finding indicates that men increasingly
are defining their role as father as ‘being there for the child.’ Pre-
liminary findings of this study were presented at the Dominica
researchers meeting; the summary report on these presentations
will be available from CCSI in 2008 (check CCSI website:
www.ccsi-info.org)

«­»

An earlier study on paternal involvement with children in Guyana

(27) examined the interplay of economic conditions, personality,
household structure and psychological factors such as the father’s

39
self-esteem and self-efficacy. In a sub-set of the full survey, the
data from married men living with a spouse and at least one child
age 5-17 were analysed:

▪ Paternal involvement with children increased with SES and

education of the father, but not significantly with occupa-
tion. In fact, professional men and those earning the high-
est income reported lower levels of involvement than some
other groups. The utilisation of domestic help was sug-
gested as a partial explanation of this difference.
▪ A father’s self-esteem did not determine his level of involve-
ment, but more performance-oriented self-mastery was sig-
nificantly related.
▪ Fathers who had experienced close relationships with their
own fathers were more involved than those who did not,
and this did not differ significantly across SES.
▪ Fathers with working wives and fathers within extended
families were less involved with their children than men with
wives at home and in nuclear households.
▪ Paternal involvement was higher in Indo-Guyanese house-
holds than in Afro-Guyanese, in which maternal control of
children is stronger.

Roopnarine, in examining mother-child and father-child relation-

ships in the Caribbean suggests parents sometimes use an eco-
nomic lens in relation to children:

“Recognizing the utilitarian value of children, parents formulate

different perceptions of boys and girls and form divergent relation-
ships with them. Depending on economic conditions and conjugal
relationships, it is expected that children will care for their aging
parents. Whereas boys are expected to do so, mothers form close
alliances with daughters and may receive social and economic sup-
port from them (Handwerker 1996). In many low-income families,
mothers prefer girls to boys (Justus, 1981), Sargent and Harris
1992), as they perceive boys as more difficult to raise than girls

40
 (Leo-Rhynie 1997). Assessing gender ideology and childrearing in
Jamaica, Sargent and Harris (1992) found an overwhelming preference
for girls among women (78.7%), and more mothers used adjectives such
as “bad”(73.5% versus 26.5%) and “rude”(62.1% and 37.9% to
describe boys than girls.”

Roopnarine notes the gendered nature of home and community ac-

tivities for children. He illustrates: “Dominican 5-year-old girls sweep the
household yard, wash dishes and clothes and encourage younger children to be-
have appropriately. They also assist with processing coconuts. By comparison,
boys are required to tend to animals (Dubrow 1999, Justus 1981)”.

«­»

The social sciences faculties at the three major UWI campuses, par-
ticularly the Gender and Development Units, have further examined
Caribbean masculinities, critical adjuncts to how maleness plays out
within the family as well as in other wider community roles (13).
The historical examinations of Hilary Beckles (14) and Pat Moham-
med (15) among others into the impact of slavery and indentureship
on men, women and families have helped deepen and contextualise
current issues of gender, sexuality, and the meanings of childhood
for the Caribbean.

While the work undertaken on gender in relation to family since the

1990s has given us clearer pictures of what we saw more dimly be-
fore, we are still left with questions that future research needs to
tackle if we are to speak with greater confidence about the intri-
cately interwoven threads of gender in identity formation and per-
sonality development within the context of family life. Most of
these questions seek the WHYs of parental perpetuation or rejection
of long-standing, culturally imbedded attitudes and behaviours.

Gender of the child

Emerging from the research, the precarious position of boys is giv-
ing increasing cause for concern: “Gender division of labour regulates the

41
activities of households and this is apparent at all stages of the life cycle. Chil-
dren are socialized to recognize and be part of these divisions…children thus
grow up to associate order with divisions based on gender. One of the implica-
tions of this ordering of gender is a tighter control over girls than over boys.
The notion of greater sexual freedom for males is brought about by the way
they are socialized, and it is considered natural for adult men to keep more
than one woman. The looser rein over boys also means greater freedom for
them to associate with and pattern their own behaviour after older males”(25).
Greater attention is given to girls to learn at school and develop
social skills and values; it is more common for boys to be encour-
aged to learn “fending” skills and income generating skills at an
early age.

It is interesting in this context that educational achievement re-

search in Jamaica suggests that although boys are at an equivalent
performance level to girls on entry to Grade 1 of primary school,
differences between them in academic achievement are beginning
to be evident by Grade 3, and become more marked by Grade 4
in the Literacy Test. The incidence of drop out as early as Grade
Four (9 years old) is on a ratio of 8:5 boys to girls (19).

«­»

From the field of education, gender differentials in exam results

called for researchers to help us understand why girls throughout
the Caribbean seemed to be outperforming boys in many sub-
jects—sometimes reported as early as entry to Grade One—and
in numbers of graduates at the high school and tertiary levels.
The exam data provided fuel for theoretical postulates, e.g.
Miller’s male marginalisation theory (related to the feminization of
education among other factors), Figueroa’s work on male privileg-
ing which points out that female socialization prepares girls better
for the routines of the education system than boys, Parry’s exami-
nation of the “gendering” of academic subjects, and Chevannes’

42
rejection of “male marginalisation”, suggesting that many men, par-
ticularly those encumbered by poverty and poor initial education,
have simply discarded education as a viable route to desired goals,
while women remain empowered by educational routes to greater
independence (9, 10, 11, 12). Samms-Vaughan’s data from Ja-
maica’s cohort study assert that boys “were significantly more likely
than girls to experience violence as witnesses or victims. They
were also much more likely to receive corporal punishment at
school than girls”. (23)

A small studny as part of a six-country examination of gender is-

sues in relation to very young children (8) teased the researchers
further—again a qualitative approach without the weight of signifi-
cant numbers, but furthering our curiosity about how early gender
positions are shaped. Girls and boys in Grade One described not
only different personal tasks and competencies, but differing levels
of confidence in their skills, at least in the domestic sphere. Whilst
girls indicated a strong almost competitive interest in the “boys’
activities” the boys showed no interest whatsoever in “girls’ work”.

«­»

We found no research on the psychological and emotional impact

of being an ‘outside child’, the description given to a child of a
mother or father born before or outside the parent’s current rela-
tionship/family, and who lives with the other parent or another
relative. Similarly, there appears to be no research from the per-
spective of the ‘inside children’ concerning their relationship to and
with an outside child. There is no research from the perspective of
a child born to a mother who is not in a union with the child’s fa-
ther but with the father of other children of hers. However it has
been observed (7) that a father’s interaction with his outside child
is much less than that with his inside children. If he has no inside
children, the relationship with the outside child may remain strong.

43
New unions can have the effect of blocking interactions with the
outside child. The status of the union (married or unmarried) does
not appear to have an effect. This is an area that needs research to
identify the extent to which children are affected.

«­»

Some questions arising for further discussion from Section 2:

1. What are the effects of the presence and/or absence of fathers?

If felt as a gap, how is gap filled?
2. How much are child rearing practices and attitudes in relation to
gender roles within the family changing within the Caribbean?
[The recent Anderson study on fathers in Jamaica will provide
some answers to this question.]
3. What are the factors in parental perpetuation or rejection of cul-
turally imbedded attitudes and behaviours? Are these gender
differentiated?
4. Does the gender of “outside” children or “shifted” children
make a difference to his or her treatment by mother or father,
other family members?

Section 2: References

(1) Brown, J. (1988) Report on a Survey of Educational, Health and

Social Services for Young Children in the Caribbean, Carib-
bean Child Development Centre, UWI. (unpublished)
(2) Clarke, E. (1957) My Mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of
the Family in Three Selected Communities in Jamaica, Bos
ton: George Allen and Unwin
(3) Chevannes, B. (2001) Learning to be a Man. Kingston: UWI
Press [citing Madeline Kerr 1963, Raymond Smith 1956,
Hyman Rodman 1971, Peter Wilson 1973, Durant-Gonzales
1976. Jocelyn Massiah 1986. For work on the Indo- Carib-
bean family Chevannes cites the work of R.T. Smith and

44
 Jayawardena in the late 50’s-early 60’s, Niehoff and Nie-
hoff (1960), Klass (1988), Demographic work of Roberts
and Braithwaite (1962) and ethnographies by Nevadomsky
(1985), Silverman (1980) and Thakur (1978).]
(4) Nurse, K. (2003) The Masculinization of Poverty: Gender and
Global Restucturing Paper at UNESCO Consultation on
Mainstreaming Gender, UWI (Mona)
(5) Brown, J. Anderson, P and Chevannes, B. (1993) The Contri-
bution of Caribbean Men to the Family: A Jamaica Pilot
Study. Report to IDRC, UNICEF and CUSO.
(6) Brown, J., Broomfield, R and Ellis, O. (1994) Men and Their
Families: Handbook for Discussion Groups, CCDC, UWI
(7) Brown, J. and Chevannes, B. (1998) Why Man Stay So: Tie
the Hiefer, Loose the Bull. An Examination of Gender
Socialisation in the Car ibbean by the UWI, UNICEF.
(8) McGarrity, G. and Brown, J. (1997) Gender and the Young
Child: A Jamaican Community Exploration. In Coordina-
tor’s Notebook: An International Resource for Early
Childhood Development. No. 20.
(9) Miller, E. (1986) The Marginalisation of the Black Jamaican
Male: Insights from the Development of the Teaching
Profession. Kingston: Institute of Social and Economic
Research, UWI; and (1991) Men at Risk. Kingston: Ja-
maica Publishing House.
(10) Figueroa, M. (1996) Male Privileging and Male Academic Per-
formance in Jamaica. Symposium paper, Centre for Gen-
der and Development Studies, UWI St. Augustine, and
(1996) with Sudhanshu Handa. Female Schooling
Achievement in Jamaica: A Market and non-Market
Analysis. Department of Economics, UWI (Mona)
(11) Parry, O. (2000) Student Choices in Kingston High Schools.
(12) Chevannes, B. (1999) What We Sow and What We Reap:
Problems in the cultivation of male identity in Jamaica.
Grace, Kennedy Foundation Lecture Series.
(13) Reddock, R, ed. (2004) Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities:

45
 Theoretical and Empirical Analyses. St. Augustine: UWI
Press
(14) Beckles, H. (2000) Property Rights in Pleasure: The Market
ing of Enslaved Women’s Sexuality in Shepherd, V. and
Beckles, H.McD. (eds) Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic
World, Kingston, Ian Randle Press.
(15) Mohammed, P. “The Idea of Childhood and Age of Sexual
Maturity Among Indians in Trinidad: A Sociohistorical
Scrutiny”. In Roopnarine J and Brown, J. (1997) Carib-
bean Families: Diversity Among Ethnic Groups.
Greenwich Conn.: Ablex Publishing Corporation
(16) Grant D.R.B., Leo-Rhynie, E., and Alexander, G., Children
of the lesser world in the English speaking Caribbean,
Vol. V: Household Structures and Settings, Kingston,
UWI:PECE, 1983
(17) Grantham-McGregor, S., Landmann, J. and Desai, P.
(1983) Childrearing in poor urban Jamaica, in Child:
care, health and development, 1983, 9, 57-71, Blackwell
Scientific Publications
(18) Roberts, G.W. and Sinclair, S., Women in Jamaica – Pat-
terns of Reproduction and Family, Millwood: TKO
Press, 1978.
(19) Samms-Vaughan, M 2001, The Profiles Project, Report
No.1, A profile of the status of Jamaican preschool chil-
dren and their learning environments. Department of
Child Health with Caribbean Child Development Cen-
tre, UWI: Mona
(20) World Bank (1999) 35 Years of Early Child Development
in the Caribbean, CDROM.
(21) Massiah, J. (1986) Women in the Caribbean Project, Insti-
tute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), UWI:
Cave Hill
(22)Senior, O. (1991) Working Miracles: Women’s Lives in the
English-Speaking Caribbean. ISER, UWI: Cave Hill.

46
 London: James Currey. Bloomington: Indiana Uni-
versity Press
(23) Samms-Vaughan, M. (2005) A Comprehensive Analysis of
Jamaican Children’s Exposure to Violence at 11 – 12
Years, PAHO
(24) Roopnarine, J. and Evans, M. (2005) Family Structural Or-
ganisation, Mother-Child and Father-Child Relation-
ships and Psychological Outcomes in English-speaking
African Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean Families
(25) Munroe, R. and Munroe, R. (1992). Fathers in children’s
environments: A four culture study. In B. Hewlett
(ed), Father-child relations: Cultural and biosocial con-
texts. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
(26) Quinlan, R. and Flinn, Mark (2003) Intergenerational
Transmission of Conjugal Stability in a Caribbean
Community, Journal of Comparative Family Studies,
Vol. 34, pp 569-584
(27) Wilson, L.C. and Kposowa, A J. (1994) Paternal In
volvement with Children: Evidence from Guyana,
International Journal of Sociology of the Family, Vol.
24: 23-42

47
 SECTION 3: HEALTH AND NUTRITION

Health
It must be noted at the outset that Caribbean basic indicators of child
health and nutrition all register at or near the top of developing coun-
tries’ statistics:

▪ In the UN World Summit Goal statistics of 2002 (1), 12 English-

speaking Caribbean countries ranked between a low of 62 and a
high of 144 among 177 countries in rates of under five mortality;
the average rank was 119.
▪ The average under-five mortality rate was 25.3 per 1000 live
births, ranging from a low of 14 (Antigua and Barbuda, and Bar-
bados, to a high of 72 (Guyana). The average for the combined
region of Latin America and the Caribbean is 34.
▪ Infant mortality (under the age of one) averaged 20.9 per live
births, ranging from 12 to 54 for the same 12 countries (with the

48
 same countries as highest and lowest). Again this was a bet-
ter record than the combined Latin American and the Carib-
bean average of 27.

These standards have been achieved with considerably lower per

capita resources than the developed countries, for which the re-
gion can be justifiably proud. However, there remain pockets of
malnutrition, some health gains remain fragile in contexts of pov-
erty, and some conditions stubbornly work against achieving even
higher indicators of child health.

«­»

The University of the West Indies’ Children’s Issues Coalition

(ChIC) has undertaken a recent search and review of all research
literature concerning children conducted in Jamaica in the areas of
child health and nutrition, children’s emotional and social behav-
iour, children’s disabilities, aspects of considerable risk to children
(abuse, child labour, exposure to violence), and children’s issues
calling for policy positions (2). Draft summaries of each of these
general areas have been compiled by ChIC, supported by the En-
vironmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), and reviewed for this
report. This data base can be viewed on the Caribbean Child De-
velopment Centre’s website: http//uwi.edu/ccdc/index.htm.

Unfortunately the summary of the large body of medical research

that concerns children was not completed for the above project at
this writing, and therefore could not be reviewed here for implica-
tions for parenting. However, some relevant issues related di-
rectly to children’s health were raised within the review of chil-
dren’s policy issues that call for further investigations (2):

1. Antenatal care begins too late for too many Caribbean moth-
ers-to-be: only 30% of women on average started their prena-
tal care within the first trimester; Jamaica’s percentage is lower
at 23%.

49
2. Twenty-five percent of antenatal care visits (in Jamaica) were
teenage mothers; this figure is probably similar to the rest of the
Caribbean. Teenage pregnancy has been rising as a percentage
of live births, despite the general lowering of the fertility rates
across the Caribbean, although there is recent research indicat-
ing the beginning of a decline in Jamaica (3). In Jamaica, the
proportion of young women 15-19 years of age who have had
a child by the age of 20 has remained almost stable. Children
of very young mothers face greater birth and early develop-
mental risks.

3. HIV/AIDS statistics are increasingly sobering for the Carib-

bean; it is now the second leading cause of death of children
between ages one and four in Jamaica. (This issue is dealt with
in greater detail in Section 5.)

4. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months is the recommended

route to optimum health for newborns. But recent studies in
Jamaica suggest that breastfeeding rates and the length of time
mothers breastfeed remain considerably below this target de-
spite promotion campaigns. This has negative implications for
children’s short- and long-term health. Ja maica reports only
47% of infants at six weeks old were being exclusively breast-
fed; by three months this figure declined to 35%; 5.6 % do not
breastfeed at all(4). Younger mothers cease breastfeeding
sooner than older mothers. Since teenage mothers have higher
percentage of low birth weight babies, this is even more worri-
some in child health terms.

5. Gender differentials in children presenting health concerns to

clinics/hospitals were striking in the Jamaica statistics. In all
categories of presenting health issues for children from birth
through age 9, boys have significantly higher incidence except
for sexual assault (which is known to be under-reported in the
case of boys). Males from age 10 through 19 also have higher
incidence of these same presenting problems except for poi-

50
 soning, attempted suicides, and genito-urinary problems, which
are presented more often by females in this age group. Examina-
tion of parenting behaviours (and environmental conditions) is
certainly suggested by this list of presenting problems. Of the
number of child patients treated for burns, poisoning, bites, stab
wounds, blunt injuries, motor vehicle accidents, accidental lacera-
tions, and genitor-urinary disorders, an average of 59.5% of chil-
dren below age five were boys; 61.2% from five to nine were
boys. These stark figures tell us little about the nature of the in-
juries or their contexts.

«­»

The findings of the Profiles Project in Jamaica (9) as regards health

were as follows:

“Asthma was the single commonest chronic health problem, reported in

12 percent of children. Burns and scalds were equally prominent (10
per cent) as the main accident or injury experienced by children. Despite
these conditions, 89 per cent of children were reported to be currently in
good or excellent physical health by their parents. As many as 8 per
cent were reported to have had emotional or behavioural problems in the
six months prior to the study but no mental health professional had been
visited.

Health care was received through the public health system by more than
a half of children (55 per cent). A third received care from family prac-
titioners and only 5 percent visited paediatricians. Dental health was
neglected, with more than 80 percent of children never having visited the
dentist. When their child’s functional ability (hearing, vision, speech)
were enquired of, parents most commonly reported speech abnormalities
(10 per cent). On evaluation during the project, hearing impairment
was identified in 35 per cent and vision impairment in 10 per cent.
Parental impressions were unable to identify children with sensory im-
pairment.”

51
The content of parenting education programmes in relation to the
care of children with asthma and also in relation to the care of
children with sickle cell anaemia has not been sourced for this re-
view; it may be that parenting education programmes supported
by clinics have focused on parenting practices and that their
evaluation has yielded useful insights. More exploration of these
areas needs to be done.

Nutrition
In the absence of region-wide data, Jamaica’s statistics on child
nutrition are assumed to be generally representative of the Carib-
bean, with some countries doing somewhat better and others hav-
ing higher incidence of poor nutritional status:

▪ In Jamaica just under 10% of all live births are of low birth
weight.
▪ For children five and under, low weight for age in 2002
stood at 6.4%, stunting affected 5.9% of children, and a
smaller percentage (2.8%) were considered wasted.
▪ Obesity in children is a growing phenomenon. Although
in 2001 the figure for Jamaica was 5%, it had risen over
ten years from 2%.

In a report to UNICEF Jamaica in 2003(4), the nutrition interven-

tions suggested for children under five years included a focus on
stunting (as opposed to wasting), treating and monitoring repeated
cases of diarrhea, more regular growth monitoring and anthropo-
morphic measurements at primary school entry. Maternal nutri-
tion was also recommended as important in fighting malnutrition.

«­»

The University of the West Indies has led the region’s work on
child nutrition; of the 84 studies/documents reviewed by the

52
ChIC group, at least 54 were conducted by the Tropical Medicine
Research Institute (TMRI) of the UWI, and most of the others
were generated by the University’s Department of Child Health.
The studies reviewed span work of over twenty-five years. Of
particular significance to this literature review on parenting prac-
tices are the studies which have examined the short- and long-
term effects of different interventions with cases of severe to
moderate malnutrition in young children. Many of the TMRI
studies have measured the effects of supplementation (of protein
and energy food basics) or stimulation, or the combination of
both these interventions, on the child’s growth and development.
These highly rigorous experimental studies have among their find-
ings confirmed the critical importance of stimulation (in the forms of sim-
ple play materials and activities) as a basic prompt to both physical
and cognitive development of the child—even more important
than food supplementation. These studies have shown persistent
benefits to the children’s IQ and school achievement up to age
16-17 years (5, 6, 7, 8).

The import of these studies for parenting is to underscore the par-

ent’s/caregiver’s critical role in stimulating children’s development
consciously through simple play activities, conversation and inter-
action. Supplementation alone did not have the power to suffi-
ciently redress physical and cognitive deficits in young children;
consistent and regular stimulation had significantly greater power than supple-
mentation alone, and not surprisingly stimulation combined with
supplementation provided the greatest redress for malnourished
children, enabling many to recover developmentally to the levels
of control groups of non-malnourished children in similar condi-
tions. Another parenting factor observed in these studies was
that when a child is malnourished, and thus often less responsive
and active, parental responsiveness may also be reduced, which
can exacerbate the effects of the child’s malnutrition and impair
recovery.
The studies also draw attention to the real deficits of severe mal-
nutrition, which can remain as permanent developmental/growth

53
impairments even when the child’s nutritional status has been im-
proved. This underscores the importance of prevention rather than
remediation as the optimum approach to reducing numbers of
low birth weight children and the incidences of moderate and se-
vere under-nutrition and over-nutrition. Low birth weight was
found to be the greatest predictor of malnutrition in a sample of
urban, poor young children from six months to 4 years old.
Clearly prevention must involve engaging parents and other pri-
mary caregivers earlier and more consistently during and after
pregnancy.

The nutrition studies caution, however, against focusing on par-

enting practices alone by drawing attention to the realities of poverty,
such as inadequate housing, poor and crowded environmental
conditions, and low and inconsistent income to support proper
household nutrition, which can work against the most caring ef-
forts of poor parents.

«­»

Regarding the much smaller body of research on nutrient deficien-

cies and toxins, particularly iron deficiency, the Caribbean Food
and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) (10) undertook a survey in five
countries including Jamaica, Guyana and Dominica, focusing on
different age groups including children in the age range 1-4 years
old. The results indicate that iron deficiency is a major public health concern.
The rates of anaemia in this age group are 43% in Dominica, and
48% in both Guyana and Jamaica. Whilst there are no serious vita-
min A deficiencies, the rate of marginal deficiency of vitamin A
ranges from 10.6 % in Guyana to 34% in Dominica and 58% in
Jamaica. Whether these deficiencies are caused by lack of ade-
quate iron intake or ignorance of the need for a proper diet was
not clear (11).

Anaemia is associated with poor developmental levels, impaired

cognitive functioning and behavioural problems; since anaemia is

54
more prevalent in conditions of poverty, it is hard to designate pre-
cise causation. Research in Jamaica has revealed a prevalence of 42–
47% of the most common “worm” infection (T.trichiura) among
surveys of urban and rural Jamaican grade school children (mostly
light and moderate infections, but 4-6% heavy). Since repeated in-
fections may be linked to emotional problems and poor school
achievement, this level of incidence should also be addressed within
parental education programmes as a prevention as well as remedia-
tion route.

«­»
The incidence of obesity as a rapidly rising phenomenon amongst the
population in the Caribbean is particularly worrisome as it includes
children. In 2004, the rate of obesity amongst preschool children was
3.9% in Barbados and 6.0% in Jamaica (13). Between 1990 and
1999, the incidence doubled in two Caribbean countries (Antigua
Barbuda from 2% to 5.6%, Dominica from 4.1% to 9%) and in-
creased considerably in others (e.g. St. Kitts Nevis from 5.8% to
10.2%, St Vincent and the Grenadines from 5.7% to 6.6%). (12).
There is a link with increasing incidence of diabetes and hypertension
in adults, and the increasing mortality rate associated with both dis-
eases.

Obesity related deaths cut across social economic groups and age
groups and need to be studied in depth. However the increased rates
in persons of low social economic status suggest that behaviour pat-
terns are more likely to promote obesity. Pricing of foods affects
purchasing habits with fats and sugars heavily subsidized in cheaper
and more appealing foods to the poor and to their children. There is
a great deal of promotion and marketing of energy dense foods,
which can ‘overwhelm’ the body’s capacity to regulate physiologi-
cally. These types of food are provided by vendors at the gates of
preschools and in school canteens. Local domestic agricultural pol-
icy does not encourage the economic production of vegetables and
fruits.

55
CFNI notes that there are no trend analyses of physical activity of chil-
dren in the Caribbean. Simple observation suggests there is insuffi-
cient physical activity allowed during school days, and physical educa-
tion is generally timetabled no more than once a week. Surveys of the
quality of preschool and day care environments in seven countries of
the Caribbean found that in 5 countries, space was inadequate for gross
motor play in more than a third of the environments, and gross motor
equipment was inadequate in two thirds (14). Communities are increas-
ingly unsafe places for children’s play and new housing schemes in ur-
ban areas are built without play areas (13).

«­»

Some questions arising for further discussion from Section 3:

1. What are the implications of commonly late starts to antenatal care

for low birth weights, under-nutrition, maternal care, engagement
of new fathers, etc.
2. What are the factors contributing to the persistent incidence of
teenage pregnancies despite reproductive health education, school
guidance, public education, etc.
3. What supports are in place/should be in place to ameliorate the
early developmental risks to children of teenage mothers?
4. What are the Caribbean responses to rising HIV/AIDS statistics,
especially as they concern young children either affected or in-
fected?
5. What are factors resisting breastfeeding for the recommended
length of time? Are there lessons to learn from any countries that
have reversed this trend? Do the baby-friendly hospitals see posi-
tive effects on longer breastfeeding?
6. What are the factors that underlie the persistent gender differentials
in children presenting health concerns to clinics/hospitals (virtually
all indicators are higher for boys than girls)? Is this a common pic-
ture throughout the Caribbean, elsewhere?
7. Are there specific health and nutrition concerns that call for atten-
tion more than others, e.g. high levels of anaemia, asthma, hearing
impairment, poor dental health, obesity, vitamin A deficiency?

56
Section 3: References

(1) UNICEF HQ statistics re World Summit Goals:

www.unicef.org
(2) Children’s Issues Coalition: Caribbean Childhoods: Docu-
menting the Realities in Jamaica. Marina Ramkissoon, A
literature review; section on health and nutrition, review
of 84 studies/reports relevant to Jamaican children
(unpublished; individual studies on CCDC website:
http://uwi.edu/ccdc/index.htm)
(3) Anderson, P. Youth Unemployment. Paper presented to the
Seminar hosted by the Planning Institute of Jamaica,
Breaking the Cycle: The Intergenerational Transmission of
Poverty in Jamaica, April 21, 2005, Kingston
(4) Planning Institute of Jamaica (2003) The Jamaican Child 2002,
A report of the Social Indicators Monitoring System.
(5) Nutrition, Health and Child Development: Research Ad
vances and
Policy Recommendations, PAHO, TMRU (UWI) and
World Bank, 1998: (references 6, 7, 8 are chapters)
(6) Activity Levels and Maternal-Child Behavior in Undernutri-
tion: Studies in Jamaica (Meeks Gardner and Grantham-
McGregor)
(7) Early Childhood Supplementation and Cognitive Develop-
ment, During and After Intervention (Walker, Powell,
Grantham-McGregor)
(8) Integrating early stimulation into primary health care services
for undernourished Jamaican children: a randomised con-
trolled trial. Powell, C., Baker-Henningham, H., Walker,
S., Gernay, J., Grantham-McGregor, S. (2004)
(9) Samms-Vaughan, M. 2001, The Profiles Project, Report No.1,
A profile of the status of Jamaican preschool children and
their learning environments. Department of Child Health
with Caribbean Child Development Centre, UWI: Mona
[Published report 2004, Planning Institute of Jamaica]

57
10) Gordon, G., Johnson, P., Morris, A. and Henry, F. (2002)
Iron and Vitamin A status in Five Caribbean Countries,
in Micro-nutrient deficiencies in the Caribbean in Ca-
janus, Vol 35 No.1, The Caribbean Food and Nutrition
Institute Quarterly
(11) Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) (2000)
Nyam News: The Silent Public Health Problem, CFNI,
Mona Campus, University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
(12) Henry, F. (2004) The Obesity Epidemic – a major threat to
Caribbean development: the case for public policies in
obesity, Cajanus, Vol 37 No.1, The Caribbean Food and
Nutrition Institute Quarterly
(13) De Onis, M and Blussner, M (2000) Prevalence and trends
of overweight among preschool children in developing
countries, American Medical Journal of Clinical Nutri-
tion, Vol.72, No.4, 1032-1039
(14) Williams, S. National surveys of the quality of learning envi-
ronments in early childhood centres (ECEs); see full list
in Section 1 References.

58
 SECTION 4: DISCIPLINE PRACTICES

From the earliest writings on Caribbean child-rearing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5),

harsh and authoritarian types of discipline have been described as
commonplace; “beatings” (with hand, belt or instrument) are in fact
defended as essential tools of the responsible parent throughout the
Caribbean. Arnold (6) described in 1982 the debate in the literature
as to the origins of such harsh treatment of children—whether these
behaviours were dictated by African retentions or the treatment

59
modelled within the conditions of slavery. Whatever the origins,
physical punishment remains as a frequently employed method of
parental control of even very young children, with a third rationale
put forward more recently—as an outcome of parental stress within
difficult economic and social conditions.

Much of the literature on Caribbean disciplinary practices has been

descriptive or impressionistic, without hard data achieved by more
rigorous examination. There are a few studies, however, which
have more specifically advanced our understanding of how and why
parents and other primary caregivers attempt to achieve child out-
come objectives via disciplinary measures. Most deal with corporal
punishment, meted out by parents, caregivers and teachers. A few
describe other measures used to discipline children.

Roopnarine (20), citing Leo-Rhynie, suggests that parenting styles

among African Caribbean parents are a “mixture of punitive control
and indulgence and protectiveness” but varying to some extent
among the social classes, with the harshest authoritarian parenting
occurring among the lower classes while middle-class parents mix
this with a more authoritative parenting style. He states that, like
other societies based on traditional gender ideologies, Caribbean
parents seek obedience, compliance and respectful behaviour from
their children in relation to adults, even when unrealistic for age and
circumstance. He cites a recent Guyana study (Wilson 2003) in
which adults chose obedience as the “most desirable socialisation
orientation for 10 – 16 year olds”.

Payne (7) in reviewing available studies between 1949 and 1981

states that corporal punishment was most regularly used for inap-
propriate requests for food, fighting, disobedience, breaking things
(even accidentally) and taking too long to complete tasks. In her
Barbados survey of 499 parents/primary caregivers, Payne found
just over 70% of respondents “generally approved” of corporal
punishment and most of the rest felt it necessary “occasionally”; less
than 4% of the total thought such physical punishment should
never be used. A Jamaican study confirmed these findings with

60
parents/caregivers of even very young children: 79% of adult re-
spondents reported “sometimes” beating their children ages 31 to
60 months old with a belt or stick (8).

The Barbados study detailed the types of offenses which call for
different forms of physical punishment. The most frequently
cited offenses calling for such punishment were (a) disrespect
shown to parents and elders, (b) dishonesty and lying, and (c) gen-
eral disobedience. Payne noted that the majority of respondents
frowned on excessive use (e.g. which cut the skin or left scars),
and that there seemed to be evidence of some changing attitudes, par-
ticularly among younger parents, in the direction of reduced use of cor-
poral punishment, particularly by anyone other than family mem-
bers, or for poor performance at school and a “new concern with its
deleterious effects on intellectual curiosity, creativity and independence of
mind”. Occupational status and religious affiliation did not yield
any significant group differences; it is particularly interesting that
there were no significant class differences in attitudes towards cor-
poral punishment. The support is widespread, underpinned by
belief in its fundamental benefit in both the short and long term
and the author concludes that “to some extent this stems from
lack of confidence in alternatives”.

A possible avenue for intervention, the study suggested, would be

to feedback findings of surveys such as this into the community,
to explain and demonstrate alternatives and to secure cooperation
and provide support in using them for a defined period. The au-
thor suggests than another area for further investigation is the
finding that women are more likely than men “to highlight prob-
lems associated with children becoming hardened to corporal
punishment and/or subsequently unwilling or unable to respond
to other forms of discipline (presumably reflecting the fact that
women shoulder most of the responsibility for childcare and train-
ing)”. The problem of parental stress and its effects on child de-
velopment outcomes was demonstrated in the Profiles Project (9).

«­»

61
One of the few studies that examined the psychological effects of
corporal punishment on children was conducted in St. Kitts as a
part of a larger anthropological study begun in the mid 1980’s (10).
The research team had examined the relationship between corporal
punishment and children’s feelings of parental rejection, and how
these played out in terms of their psychological adjustment. The
choice of a Caribbean country was deliberate, knowing that the
Caribbean generally sanctions corporal punishment as a parental
obligation and demonstration of “true love” for the child. They
were particularly interested to know whether children’s own accep-
tance of this wide cultural belief would mediate their perceptions of
parental rejection when such punishment was used with them.
Child and adult self-reports provided a baseline for this study of
300 children ages 9 to 16; in addition 100 children and one of their
parents/primary care-givers were interviewed for approximately
one hour. These tools were imbedded within the larger ethno-
graphic observations. Some of the findings included the following:

▪ Younger children were beaten more than older children

▪ Boys were beaten (a little) more than girls
▪ Boys were beaten more severely than girls
▪ The punishment was somewhat less harsh in the upper classes.
▪ Virtually all children interviewed accepted corporal punish-
ment as necessary and positive for their development (and as
expressing parental love). These beliefs about corporal punish-
ment, however, did not have any significant effect on their
perceptions of parental rejection or their psychological adjust-
ment.
▪ Children DO perceive physical punishment as rejection. At low levels,
physical punishment is not associated with serious adjustment
problems. But as severity increases, so does the severity of
adjustment problems.
▪ There is a similar correlation between children’s perception of
parental rejection; the greater the sense of rejection, the more impaired
is the psychological adjustment.
▪ While 7-10% of children in the U.S. typically report them-
selves to be rejected, 15% of Kittitian children experience

62
 significantly more caretaker rejection than acceptance, and
25% experience significant elements of love withdrawal.

The report posits in closing:

“[A] dilemma [for practitioners in multicultural settings] is to bal-
ance respect for cultural diversity with the need to encourage parents
to change behaviour management and other socialization procedures
when empirical evidence shows those procedures to have deleterious
long-term developmental consequences. A focus on practices that has
been shown to be implicated in poor adjustment in many socio-
cultural contexts could help professionals transcend their own unfa-
miliarity with minority populations. To the extent that cultural
ideals for personal psychological adjustment in these populations
correspond roughly to the indicators of adjustment employed here,
encouraging parents to abandon culturally condoned practices such
as frequent and severe physical punishment seems responsible and
yet not culturally insensitive”.

«­»

Another Barbados study (11) that is equally informing examined

a wide range of child rearing attitudes, using a modified question-
naire (parental self-report) developed in the North American
context. The authors caution the reader to note that the sample
was somewhat skewed to literate respondents, that self-reports
can always be challenged in terms of what parents think they
should do rather than what they actually do, and that the instru-
ment may not have been a totally comfortable cultural “fit”.
However, the authors feel confidence in the fact that this ex-
ploratory study points out some clear directions for further in-
depth investigations.

The adapted Block Child Rearing Practices Report grouped re-

sponses from the 628 parents completing the self-reports into
two major sub-groups of factors: four factors which indicated
parental nurturance and five which indicated parental restrictive-
ness. Nurturant factors included practices indicating positive

63
parent-child interaction, parental encouragement of a child’s intel-
lectual curiosity and reflectiveness as well as their approval of chil-
dren’s emotional expression, and disciplinary approaches based
more in positive expectations than punitive measures for misde-
meanors.

Restrictive factors included such parental behaviours as controlling

children’s behaviour through guilt or anxiety or by threats, suppres-
sion of children’s feelings, authoritarianism and concern for socio-
cultural conformity, insistence that children not challenge parental
decisions, and concern for making good impressions on others.

In this Barbados population it was found that:

▪ Mothers show greater encouragement of emotional expression

and use more trust and praise to encourage behaviour than do
fathers; there were no sex differences on the restrictive sub-
scales.
▪ Respondents in the highest socio-economic group (roughly
grouped by occupations) claimed greater physical involvement
with their children, gave higher scores on intellectual nurtur-
ance, and scored lower on restrictive sub-scales except for
socio-cultural conformity than the two other lower socio-
economic groups (manual and unemployed).
▪ Manual worker respondents scored lower on emotional nurtur-
ance than the other two groups. It should be noted that the
“unemployed” category included housewives who were not
seeking work.
▪ Barbadian parents generally were readier to endorse physical
and emotional nurturant practices than to encourage intellec-
tual curiosity and creativity. The authors see this attitude work-
ing paradoxically against parents’ strong desire for academic
achievement in their children.

The authors’ concluding observations include the following state-

ment, which is echoed throughout all the discipline reports on Car-
ibbean populations reviewed for this paper:

64
 “Many Barbadians continue to adopt training techniques that con-
centrate on the expression of disapproval of undesired behavior to the
relative detriment of praise and reward for acceptable behavior and
effort”.

«­»

A 1998 report on a questionnaire administered to teachers and

parents of preschool populations in Jamaica (12) also sought to
get at the values underlying traditional parenting practices and
how these relate to those of teachers who engage with the same
children. Traditional practices in Jamaica “continue to exert pow-
erful influences on current child rearing practices. Such traits as
obedience, respect for elders, and sharing are highly prized in chil-
dren. Beginning early in childhood, parents expect children to do
what they are told. Spanking and threatening to withdraw love are
common disciplinary techniques cited in the Jamaican child-
rearing literature.” Obedience is also a general expectation within
the school setting, in which children are expected to follow rules
and wait their turn for most of the school day. However, these
attitudes are accompanied by a strong belief in showing love to
their children; in fact, corporal punishment (as in other reports) is
said to demonstrate parental love and concern.

The questionnaire adapted three instruments used in North Amer-

ica for the Jamaican context, and measured attitudes to traditional
child-rearing practices, parental intrusiveness (the degree to which
parents thought it important to be involved in the details of their
child’s thoughts and activities), and nurturant attitudes. Some of
the key results are as follows:

▪ There were positive associations among traditional attitudes,

valuing of rule-conformity, and intrusiveness.
▪ Valuing inquisitiveness in children was negatively associated
with intrusiveness.

65
 ▪ Nurturance was not correlated with any of the other sub-
scales.
▪ Higher education did not equate with higher nurturant
scores.
▪ There were no significant mother-teacher differences when
examining measures of either traditional child rearing ideas
or nurturance.
▪ Teachers did value inquisitiveness more than rule-
conformity, but most mothers did not weigh the two goals
differently.
▪ Higher education in both teachers and mothers did point to
a lessening hold of traditional values by placing a higher
value on inquisitiveness and autonomy in children, which is
consistent with studies in other parts of the world. The au-
thors speculate that teacher training has influenced this di-
rection towards more democratic ideals.
▪ Cautions about generalizing to the wider Jamaican society
were noted in terms of representativeness of sample, the
self-reporting nature of the questionnaire and the young age
of the children.

«­»

Another school-based study (13) showed how deeply imbedded

is the sanctioning of corporal punishment. It was carried out by
conducting a questionnaire survey among elementary school stu-
dents across the geographic spectrum of Barbados. It was not
representative of the total age group of 10-11 year olds, however,
as the top academic stream was used to ensure capacity for self-
administration of the questionnaire. Three-quarters of these stu-
dents generally approved use of such punishment within the
school at their age level; they thought it less appropriate for
younger children and for secondary students. While one-third
thought it was used “too often” in school, approximately half
thought the current practices were “about right”. In terms of
incidence, only 6.6% of the total population surveyed (125 boys

66
and 165 girls) had never been flogged/caned in school; a slightly
higher percentage (15.9%) reported never being flogged at home.

There was a pervasive belief among these students that discipline

could not be maintained within the school setting without corporal
punishment, although there were mediating conditions noted:

▪ The majority of students approved caning/flogging by all

teachers rather than the legally prescribed head teacher or des-
ignated senior teacher; this seemed to be related to the belief
that the head teachers were “too hard” on them.
▪ Some reasons for flogging were more acceptable than others;
it was strongly approved for such infractions as cursing and
bad language, being rude and unmannerly to teachers, fighting
and stealing and not doing homework, and less supported for
infractions such as not paying attention in class or not com-
pleting class work, doing badly in exams or arriving late to
school.
▪ Boys reported more frequent floggings than girls but the dif-
ferences were not significant.

The authors tentatively suggest that the lower incidence of flogging

at home than at school may indicate changing attitudes of parents
to corporal punishment, which is frequently debated in public fora.
They also speculate that a survey among children in the lower aca-
demic streams might produce different (and probably lower) levels
of support for corporal punishment based on the premise that chil-
dren who are achieving less well may be more frequent recipients
of the practice, and because the children surveyed believed that the
practice deterred well-behaved children more effectively than re-
forming those who misbehave. They noted that there were few
alternatives suggested when students were asked what the best
punishments for their age group would be apart from flogging/
caning; detention, standing in uncomfortable positions and
“writing lines” were the only suggestions recommended by more
than just a few children.
A general lack of knowledge on the part of students, parents and
teachers of effective alternatives to corporal punishment was
noted here (as in other reports reviewed); the authors reported
that a few head teachers in Barbados have abolished corporal pun-
ishment altogether in their schools despite the prevailing climate
of support for it, but with mixed results. It was noted that when
staff are not supportive of this change, or sufficiently prepared for
it, other undesirable strategies such as verbal ridicule may be em-
ployed.

«­»

There is little information available on the extent of disciplinary

measures used for Caribbean children under age six. The Profiles
Project (reported in section 1 above) provided the first report of
parental use of corporal punishment in a representative national
sample of pre-school children. Responses were obtained from 193
parents to questionnaires about the disciplinary methods used in
their homes (14). The instrument used was a parental self report
using a classification system of the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics
Scale, the most commonly used international instrument to meas-
ure parental disciplinary practices. Modifications were made to
add categories unique to Jamaica: e.g. “giving a look”, spiting
(withholding love or goods to punish), “undressing to under-
wear” (humiliation, to keep inside), holding uncomfortable posi-
tions, and threatening that someone will take them away
(policemen, authority figure). The respondents were 71% moth-
ers, 6.4% fathers, 10.4% grandparents (mostly grandmother) in
11.5% others, chiefly females.

The type of discipline used for small children did not vary by so-
cial class, suggesting that differences in educational attainment and
parent stress were not important in determining methods of disci-
pline.

▪ 28% reported corrective methods such as explaining, coun-

 selling, time-out or isolation were most commonly used (non-
violent methods)
▪ 25.4% reported shouting or scolding, threats (psychological
aggression)
▪ 46.6% reported spanking and beating (physical assault)

Although the commonest method of discipline was the third one,

physical assault, all the actual measures described but one were in
the minor assault category, only one was in the severe assault cate-
gory (tying a child’s hand behind his back), and none in the very se-
vere assault category. However, parents are less likely to report se-
vere methods of discipline used, possibly underestimating this com-
ponent. Compared with a previous study (8) the use of corporal
punishment appears to have decreased over time. However, the
extent and frequency of corporal punishment use in the home re-
mains unacceptably high given the known consequences. In Ja-
maica, children are loved and desired by their parents and the soci-
ety, but parents also hold in high regard a well-behaved child, and
feel that they have failed in parenting when their children misbehave
(4). This occurs whether children are boys or girls.

Psychological aggression, experienced by at least two-thirds of chil-

dren in a week in the form of shouting or scolding, is not without
consequences. It has been suggested that threatening punishment
has its own negative psychological consequences (14) but when
combined with physical punishment is the worse combination of
child abuse and neglect (17). Other forms of psychological aggres-
sion can be expected to have their own negative psychological con-
sequences, such as impairment of self-esteem.

Ricketts and Anderson (18) found that younger children experience

more corporal punishment than older children. In a recent summary
of the data on corporal punishment at home and at school from
Jamaica’s cohort study, it is clear that harsh physical discipline con-
tinues from the preschool years into the primary school period,
both at home and at school (15) . Although the large sample of
cohort children (1720) was between ages 11 and 12, the children
were reporting lifetime experiences as well as those experienced in
the past four weeks: “Overall, 97.2% of Jamaican children reported a
lifetime experience of verbal aggression or violence resulting from a conflict with
adults within their home; 82.3% reported verbal aggression, 87.4% minor
violence and 84.8% severe violence”.

Boys and girls experienced these events equally. “Disobedience was

the main cause of conflict, reported by 73.5% of all children. Lying, answering
back, fighting, and poor school-work accounted for 21%, 20.7%, 17.9% and
11.0% of conflicts respectively. Arguments with siblings accounted for 2.9% of
conflicts.” Almost three-quarters of the children reported that their
mothers were the ones responsible for administering discipline.

The same study reports 86.2% of the children experiencing verbal

or physical violence at school, with boys in this setting experienc-
ing more such treatment than girls. Disturbing the class (46.9%),
disobedience (33.1%, poor school work/no homework (26.4%)
were the primary reasons given. Samms-Vaughan posits that, as
shown in other studies, “teachers administer corporal punishment
in schools with the knowledge that parents would have behaved
similarly had they been present”. In schools with children from
higher SES, verbal aggression is used more than physical, again
likely reflecting the practices within higher SES homes.

The benefits and consequences of corporal punishment have been

well identified elsewhere, and were recently reviewed by Gershoff
(16) who examined 88 studies concerned with corporal punishment
of children conducted over a period of 62 years. While corporal
punishment allows immediate cessation of an unwanted behaviour,
it does not allow the development of moral reasoning. The long-
term goal of parents is that children continue to comply in the fu-
ture and in their absence, i.e. to internalize moral norms and social
rules. Gershoff found corporal punishment to be associated over-
all with decreases in children’s moral internalization, operationalised
as their long-term compliance, their feelings of guilt following
misbehaviour, and their tendencies to make reparations upon
harming others.

There is a strong association between parental corporal punish-

ment and parental physical abuse of these same children, confirm-
ing fears of many researchers that corporal punishment and physi-
cal abuse are closely linked. The consequences of corporal pun-
ishment are myriad and include aggressive and violent behaviour
in childhood and adulthood; anti-social, delinquent and criminal
behaviour; depression and poor self-esteem; an impaired parent-
child relationship; and involvement in domestic violence and
physical abuse of children as adults.

However, Gershoff also summarises what cannot be concluded

from these studies:
▪ Most of these studies are correlational—showing associations
between variables. They cannot be used to claim direct cau-
sation. Thus such factors as child behaviours/temperaments
that may elicit more corporal punishment, or the effects of
parental inconsistent discipline may contribute to causation
of such adult outcomes such as adult aggression, criminality,
mental health problems, abuse of one’s own children.
▪ The results of these studies cannot be applied to other disci-
plinary methods, such as time-out or withdrawal of privileges.
Effective parenting includes firm and consistent punishment
for misbehaviours, and thus the results of these analyses
should not be construed as suggesting that parents should
refrain from all forms of punishment. Indeed, a permissive
parenting style devoid of any punishments is likely to in-
crease, not decrease, children’s noncompliant and antisocial
behaviours.

Further research into parental and child factors associated with

corporal punishment and the consequences of its use in the Carib-
bean are necessary to develop more targeted intervention strate-
gies.

71
Some questions arising for further discussion in Section 4:

1. Are discipline practices changing within the Caribbean? Are

there age or gender differences (in parents or children) in these
practices?
2. Do we have hard evidence of the impact of degrees of physical
punishment (or any other forms of punishment) on Caribbean
children? In the home? In school settings?
3. What are the social/cultural factors most resistant to adopting
less harsh discipline practices?
4. How do children perceive the discipline they receive?

Section 4: References
(1) Clarke, E. (1957) My Mother Who Fathered Me. George Allen
and Unwin Ltd.
(2) Cohen, Y. (1955) Character formation and social structure in a
Jamaican community. Journal for the Study of Interper-
sonal Processes, # 18
(3) Grant, D. R. B. (1980) Life Style Study: Children of the Lesser
World in the English Speaking Caribbean. The Bernard
van Leer Foundation, Project for Early Childhood Educa-
tion.
(4) Evans, H. (1989) Perspectives on the Socialisation of the
Working Class Jamaican Child, Social and Economic Stud-
ies Vol 38, #3
(5) Leo-Rhynie, E. (1993) The Jamaican Family: Continuity and
Change, Grace Kennedy Foundation Lecture
(6) Arnold, E. (1982) The Use of Corporal Punishment in Child
Rearing in the West Indies, in Child Abuse and Neglect,
Vol. 6
(7) Payne, M. (1989) Use and Abuse of Corporal Punishment: A
Caribbean View, in Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol. 13, pp
389-401
(8) Grantham-McGregor, S, Landman, J and Desai, P (1983), Child
rearing in poor urban Jamaica, in Child: care, health and
development, 1983, 9, 57-71.

72
(9) Samms-Vaughan, M. (2004) Profiles: The Jamaican Pre-
school Child: The status of early childhood develop-
ment in Jamaica Planning Institute of Jamaica
(10) Rohner, R, Kean, K and Cournoyer, D. (1991) Effects of
Corporal Punishment, Perceived Caretaker Warmth, and
Cultural Beliefs on the Psychological Adjustment of
Children in St. Kitts, West Indies. Journal of Marriage
and the Family, 53, August, 681-693.
(11) Payne, M. and Furnham, A. (1992) Parental Self-reports of
Child Rearing Practices in the Caribbean. The Journal
of Black Psychology, Vol. 18, No. 2
(12) Morrison, J., Ispa, J. and Milner, V. (1998) Ideas about
Child Rearing among Jamaican Mothers and Early
Childhood Education Teachers. Journal of Research in
Childhood Education, Vol. 12, No. 2, 166-175
(13) Anderson, S and Payne, M.(1994) Corporal Punishment in
Elementary Education: Views of Barbadian School
Children, in Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol 18, No. 4
(14) Samms-Vaughan, M., Williams, S., Brown, J. (2005) Disci-
plinary Practices among Parents of Six Year Olds in Ja-
maica in Caribbean Childhoods: Journal of the Chil-
dren’s Issues Coalition, Vol. 2
(15) Samms-Vaughan, M. (2005) A Comprehensive Analysis of
Jamaican Children’s Exposure to Violence at 11 – 12
Years. PAHO.
(16) Gershoff, E. (2002), Corporal Punishment by Parents and
Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A Meta-
Analytic and Theoretical Review. Psychological Bulletin,
Vol. 128, No. 4
(17) Vissing, Y. Straus,M., Gelles, R. and Harrop, J. Verbal
aggression by parents and psychological problems of
children. Child Abuse and Neglect 15 (1991) pp. 223-
238.
(18) Ricketts, H. and Anderson, P. (2005) Executive Summary
of Parenting in Jamaica: A Study conducted on behalf
of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (to be published)

73
 SECTION 5: VULNERABLE CHILDREN

The description ‘ vulnerable’ has been used in the region to de-

scribe displaced and immigrant children, including illegal immi-
grants; indigenous children; minority populations; children with
special needs; children living in geographically remote areas; chil-
dren affected/infected by HIV/AIDS and children affected by vio-
lence. In this section, the review has had access mainly to studies
undertaken in Jamaica; we have yet to source research studies in
this broad area from elsewhere in the Caribbean. The ChIC data
bank on children at risk in Jamaica (1) dealt with data about inci-
dence of poverty among children, and examined studies related to
children and violence (their exposure to and as victims of) in home,
school and community settings, as well as incidence of types of

74
child abuse. Another ChIC data bank segment dealt with the vul-
nerabilities consequent on various physical and cognitive disabilities.
Since the ChIC work was undertaken, work has been developing
on the ways in which very young children are affected by HIV/
AIDS.

Poverty
We need only to re-state here that conditions of poverty in which
15 - 40% of Caribbean children live, increase their vulnerability on
many fronts, as they are more likely to live in single parent or sur-
rogate parent households, overcrowded conditions, within violent
communities served by poor preschool and other social and edu-
cational services, and to experience greater health and environ-
mental risks, eventually repeating the cycle of poverty through
child-bearing. A few relevant studies citing characteristics of pov-
erty as factors influencing childrearing have been identified in the
preceding sections.

Studies in the developed world have shown that early interven-

tions can have measurably greater benefits for poorer children.
We do not have studies that demonstrate this comparison in the
Caribbean.

Child abuse
A review of 70 research studies and reports supported by inter-
views with 50 persons and agencies in Jamaica (2) on the inci-
dence of sexual violence and abuse of children was undertaken in
1999. The pervasive nature of child abuse in the Jamaican society
at all levels is depicted, and a connection made between the early
experience of child sexual abuse and the completion of a journey
that leads to commercial sex and other exploitative experiences in
later life.

Sexual violence towards children has been defined by Samms-

Vaughan (3) as “any interaction between a child and an adult in
which the child is used for the sexual gratification of the adult, or

75
another”. Forms of sexual violence which are common and for
which data has been collected in Jamaica include bribery for sexual
favours, fondling, attempted sexual intercourse or completed sex-
ual intercourse. These forms constitute abuse which can be physi-
cal or emotional in impact, or both.

Amongst the risk factors which are identified as promoting general

child abuse of young children within the family are specific factors
which have emerged in cases of sexual abuse. Whilst it is not pos-
sible to estimate the extent to which these factors are present in
every case, they are sufficiently numerous to be familiar to both
health and social work agencies working with children. They in-
clude:
▪ the man who perpetrates sexual abuse with a young virgin in
the belief that this will purge him of sexually transmitted dis-
ease (this practice predates AIDS);
▪ the father who believes that it is his obligation to introduce his
girl child to sexual activity rather than another man;
▪ the mother who has formed a union with a man who is not
the biological father of her girl child;
▪ the child who has been “shifted” to live with a grandparent or
other relative in order to avoid the stresses of a new step-
parenting relationship, and/or to reduce the burdens of child
care on a single mother, to facilitate migration or to provide
companionship or household labour for an older relative (2,
citing interview with Samms-Vaughan).

Professionals working with children who have been sexually

abused look for these characteristics in a child’s life and question:
▪ Is the child often being left with adults that she does not know?
▪ Does the family seem to gather “aunts” and “uncles” with whom the child
appears uncomfortable?
▪ Is the child quiet in their presence although, when questioned, defensive
about them?
▪ Is the child aware that incest is wrong or has she not (yet) been exposed
to the peer group conversations with other girls who are fortunate enough

76
 to determine the timing and the companion for their first sexual ex-
perience?
▪ Is it a revelation to the child to learn that adult males do not have a
right of access to her body?
▪ Is the child’s wider community unforthcoming or contradictory in its
messages on the issue?
▪ Do we as adults make it possible for children to tell us what is happen-
ing to them? Do we believe what children tell us?
▪ Do we anticipate that children can be caught up in an enclosed inner
world of myth and superstition, believing that there is no alternative?

It is extremely difficult to identify a range of characteristics re-

lated to the incidence of sexual abuse for boys. The view has
been expressed by many of those interviewed that boys are under
greater social pressure to deny the reality of abuse. One common risk
factor identified is the presence of young female “helpers” (or
maids) in the home, women who molest young boys in experi-
ences that terrify them. A common form of denial of this form
of abuse and its terrors is for young boys to boast about the ex-
perience in school the next day (2). Homosexual encounters are
simply not reported. The society is intolerant of homosexuality
at any age, even in the case of an exploitative experience by a
boy child. No one, not the perpetrator nor the child, wants to be
called a “battyman”.

As for children fabricating stories of sexual encounters, it is esti-

mated that less than 5% will create such stories , and these are
usually set up for the child by a parent in a custody battle (2,
citing Samms-Vaughan).

«­»

In a study (3) of the experiences of childhood of a group of

young women of child bearing age attending three well-baby
clinics in Kingston, women were asked if they could recall ex-
periences of childhood physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual
abuse and emotional and physical neglect. Questions on child-

77
hood sexual experiences were limited to those perpetrated by an
adult within the child’s home. Sexual abuse was determined by the
presence of any of the four forms of sexual abuse; 6.4% of
women reported being fondled, 5.8% reported attempted forceful
sexual intercourse, 3.8% had attempts at sexual intercourse by
bribery, and 0.6% had completed sexual intercourse.

Child abuse in all its forms was shown to be prevalent in Jamaica,

affecting more than two-thirds of the female population, in con-
trast to the numbers reported. "Yet over the 18 month period,
July 1991 to December 1992, only 658 cases of child abuse were
reported island-wide among the childhood population of 800,000.
The majority of these cases (84%) were reported in females.
Among females, 14% of the abuse was physical, with 86% sex-
ual.” (3) The study’s authors recognise that a significant limitation
of the study was its inability to report on the experiences of boys.
However “Low reported cases of abuse among males is not felt to
be due to low prevalence, but rather to a reduced ability to iden-
tify abuse, particularly sexual abuse, in boys”. The pervasive na-
ture of child abuse in the Jamaican society is shown in this study,
reflecting high levels of all forms of abuse in this “relatively so-
cially advantaged population of Jamaican women” in a clinical
sample. "This points to the importance of the use of non-clinical
samples in future to identify the more widespread nature of abu-
sive experiences of children”.

«­»

The accumulation of local child abuse records, and details about

the perpetrators of this type of violence began in a structured way
in Jamaica in July 1991. Dr. Milbourne’s analysis of the results of
data collection between July 1991 and December 1995 (4) is im-
portant for two reasons: first, because it is the only data we have
to contextualise the incidence of sexual violence against children
in the country and secondly, because since 1995 the system of
data collection across agencies has broken down. During the re-

78
porting period, data were collected from 2,227 abused children and
adolescents, 64% of whom were between the ages of 5 and 14
years. 79% of the child victims were female and 21% were male.
55% of the reported cases were children who had been sexually
abused; only 5% of these 1228 children were boys.

The majority of girls in Milbourne’s data were sexually abused

(76%) compared to a minority of the boys (16%). However, this
figure of 16% is significant even with gross under reporting. “We
are aware that caregivers are reluctant to bring these little boys for-
ward, fearing that they will be identified as homosexuals and leav-
ing them open to the risk of continued abuse and infection from
sexually transmitted disease”(4). Almost half of the boys were be-
tween the ages of 5 and 9 years, whereas less than a third of the
girls were in the same age range. Sexual abuse of boys emerged as a
phenomenon amongst pre-pubescent children, in contrast with the
prevalence of sexual abuse amongst girls in adolescence. Both Mil-
bourne and Samms-Vaughan identify the double bind for boys:
reporting sexual abuse exposes them potentially to greater risks
than non reporting; non-reporting renders their experience both
silent and invisible at a period in their early childhood when they
are least able to articulate their feelings or put any distance between
themselves and the perpetrators.

What of the perpetrators of sexual abuse? In the same study, “the

majority were male (82%) between the ages of 20 and 49 years and
were known to their victims”. More than this, the data “identify
males who are not related to their victims as the main perpetra-
tors”. Samms-Vaughan (3) identified that the majority of these per-
petrators had a history themselves of abuse and neglect. Since the
1986 case studies by Eldemire (8) on incest in Jamaica, there has
been almost no research attention given to this “iceberg”. At the
time that the data were collected, Dr. Milbourne noted the vigilant
role of the media in assisting the collaborating agencies to maintain
a focus on the experiences of the abused children and their fami-
lies.
«­»

79
Handwerker (22) examining violence as a property of social rela-
tionships more than of individual or social circumstances, posits
that the power-relationships between the partners strongly af-
fected the protection from or exposure to domestic violence for
the children within the family. Powerful women, the study de-
scribes, protect their children from violence, treating them affec-
tionately and eliciting affection for them from their men. “By
contrast, men battered powerless women, and the children of
powerless women. Powerless women battered their own chil-
dren”.

«­»

Amongst the long term effects of sexual abuse as children is the

loss of trust in others and the loss of sense of self. Children may
never have had the experience of trust in others or sense of self
at any time in their lives previous to being sexually abused. This
is particularly the case for boys, given the evidence of sexual
abuse before the age of 9 years and as young as 5. When such
losses (of trust, of sense of self) occur before or instead of identi-
fiable gains, this then is not the landscape of loss as such but
completely different territory.

One researcher (2) was struck by the efforts of persons inter-

viewed (in the study on sexual exploitation of children) to find a
different language for describing this territory that does not di-
minish its horror for those who know it intimately or overstate
its significance amongst other horrors. She was told the follow-
ing: “sexual exploitation isn’t seen as all that horrible”, “sex is the least of
the horrors that happens to children” and “who’s worried about sex and
AIDS when at any moment on any day your life can end at the hands of a
gun man or gun boy?"

“We don’t talk with children about our sexuality", Sarah Newland-
Martin stated in the same study. This point echoes the concern
expressed by Payne and Furnham (Section1) that many parents

80
seemed unwilling to admit having difficulty in this area and they
suggest that it is a crucial issue for further study(9). Two themes for
further research and understanding emerged from the interviews
conducted. One is the need to understand how children who have
been abused sexually see and experience their sexuality both now
and as they mature into adulthood. Another is the need to locate
that understanding within the specific experience of the Jamaican
[Caribbean] people, historically, economically, socially and culturally.

HIV/AIDS
In 2003, an assessment of children affected by HIV/AIDS was de-
signed as a pre-intervention community needs assessment in two
communities in Western Jamaica (5). The overall aim was to deter-
mine the current family and community support needs for children
affected by HIV/AIDS in the birth to eight years age group, both
met and unmet, ascertaining community preparedness or willingness
to engage in active responses to the growing presence of HIV/
AIDS. This was an exploratory cross - sectional qualitative design
assessment, using focus group discussions and key informant inter-
views. In total 12 focus groups and 12 key informant interviews
were conducted.

Fear and worry over the epidemic were expressed. Some partici-
pants were afraid of associating with persons living with AIDS for
fear of the community’s reaction. All the parents felt the need for
more information. They expressed that the lack of information
about the disease stops persons from getting involved in any aspect
of HIV/AIDS care and prevention. There was talk about child sex-
ual abuse and the vulnerability of children. Participants felt that
‘even in the household men do this to their children’. Most of the partici-
pants agreed that the school is the place to start. ‘Education is the key’.
It was felt that it is important to teach children the dangers and con-
sequences of getting involved sexually, so that they can better deal
with sex when they become adults.

81
Most of the professionals thought that infected children between
birth and 8 years were not really aware of the disease, but just
know that they are sick. Further, they do not usually get medica-
tion or proper nutrition and, for many, ‘the family gives up and in-
stead just saves for the funeral’. Among responses received was that
these children should be placed in a home. Some said that family
members should take care of them, whilst others felt that the
church could take responsibility. Only a few expressed that these
children should be accepted and treated like normal children.
The parents agreed that it is going to take time for the commu-
nity to accept the realities of this epidemic.

Teachers felt that the government should take responsibility for

these children when the parents are not capable. Some also felt
that members of the community should embrace the idea that “it
takes an entire village to care”. However, the professionals felt
that infected children generally get more sympathy than parents.
Most of the children, they feel, know where to turn in the com-
munity for help when they need something, especially the slightly
older ones. However, some believe that most of these children
are not in school and are kept at home. Since the family is not
sure how long life is for the children, they are not given educa-
tion nor the opportunity to have a normal life.

The professionals also stated that they knew of persons in the

community who would refuse to send their children to a school
where there is a child with HIV/AIDS. They stated that most
people feel a lot of fear and more information needs to be given.
Two spoke of instances in the community where there was dis-
crimination against the children infected with HIV/AIDS. Par-
ticipants were hesitant in answering the question, “would you
play with a child who is positive?” expressing fear and worry that
they could catch the virus by casual contact. Some of them felt
that doctors, government and communities should take responsi-
bility for infected children. There was general support for a pol-
icy at the national level and that all children get an education irre-

82
spective of their HIV status. Instances of children being turned
away from school because they are infected were shared.

Up to the present, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been largely seen

as an “adult” problem, sexually transmitted (primarily) and requir-
ing adult precautions and changed behaviours to arrest it. Yet
most adults who die of the disease leave children who are af-
fected, if not infected. The growing numbers of children or-
phaned by one or both parents is testimony to this fact.

Unfortunately there is generally scanty understanding of what

constitutes healthy child development, and particularly healthy
emotional development, among the Jamaican adult population.
This is even particularly so for those with limited education.
Children are seen as “resilient”, they can bounce back from
trauma, they can “tough it out” (as high levels of corporal punish-
ment seem to attest). When adults themselves are traumatized by
an HIV+ diagnosis, are in depression and anxiety about their own
future as well as the future of their children, their children’s needs-
-to understand what is going on, for reassurance, for participation
in solutions--are not always sufficiently considered.
How children face death—of a parent, of a sibling, or their own,
has not yet seriously exercised Jamaica as a nation, particularly in
relation to HIV/AIDS, and yet studies (6,7) point to the links be-
tween traumatic experiences of children and their levels of aggres-
sion, violence, depression, and even suicide. Stories from partici-
pants about children who are stigmatized because of the illness of
an adult family member, stood in stark contrast to the descriptions
of perceived needs of all children for love, acceptance, support,
especially those facing serious family illness and loss. The authors
(5) reflect:

“Perhaps assumptions about the “old-time” traditions of community

caring for orphans or children in dire need have defended many per-
sons against facing the sheer numbers of children who will eventually
be in need of such care as the epidemic proceeds. It may not be until

83
 the epidemic is seen as affecting everyone, as bringing grief and need
to every community, as eventually decimating the care systems, the
education systems, the economic capacity of the country to manage,
that children’s needs will become more central to the problem-solving
efforts and community and national responses. After all, it will be
those children in the long run who will have to deal with the devas-
tating fallout as the epidemic runs its course. But if we wait that
long, it will very likely be too late.”

The respondents in the needs assessment identified in their re-

sponses the profound gap between their desire to provide care
and their (felt) capacity to do so. The responses addressed in
greater detail their concerns about management of care than the
need to provide the highest quality early stimulation, learning and
development activities for children affected. Family members,
parents, care-givers and teachers alike were unanimous in feeling
overwhelmed, unprepared or untrained to assume responsibility
for care and education of children affected. In particular, family
members expressed that they had received no ongoing support
beyond the talks given by the nurses attending to them at the
clinics. They indicated that although they were given information
they were unsure of what to do when they went home.

Information is insufficient; there needs to be reliable, ongoing

support and services at community level. Parents need help to
access early learning services for their children and to gain confi-
dence in participating in their children’s learning. Little is known
about parenting practices in relation to children with HIV/AIDS;
this is an area for further study.

Exposure to Violence
Urban poverty, the menacingly growing drug trade and historical
politically motivated crimes have combined in many (primarily)
urban centres across the region, to expose children to high levels
of violence as well as engage them as victims and even perpetra-
tors of violence (10). In Jamaica, approximately 40% of murder
victims were between the ages of 13 and 25 in 1996; in 1999

84
youth under age 17 were responsible for 11% of all major crimes
and 10% of all murders (11). Several significant studies have been
conducted by UWI (Mona) on children and violence. One which
examined attitudes and experiences of secondary school students
ages 9 – 17 in relation to violence (12) raises implications for earlier
ages and circumstances in which such attitudes are formed:

▪ Behaviours classed as violence were verbal insults (36%), child

abuse (86%) and hurting someone in self-defense (38%).
▪ Hurting animals was acceptable, “normal”.
▪ Most children thought it wrong to hit, insult, verbally abuse or
push others out of anger, but the majority (75%) thought a
person unwilling to fight would be susceptible to teasing and
taunting.
▪ 50% of the students reported having been threatened with
physical violence and 22% had been victims of it.
▪ Only 28% of the student respondents within this representa-
tive sample of Kingston secondary schools believed their
neighbourhoods were “very safe”; 22% felt they were “a little
unsafe” while 14% described their neighbourhoods as “very
unsafe”.
▪ Males worried more about violence than females.

«­»

Younger children in another sub-study (13) of very poor children

ages 8-10 attending a UWI clinic were asked open-ended questions
about what happens at home, school and in specific problem situa-
tions, and about the social roles of significant individuals in their
lives. In addition to their verbal responses, their physiological re-
sponses (heart rate and salivary cortisol) were measured. The re-
sults showed high exposure levels to violence in all spheres of their
lives. 91% directly mentioned violent or aggressive responses to at
least one of the 12 questions, with peers, parents, teachers and
principals the perpetrators. Punishment at home and at school was
mostly physical. Low-socioeconomic status, harsh parental disci-
pline, large family arrangements, lack of supervision from parents,

85
marital instability/divorce and lack of parental warmth were iden-
tified as factors contributing to aggressive behaviour in children
(14). “Bullying” at home is often accompanied by bullying in
school and community environments, resulting in total “cultures
of violence” for many children.

One of the largest studies of family and school determinants of

aggression in children was conducted in Jamaica (14) using several
instruments to compare aggressive and prosocial boys in Grades 5
and 6 on a broad range of individual and family variables, and
seeking to find whether and how differences in school environ-
ments related to levels of aggression. The results have significant
implications:

▪ There were significant differences between the two groups in

terms of age, parental union status, socioeconomic status,
parents’ occupations and school uniform quality.
▪ Aggressive boys were older than pro-social boys.
▪ Fewer mothers of aggressive boys were married; aggressive
boys experienced less parental supervision.
▪ Parents of aggressive boys had lower-skill occupations and
lower housing quality.
▪ Aggressive children were more likely to have lower ambi-
tions, lower verbal IQ’s, and lower achievement scores; they
also produced more aggressive responses in their interpreta-
tions of peer situations.
▪ The study concluded with a list of risk factors that height-
ened the likelihood of belonging to the aggressive group: a
boy’s experience of and attitude to violence, degree of corpo-
ral punishment, crowding in the home, school achievement,
and school uniform (as a proxy of SES and parental interest).

Unfortunately, this major study tells us only about boys, only

about urban settings and only about children already in school,
begging questions that can only be answered by a similar study of
a more representative national sample, and one which examines

86
the risk factors for younger children within varied settings, thus
closer in age to the origins of aggressive patterns of behaviour.

Childhood Disabilities
Children with disabilities generally suffer more than just their dis-
abling condition. They are often neglected and stigmatized by
adults and children alike, are often socially isolated, seen more as
burdens than blessings to their families, and not uncommonly
abandoned to the care of the State. They are also under-studied
compared to “normal” children. The ChIC data base, however,
reviewed 38 studies/reports concerning children with visual, hear-
ing, physical or mental impairments, or combinations of these.
Two thirds of these were primarily the work of Dr. Marigold Thor-
burn alone or in concert with other colleagues. The full review
covers prevalence studies, prevention and risk factors, service
needs and services, issues related to screening, and community and
family based rehabilitation. For the purposes of this paper, we
look only at those studies that relate directly to or impinge on
child-rearing. One (15) surveyed supernatural beliefs about the
causes of disabling conditions; the majority of respondents were in
the 20-40 age range and from the teaching and health care profes-
sions. 46% of this stratified sample of 898 male and female re-
spondents in five age groups and 12 occupational groups agreed
with the statement “God gave us handicapped children to show our char-
ity”, and there was approximately 18% agreement of the sample
(more in youngest and oldest age groups) to the following:
▪ “A disabled child is a punishment for a sin”;
▪ “Some cases of disability are caused by evil spirits”;
▪ “If a pregnant woman sees a handicapped person her child will be dis-
abled”.

The implications for acceptance and for help-seeking by parents

when 22% of health workers agreed with these statements are obvi-
ous. These beliefs contribute to some parents hiding their children
and denying them access to either educational or rehabilitative ser-
vices.

87
 «­»

A major screening study conducted in Jamaica (and in nine other

countries)(16) used a simple identifying screening method for
mental retardation, and resulted in a further multi-country col-
laboration to develop low-cost instruments for detecting children
with disabilities and for assessing the impact of these disabilities
on their families (16). This major epidemiological study in Jamaica
surveyed 10,000 children ages 2 through 8 in Clarendon, Jamaica.
The details of this major study do not concern us here, but the
resultant prevalence of just under 10% for all degrees of disabili-
ties and 1.1% of severe disabilities is relevant, as these figures rep-
resent thousands of families which must deal with these realities.

A 2005 World Bank analysis of household surveys from nine de-

veloping countries including Jamaica found on average between 1
and 2 percent of the population with a disability. While not all
were poor, young persons with disabilities were substantially less
likely to start school, and many had lower transition rates resulting
in lower schooling attainment. The disability carried more weight
in school non-participation than gender, rural residence or SES.
(23)

«­»

An early review of assessment referrals of the Early Stimulation

Project in Jamaica (20) (geared primarily towards mental retarda-
tion) examined aetiology of the disabling conditions brought for
assessment. The results indicated a high percentage (up to 50%)
were of prenatal and perinatal origins, pointing to the need for
preventative measures.

In a study by Thorburn, Ford and Brown (17) physical disabilities

were the focus in children from birth through eight in Jamaica,

88
with overall prevalence estimated to be 9.4%. A section of this
study addressed the effects of prevailing cultural attitudes and child-
rearing practices on dealing with disabilities. The high cultural value
placed on physical appearance was seen as leading to negative prac-
tices and even abuse; in contrast, common early routines with in-
fants such as exercising, massaging and stretching muscles may in
fact be good therapy for children with motor impairments.

«­»

The section on community based rehabilitation (CBR) is relevant to

this review, as these programmes—the bulk of services offered in
the Caribbean for children with disabilities—rely heavily on training
parents and other home-based caregivers in basic home-care activi-
ties, and date back to the mid-70s. Few elements of these pro-
grammes have been thoroughly evaluated, although one assessment
of parents’ views of a CBR programme proved very positive and
many parents felt their knowledge and attitudes had changed for the
better as a result of their participation in the programme. However,
a 1999 Thorburn (18) study reports that 24% of children with dis-
abilities do not live with their mothers and higher percentages of
fathers were absent; there have been no specific studies on the
child-rearing practices of parents of children with disabilities.

«­»

In the ChIC review of research on childhood disabilities the recom-

mendation section pointed to the almost total absence of the
thoughts, feelings and attitudes of children themselves—either chil-
dren with disabilities or children about such children. There is also
very little work to date on how specific disabilities are perceived and
managed within family or community settings.

89
Some questions arising for further discussion from Section 5:

1. Do we need to undertake studies that can demonstrate the

benefits of early interventions with poorer children?
2. To what extent do cultural factors/mythologies influence inci-
dence of sexual abuse/exploitation of young children?
3. How are young boys and girls prepared/protected (or not)
against sexual exploitation?
4. How do children who have been abused sexually see and ex-
perience their sexuality both now and as they mature into
adulthood?
5. How do we locate our understanding of sexual abuse within
historical, economic, social and cultural contexts?
6. What are the Caribbean responses to rising HIV/AIDS statis-
tics, especially as they concern young children either affected
or infected (As noted in Health Section)?
7. How are our young children facing death? (of their parents/
friends/their own?)
8. How much are young children exposed to “bullying” within
preschool/school settings? How is bullying handled by school
authorities, parents?
9. Recent studies of children’s exposure/experiences of violence
have focused primarily on boys in urban settings; what do we
know of girls’ experiences? Of rural children’s experiences?
10. Can we relate child aggression to parenting behaviours/styles?
11. What myths/attitudes contribute to the stigmatization of chil-
dren with disabilities?
12. What prenatal preventive measures are/should be in place to
reduce the incidence of disabling conditions traced to prena-
tal/perinatal conditions/care?

What in fact do we know about the thoughts of

children in relation to any of the issues raised in
the sections of this paper?

90
 This next section is provided for the benefit of
research students and practitioners who have
interest in methodological design, and in
methods which have been tested within the
Caribbean in the area of child development
and child-rearing practices. Cautions about
cross-study validity and reliability are raised,
particularly in comparing across countries and
cultures. The final section of the Roopnarine

SECTION 6: METHODOLOGIES

In this section a selection of the methodologies for the research

studies conducted and described in the sections on the main find-
ings above are reviewed. In some cases the authors of research
studies have indicated the limitations of the methodologies used
and either explicitly or implicitly indicated the need for further
research using different methodologies, or a combination of ap-
proaches. In some cases, a particular instrument has been shown
to be valuable (perhaps as the only one of its kind) but to have
limited use as it has not been normed on a sufficiently large popu-
lation in one country in the region or in a number of countries.

Grantham-McGregor (1) et al used questionnaires and develop-

mental assessments in the 1983 study. A detailed, wide ranging
questionnaire originally designed in the UK (Tupling and Tillot
1972) was modified and expanded for the Jamaican study. “It was
designed to elicit responses about the social background of the
family, the children’s games, play materials, social contacts, the

91
mothers’ opinions about their children’s play, and other factors in
the child’s environment”. One interviewer administered the ques-
tionnaire with all parents. Most of the questions were open-ended.
The sample of children had their developmental levels assessed
with the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales for Young
Children (Griffiths 1970) using the following subgroups: hearing
and speech, hand and eye, performance and practical reasoning.
Although it was not possible to comment on the actual level of
the children’s development as the Griffiths was not standardized
or designed for Jamaica, the test had been standardized in the UK
so that groups of children obtained similar scores on each sub-
scale. Relatively low scores of the Jamaican children on the per-
formance subscale “may have been associated with the lack of im-
portance attached to play and toys”. The authors address the
heart of the problem of research into childrearing when they state:

“A major problem with mothers’ accounts of their behaviour

is that there may be an important gap between what they say
and what they actually do. Where possible, responses were
checked by direct observations, and questions were often
asked about the same topic in more than one way. How-
ever, we consider these responses are likely to reflect what
the mothers think about child rearing as much as their prac-
tices” (1983:67)

There is a need in the burgeoning projects aimed at improving

parenting practices and providing stimulation of children below
the age of three years for a tool that can screen and assess devel-
opmental progress of children. Evaluation of these project ap-
proaches is limited without such a tool.

«­»

Payne and Furnham (2) conclude that

“in societies where few, if any, systematic large-scale surveys of child
rearing beliefs have yet been conducted” the Block child rearing prac

92
 tices report has the potential to function usefully as a tool for exploratory research.
It cannot be used to provide a comprehensive and definitive picture of local paren-
tal attitudes or practices, but may serve to highlight issues which require more in-
depth investigation….While it may be worthwhile to try to develop indigenous
instruments of this kind, there also seems to be a place for experimenting with
those developed in major industrialized societies since the belief systems and life-
style aspirations characteristic of the latter are assuming prominence within many
developing countries” (1992:32)

The authors express cautious support for the assumption that parental re-
sponses to such instruments can be taken as a direct reflection of their actual
parenting practices. There would have been some limitations arising from
the fact that the instrument required the respondent to be able to read and
complete it alone if necessary; sometimes the instrument was left with the
parent and collected on completion 24 hours later. They also identify certain
items needing clarification and possibly re-construction, and point out that
more needs to be understood of the instrument’s psychometric properties.
They mention a critique of such instruments by Holden and Edwards (3)
that should be reviewed if this instrument and others like it are to be used.

«­»

Written questionnaires completed by parents were used in Payne’s study of

the use and abuse of corporal punishment (4). Respondents were asked
to list their perceptions of the possible advantages and/or disadvantages of
corporal punishment, and then to check whether they generally approved or
generally disapproved of its use by parents. There were extended questions
to be answered depending on initial responses given, and additional space
provided for recording further observations. The questionnaires were ad-
ministered by a team of fully briefed undergraduates from UWI and circu-
lated to respondents from both manual and non manual occupations. Ques-
tionnaires were left for completion and the requirements fully explained. In-
struments were completed anonymously and collected after a period of sev-
eral days, producing a 95% return rate. As with the previous study, (2) there
would have been some limitations arising from the fact that the instrument
required the respondent to be able to read and complete it autonomously.

«­»

93
Both adult and child self-reports provided a baseline for Rohner et al’s
study of 300 children ages 9 to 16 in St Kitts (5); in addition 100 children
and one of their parents/primary caregivers were interviewed for approxi-
mately one hour. The physical punishment questionnaire (PPQ) was
constructed and validated specifically for use in St. Kitts. It is a self report
measure of the frequency, severity and incidence (i.e. the number of times
children reported receiving specific forms of punishment in the last two
weeks) of seven major forms of physical punishment experienced by chil

dren there. These include spanking, slapping, cuffing, thumping, burning,

shoving and beating with an implement.

The PPQ also asks children to cite the principal reasons why their main
caretakers punish them. The most relevant scales for the research are the
frequency and severity scales to which the young people respond on a 4-
point Likert-like scale ranging from “very often/very hard” to “almost
never/not at all”. An earlier pilot study of the PPQ in St. Kitts showed the
scales to be reliable. The young peoples’ perceptions of caretaker accep-
tance/rejection were measured by the child version of the Parental Accep-
tance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) used in more than 80 countries
and the psychological adjustment of the young people was assessed by the
child version of the Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) (Rohner
1989). Both instruments were piloted in St. Kitts and deemed to be psycho-
metrically sound and appropriate for use in cross-cultural settings. Data in
this research were analysed primarily through structural equation modeling
analysis. The research reported on in this study was embedded in a larger
ethnographic and quantitative study going on in St. Kitts since 1984. The
intention of sample-selection procedures was to “allow one to generalize to
the approximately 6,000 9-16 year old school children and their families in
the country.”
«­»

The Block Child Rearing Practices Report was used in an adapted and
selective form for the Jamaican study (6) of 50 teachers and 68 parents
(selected by the teachers). Also used was an adaptation of the rank-order of
parental values developed by Kohn (1977) as revised by Schaefer and
Edgerton (1985), the Parental Modernity Scale (also Schaefer and Edger-
ton 1985) and the Parent Attitude Research Instrument (Schaefer and
Bell, 1958). The questionnaire combining items from these sources were

94
distributed through the schools, and by teachers to parents (the means by
which teachers selected parent respondents is not known). The return rate
was 94% for teachers, 75% for parents. The final sample of parents was
made up of 63 mothers, none of whom had less than completed high school
education. Just under one half of the parents had university degrees – clearly
a very different sample from one drawn from the urban poor.

«­»

I
In her review of studies undertaken over a 40 year period on the socialisa-
tion of working class Jamaican children, (7) Evans states that the majority
are surveys “employing questionnaires and yielding quantitative data on ag-
gregates and averages. There are only a few ethnographic/anthropological
studies” and these are not specified:

“The majority of the research focuses on processes – e.g. child rearing techniques,
or aspects of the child rearing situation. Only four report on outcomes though
these were correlated with personal rather than process variables. …Only a very
few employ approaches which allow the researcher to observe and get closer to the
realities of individual lives and situations, to discover meanings, motivations and
the pressures which parents experience. Such studies can complement the survey
research data and allow us to form a better understanding of the intervening proc-
esses through which a particular environment or context affects development. Such
studies may also reveal the day-to-day experiences of this group of children and
the knowledge, attitudes and skills that derive from those experi-
ences” (1989:197)

«­»

A number of research studies in the 1990s tried to “get closer to the realities
of individual lives” as Evans suggested. The fore-runner of this approach in
Jamaica was Edith Clarke (8), who lived 20 months in the field in three
communities, nine months in each of two, two months in the smallest one.
She described her approach as participant/observation and conducted
“free interviews” on wide-ranging topics concerning the family.

The 1990-91 field work (also over 20 months) conducted as a pilot in Ja-
maica by Brown, Anderson and Chevannes (9) for the study of the role of

95
the Caribbean man in the family combined quantitative measures of men’s
attitudes and behaviours as assessed by a questionnaire, with qualitative
measures derived in participatory investigative discussions. The participatory
group discussions with men and women offered opportunities to:

▪ assess the interest of men and women from several community settings
in the general topic of men and family life;
▪ assess their potential responsiveness to such approaches used as parent-
ing education efforts;
▪ test the perceptions of women about men’s family roles, and to meas-
ure the impact of women’s participation in discussions on men’s partici-
pation, reliability of information, comfort, defensiveness, etc., and
▪ provide the known benefits of interactivity and mutual support, and of
group reflection and analysis, to both male and female participants.

The questionnaires offered opportunities to probe for more detailed, sensi-

tive and confidential information from participants than afforded by the
group discussions; this approach also provided a check against the possibility
that peer pressure in the groups could influence contributions of participa-
tions.

Four communities were originally selected to represent four different slices

of lower to lower-middle class communities: deep rural, rural nearer to a ma-
jor city, a suburban “dormitory” area, and an inner-city area with high un-
and under-employment.

Sample selection in each community was accomplished by a quota sampling

system. The four areas were at first mapped (using electoral district maps).
In the smallest community, it was necessary to interview almost all men in
the selected catchment area. For the other three communities, interviewers
were assigned selected mapped streets distributed evenly within the target
community, and they interviewed an assigned number of men in that area
who met the sample qualifications.

To develop the questionnaire, the project advisory team drafted a working

outline of topics to be covered; in addition it was decided to incorporate ini-
tial findings from the first discussion series in the first community. The sur-
vey consultant met with the group facilitators several times through the eight
weeks of discussions in that community to ensure that the issues being

96
raised and discussed in the group were covered in the questionnaire, and that
language used was consistent and appropriate.

The questionnaire was pretested with a sample of 42 men in a rural commu-

nity. No bias appeared for either male or female interviewers. Despite its
length of 35-45 minutes to administer, compliance was high. Some minor
adjustments in language were made after the pilot. The final questionnaire
had 110 items. The findings indicated:
“While lacking the benefit of a statistically random sample design, the survey was
able to put together a body of data on groups of men whose characteristics con-
curred quite closely with the independent sources of social data available on their
communities. Although not capable of generalization beyond the particular
groups surveyed, our findings point to an impressive regularity in behavior and
attitudes that is strongly suggestive of the existence of underlying cultural prescrip-
tions in regard to mating and parenting.”

Outlines for a series of eight weekly discussions with mixed groups of men
and women were developed in consultation with an experienced drama-in-
education team. For some topics men and women met together; for some
they separated, then shared their outcomes. Participatory techniques such as
songs, warm-ups and ring games, role plays, video drama, drawings, etc.
were used.

Recruitment of participants was done in general community meetings where

interest was raised and persons signed up for the series. The sessions were
conducted by male and one female co-facilitators. Discussion groups were
audio-taped and summary transcripts made. Observer notes were taken at
each session and the team did content analysis and evaluation after each ses-
sion.

«­»

The gender socialization study (Brown and Chevannes, 11) that fol-
lowed the above study attempted to ascertain more clearly the origins of
some of the family roles, attitudes and behaviour patterns that had emerged.
The co-investigators chose to work in three Caribbean countries: one in the
Eastern Caribbean (Dominica) and one with a substantial non-African popu-
lation (Guyana) to complement the third (Jamaica), the project’s home base.
Six communities were selected:

97
 ▪ Dominica: 1 suburban housing scheme near the capital Roseau- pre-
dominantly blue collar workers, containing a relocated rural population
▪ Guyana: 2 communities: one Indo-Guyanese on the Georgetown out-
skirts, with a mix of sugar estate and urban working-class families; the
second Afro-Guyanese of primarily low income families in central
Georgetown, mostly living in an aging Government housing scheme.
▪ Jamaica: 3 communities: a rural community—families working medium
and small farms; an urban predominantly blue collar community of
home owners and tenants, factory workers, clerical workers and teach-
ers; a Kingston inner-city community with high unemployment and
low-income self-employment, mixed with blue collar workers.

Teams were selected to work in each country with the assistance of local
advisors. The teams were trained in Jamaica for a week prior to community
entry and data collection. Field work was for a six-month period commenc-
ing January 1994. Each community team was comprised of:
▪ One male ethnographer (trained by one of the co-investigators in the
basic skills of ethnography. These persons committed 20 hours a week
to participant observation, interviews and recording of field notes.
▪ Two animators, male and female, with facilitation/animation skills.
These persons committed an average of 10 hours per week for prepara-
tion time, meetings and post-meeting evaluations and recordings.
▪ One documentalist, skilled in observation and recording of group and
individual behaviours.

There were two phases in the field—entry and data collection. The entry
activities included identifying community groupings:
▪ Brokers (community leaders and spokespersons) to provide passage
into the communities and to give ongoing linking assistance and legiti-
macy to field workers; these were not necessarily informants.
▪ “Core group” of men and women, representative of the community, to
meet on a regular basis to examine major research questions. They also
directed researchers to other persons and groups for specific enquiries.
▪ “Seed groups” structured on a more ad hoc basis to further discuss spe-
cific themes with targeted age and gender groupings.

Of the process, the authors’ comment (10):

“Despite...constraining factors, a massive amount of electronically and hand-
recorded material was generated in bar-rooms, beauty parlours, living rooms and

98
 kitchens as well as on street corners, under trees and on sports fields. Some
groups met only once; most met several times on different or deepening themes.
Ethnographers’ in-depth interviews often fleshed out other team members’ under-
standing, while the frequent parry and thrust of group debates highlighted aware-
ness of issues and sharpened contradictions.”

The experience of using these methodologies to explore gender socialisation,

and the interest raised by the findings, led to the inclusion of Jamaica in a
six-country study to explore the views of young children on the same
topic (12). Small grants from the Consultative Group on ECCD funded
the work in Morocco, Mali, Bolivia, India, Indonesia and Jamaica. Research-
ers first conducted a literature review (inclusive of anthropological, psycho-
logical, sociological, health and nutrition and education studies) related to
gender socialization in their respective countries. Only a few studies yielded
information specific to the age group below primary school. The lit reviews
were used to identify questions for local investigation. A joint approach was
agreed using a PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) protocol to gather
information on these gaps. Brief training was undertaken to ensure a meas-
ure of confidence with the PLA techniques.

The PLA method evolved from earlier work in the 1970s known as Rapid
Appraisal, developed by Robert Chambers. It aims to gain a timely, rele-
vant and cost-effective assessment of conditions within a community, and
has been used in many rural development projects around the world. Origi-
nally created from participatory research, applied anthropology and field re-
search methods as a diagnostic tool for the use of outsiders coming into
communities for information, it has evolved into a more participatory tool
itself, so that those from outside come into community as “learners, conven-
ers, catalysts, and facilitators of the community’s definition of needs”. The
outsiders then work with the “insiders” within the community to design a
plan of action to meet those needs. Various methods (mostly from social
anthropology) are used to assist communities to “tell their own story”. They
include mapping of the community, focus groups, semi-structured inter-
views, diagrams and pictures, time lines (of local history, seasonal diagram-
ming), matrices ranking of variables, as well as direct observation. The proc-
ess is usually carried out within 1 to 3 weeks. The best results are achieved
with a multi-disciplinary team.

Field-work in Jamaica was conducted between May and December 1996.

99
Where appropriate, researchers worked with local NGOs who already were
working in the selected communities. “In sum, the project was designed to do two
things: to assess the use of PLA as a process for gathering data on early childhood experi-
ences, and to gather data on gender socialisation that could be used for the purposes of pro-
gramme planning. The studies provided rich data on both.” (12)

Subsequent work using PLA (Moser and Holland,14) describes general

community perceptions about quality of parenting, the frustrations of par-
ents being taken out on children, the lack of general respect for children,
poor modeling for children and lack of discipline. In this study some chil-
dren were interviewed: “Interviews with children brought out their recognition of the
need for discipline but the wrong of too much beating….What was not appreciated was
adults encouraging fights among them and urging one child to ‘beat up’ another.”

«­»

The Profiles Project (Samms-Vaughan, 13) in Jamaica used a combina-

tion of methods. A survey was designed to obtain comprehensive informa-
tion on six year-olds, their status and that of their learning environments. In
order to determine the important attributes to be measured an Inter-
institutional Committee comprising members of the health, education, fi-
nance, planning, statistical and research communities of Jamaica was formed
to guide the process. This allowed for contribution from all areas involved
with early childhood care and development. A series of workshops were also
held with all agencies associated with early childhood care to inform them of
the project, and probably more importantly, to obtain their input in deter-
mining the important attributes and factors that affect child outcome, based
on each agency’s experience. Attributes covered broad areas and included
socio-economic status, family structure, family functioning, social environ-
ment, health and nutrition and the learning environment. Within each attrib-
ute, there were a number of individual factors identified.

The Profiles project took advantage of the Jamaica Labour Force Survey, a
quarterly national survey conducted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica to
determine the characteristics of the working population in Jamaica. Statisti-
cal sampling methods, using geographically based enumeration districts,
identify a 1 per cent nationally representative sample of Jamaican homes. Of
the 7,648 nationally representative homes identified from all of the fourteen
parishes in Jamaica, approximately 500 have a child at the end of the pre-

100
school years, aged five to six years. Financial constraints allowed only a 0.5
per cent sample to be selected in this project. The combination of parishes
that together best represented the nation’s overall socio-economic status and
provided a 0.5 per cent sample of the population was selected and children
in those parishes evaluated. A total of 245 children in six parishes had
evaluations performed.

Instruments of known validity and reliability in Jamaica and other popula-

tions were used to measure the identified attributes and factors where possi-
ble Where no existing instrument accurately captured the nuances of Jamai-
can life, as for socio-economic status and health, questionnaires were de-
signed (See Table 1 on the next page for a list of questionnaires and
measures used in the Profiles Project).

Seven nurse interviewers were trained to administer questionnaires, perform

height and weight measurements and administer questionnaires and special
psychological tests. Children were seen on four separate occasions. Inter-
views were performed at school to obtain teacher assessments of behaviour,
at home to obtain parent information and evaluate the status of the home
learning environment and at special centres where sensitive equipment for
measuring hearing and vision and cognitive tests were located. The final in-
terview was conducted a year after the first, when children had made the
transition to the Grade One environment. Academic progress and the Grade
One learning environment were evaluated.

Good data quality was determined by completeness of data collection, nor-

mality of distribution and variation among sub-groups within the popula-
tion. Factors for which the response rate was less than two-thirds of the to-
tal sample were considered to have incomplete data collection and were ex-
cluded from further analysis. Normality of distribution and variation among
sub-groups was determined by evaluation of means, standard deviations and
standard errors.

101
Questionnaire Respondent Measurements Obtained
Socio-economic status Parent Family structure; Physical
status of home; Access to fa-
cilities; Changes of environ-
ment; Past academic environ-
ment; Religious environment;
Leisure activities; Discipline
Family Adaptability and Cohe- Parent Family functioning
sion Environment Scale (FACES
II) (Olson D, 1982)
The Brief Symptom Inventory Parent Parental mental health
(BSI) (Derogatis L, 1993)
The Parental Stress Index (PSI) Parent Parent-child interaction
(Abidin R, 1995)
Child Health Parent Past and current health
Child Behaviour Checklist Parent Child psychopathology
(Achenbach, 1991).
Behavioural and Emotional Rat- Parent Child behaviour strengths
ing Scales (BERS) (Epstein MH,
1998).
Teacher Report Form Teacher Child psychopathology
(Achenbach 1991)
BERS Teacher Child behaviour strengths
McCarthy Scales 1 Child Cognitive function
Wide Range Achievement Test Child School achievement
(WRAT) (Wilkinson G, 1994) 1
Violence exposure (Children were Child Exposure to violence.
asked in an age-appropriate way
to report their experiences as
victims or witnesses. Visual cues
were used to obtain responses;
children indicated on a ther-
mometer-like scale the degree of
exposure to each act of violence)
Anthropometry Child Height and weight
Vision Child Visual functioning
Hearing Child Hearing functioning
McCarthy Scales 2 Child Cognitive function
WRAT 2 Child School achievement
MICO Reading Child Reading achievement
Early Childhood Home Inventory Interviewer Home learning environment
(Caldwell B, 1984)
Early Childhood Environment Interviewer Primary learning environment
Rating Scale Revised (Harms,
Clifford, Cryer,1998).

102
Questions for further discussion from Section 6

1. How could countries within the region cooperate to provide data that
could serve in measuring similarities and differences among disparate
population groups?
2. How can methodological best practices be shared to reduce research de-
sign costs and weaknesses?
3. Impact studies and cost benefit analyses of interventions are critical if
best practices are to be documented and used for replication within the
region. How can the region access funding to support these studies?
4 .How could we in the Caribbean reduce our 'borrowing' from North
American and European theories of child development?
5. Should we 'grade' our Caribbean studies on their capacity to provide
valid information about Caribbean children?
6. Should we review and adapt measures developed for longitudinal studies
of the benefits of early learning interventions and compare results with
Caribbean-developed early learning assessment measures and other in-
ternational instruments that have been piloted (e.g. the EDI in Jamaica)?
7. Should we conduct studies of HOW children learn using mixed methods
(such as EPPE) and combine the assessment measures with participant
observation methods (i.e. technique of describe → record →
develop cultural framework – not start with a framework first)?
8. How could we effectively use retrospective accounts of young adults of
their recollections of early childhood experience?
9. How can we develop USER FRIENDLY instruments for assessing the
capacity of learning environments to promote beneficial outcomes for
children? (to be used in home learning environments; infant learning en-
vironments in centres; preschool learning environments (we already have
a good basis with 720 schools in 9 countries observed using ECERS (R);
school learning environments for children 6 and 7 years of age )

Section 6: References

(1) Grantham-McGregor, S., Landman, J. and Desai, P. (1983) Childrearing

in poor urban Jamaica, in Child: care, health and development, 1983,
9, 57-71, Blackwell Scientific Publications
(2) Payne, M.A and Furnham, A F , Parental self-reports of child rearing
practices in the Caribbean, Journal of Black Psychology, Spring 1992,
Vol.18, No.2, pp 19-36 [citing Block, J. (1965) The child rearing prac-

103
 tices report, Berkeley, California, University of California, Institute of
Human Development]
(3) Holden, G.W and Edwards L.A (1989) Parental attitudes toward child-
rearing: instruments, issues and implications, Psychological Bulletin,
106, 29-58
(4) Payne, M. (1989) Use and Abuse of Corporal Punishment: A Caribbean
View, in Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol. 13, pp 389-401
(5) Rohner, R, Kean, K and Cournoyer, D. (1991) Effects of Corporal Pun-
ishment, Perceived Caretaker Warmth, and Cultural Beliefs on the
Psychological Adjustment of Children in St. Kitts, West Indies. Jour-
nal of Marriage and the Family, 53, August, 681-693. [citing Rohner,
R P (1989) Handbook for the Study of Parental Acceptance and Re-
jection , Centre for the Study of Parental Acceptance and Rejection,
University of Connecticut, Storrs.]
(6) Morrison, J., Ispa, J. and Milner, V. (1998) Ideas about Child Rearing
among Jamaican Mothers and Early Childhood Education Teachers.
Journal of Research in Childhood Education, Vol. 12, No. 2, 166-
175 [citing Schaefer, E.S. and Edgerton, M (1985) Parent and Child
correlates of parental modernity in I.E.Sigel ed Parental Belief Sys-
tems: The psychological consequences for children , Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum, 287-318; Schaefer, E.S and Bell, R.Q. (1958) Develop-
ment of a parental attitude research instrument, Child Development,
29, 339-361. ]
(7) Evans, H (1989) Perspectives on the socialisation of the working class
Jamaican Child, Social and Economic Studies, Volume 38, no3,
177-203
(8) Clarke, E. (1957) My Mother Who Fathered Me. George Allen and Un-
win Ltd
(9)Brown, J. Anderson, P and Chevannes, B. (1993) The Contribution of
Caribbean Men to the Family: A Jamaica Pilot Study. Report to
IDRC, UNICEF and CUSO.
(10) Brown, J. and Chevannes, B. (1998). Why Man Stay So: Tie the Hiefer,
Loose the Bull. An Examination of Gender Socialisation in the Car-
ibbean by the UWI, UNICEF.
(11) Brown, J and Chevannes, B (1995) Final Report of the Gender Sociali-
sation Project of the University of the West Indies, UNICEF Carib-
bean Area Office and Caribbean Child Development Centre and
the Department of Sociology and Social Work, UWI: Mona
(12) McGarrity, G and Brown, J. (1997) Gender and the Young Child: A

104
 Jamaican Community Exploration. In Coordinator’s Notebook:
An International Resource for Early Childhood Development. No.
20, www.ecdgroup.com
(13) Samms-Vaughan, M., 2001, The Profiles Project, Report No.1, A profile
of the status of Jamaican preschool children and their learning envi-
ronments. Department of Child Health with Caribbean Child De-
velopment Centre, UWI: Mona [See also Samms-Vaughan M.E.,
Williams S., and Brown J. Determining early childhood indicators
for Jamaica: A methodological approach, Caribbean Childhoods:
From Research to Action, Vol 1, Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston,
Jamaica, 2003]
(14)Moser, C and Holland, J (1995) Urban Poverty and Violence in Jamaica,
Urban Development Division, World Bank

105
106
 Cultural Bases of Childrearing and Socialization in
African- Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean Families
Jaipaul L. Roopnarine

Since the pioneering work of Mead (1968) and Whiting and Whit-
ing (1975), there has been a steady increase in attempts to under-
stand the cultural basis of childhood development in different so-
cieties around the world. The pace of such efforts has quickened
noticeably over the last two decades (see for example volumes on
Cultural Psychology, Cole, 1996; Childhood and Adolescence:
Cross-Cultural Perspectives and Applications by Gielen & Roop-
narine, 2004; Parents’ Cultural Belief Systems: Their Origins, Ex-
pressions, and Consequences by Harkness & Super, 1996; Hunter-
Gatherer Childhoods, Hewlett & Lamb, 2006; The role of the Fa-
ther in Child Development by Lamb, 2004; Psychology of Immi-
gration by Mahalingam, 2006; The Cultural Nature of Human De-
velopment by Rogoff, 2003; Guided Participation in Cultural Ac-
tivity by Toddlers and Caregivers by Rogoff, Mistry, Goncu, &
Mosier, 1993, to name a few). No doubt, this is due to a greater
recognition of the role of cultural practices in shaping early child-
hood development.

This [researchers meeting] marks one of the first attempts to singu-

larly focus on the cultural underpinnings of childhood socialization
and development in the poly-ethnic communities of the Caribbean.
A wide gap exists with respect to research interest in culture and
childhood development in the Caribbean context. It is fair to say
that with lean resources, we are slowly making progress in this area
of research inquiry (e.g., Brown, 2006; Chevannes, 1999; Dubrow,
1999; Flinn, 1992; Wilson et al., 2003). Regrettably, much of the
work on families and children in the Caribbean is loosely organ-
ized, with minimal discourse occurring across allied social science
disciplines. The child development and early childhood education
fields in the Caribbean would profit tremendously from investiga-
tions in the following areas:

107
 • parental ideas about development, culture and thinking,
• customary practices, traditions, and rituals that touch the
lives of children,
• how parents ensure the survival of young children,
• developmental timetables and parental goals for devel-
opment,
• participation of children in the everyday life of commu-
nities,
• pre- and post-colonial histories and their influence on
the changing nature of childrearing, and
• similarities and differences in beliefs and practices in
childrearing and their potential outcomes in the different
ethnic groups that make up the cultural mosaic of the
Caribbean.

Hopefully, this conference signals a turning point in research on

children and families in the Caribbean with an emphasis on “the
cultural nature of everyday life” (Rogoff, 2003).

A major goal of this paper is to identify cultural processes in the

socialization of young children (0-8 years) in African Caribbean and
Indo Caribbean families residing in the English-speaking Caribbean.
To avoid major overlaps with reviews of the literature generated by
Brown and Williams (this document), my discussion centers on im-
ages of children and conceptions of childhood, parental beliefs,
styles, and practices, academic socialization within families, and
childhood mental health.

I will also cover some conceptual and methodological issues in de-

veloping research paradigms for examining common constructs that
constitute childrearing and socialization practices within the hetero-
geneous ethnic/cultural groups in the Caribbean. In the final seg-
ment of the paper, suggestions are offered for conducting research
on childhood socialization and their developmental outcomes in
families with an emphasis on tapping into cultural processes. The
overall intent is to situate childrearing and childhood development
in the Caribbean within similar studies carried out in other cultures.

108
As per Rogoff”s (2003) suggestion, the term “cultural communities”
will be used throughout so as to focus on individuals and processes
and to avoid making population-level inferences.

Before I begin, some precautionary remarks are necessary. Assertions

have been made about the legacy of slavery and indentured servitude
in fragmenting antecedent childrearing and family practices (those
brought from Africa and India) (see Barrow, 1996; Frazier, 1951;
Herskovits, 1941; Leo-Rhynie, 1997; Nevadomsky, 1983; Smith &
Mosby, 2003). Anthropologists (Hewlett, de Silverti, & Gugliemino,
2002) have proposed that different aspects of family life and kinship
patterns are more susceptible to influences from demic diffusion
(expansion and differentiation) than from cultural diffusion (e.g., in-
fluences from neighboring cultures) or the ecological setting per se.
How these perspectives apply to groups of people who have endured
slavery and indentured servitude has not been elaborated in great de-
tail. To be sure, processes of “deinstitutionalization,”
“restitutionalization,” “stabilization,” and “destabilization” of family
life and attendant childrearing practices must have occurred through
the dehumanizing experiences of slavery and indentured servitude (see
Sharma, 1986).

A majority of the studies conducted on childrearing in the Caribbean

has focused on African descent people (see Brown & Williams 2006).
Little is known about childrearing in other ethnic groups, such as East
Indians, Black Caribs, Chinese, Amerindians, or the growing numbers
of individuals from mixed ethnic backgrounds. This is a serious over-
sight because East Indians constitute at least half of the population of
Guyana (51% Indo-Guyanese and 39% African-Guyanese) and Trini-
dad and Tobago (40% African-Trinidadian, 40% Indo-Trinidadian),
and there are increasing numbers of individuals from mixed ethnic
backgrounds (dogla) in several Caribbean countries (e.g., 14% in
Trinidad and Tobago) (World Atlas, 2000; United Nations, 2001). To
address this knowledge gap, this paper considers childrearing beliefs
and practices of Indo Caribbean families.

109
A basic research strategy has been to document different levels of
and, in some cases, styles of maternal and paternal involvement
and dysfunctional aspects of parent-child relationships (e.g., harsh
disciplinary practices, lack of playful interactions between parents
and children, minimal displays of affection). Thus, the slender
body of work on Caribbean families and children is narrowly con-
ceived, with little emphasis given to everyday beliefs and practices
employed in childrearing and their possible meaning for develop-
mental outcomes across ethnic/cultural groups. Of equal concern
is the lack of attention to the mental health of children within Car-
ibbean and Caribbean immigrants families abroad. At the mo-
ment, increased rates of intermarriage, population movement to
the industrialized countries, poor economic conditions, educa-
tional attainment, lower fertility rates, and challenges to patriarchy
are all involved in shaping the psychological functioning of Afri-
can Caribbean and Indo Caribbean families.

Family Structural Context for the Socialization of Children

To more adequately capture the cultural patterns of childrearing in
the Caribbean, it is first necessary to describe the family contexts
in which children are raised. The family organization patterns in
and of themselves embody specific socio-cultural realities in the
lives of Caribbean children. Variations in mating and marriage
systems convey community and society-wide attitudes about re-
productive strategies, and affect inheritance patterns, the sexual
division of labor, resource allocation and investment biases in bio-
logical and nonbiological children, and the abandonment of chil-
dren (see Low, 2005). It is within the family and community that
the canalization of reproductive strategies and the meaning of pair
bond stability are cemented (see Quinlan & Flinn, 2003).

Largely based on marriage, Indo Caribbean family organization

patterns are a mixture of nuclear and extended households. Ex-
tendedness may be for life, where three-generational families share
a domicile and pool economic resources, may follow a transitional
extended phase in which married children live within a three-

110
generation family initially and after a few years establish a separate
residence that is nuclear, or may involve a pattern where married
couples live separately but maintain functional extendedness with
kinship members (see Nevadomsky, 1982; Sharma, 1986). Marriages
are still arranged with the expectation that gifts (formerly dowry) be
exchanged, but increasingly, young adults and teenagers choose their
own partners (see Kanhai, 1999; Mohammed, 1997; Prasad, 1999 for
descriptions of Indian marital practices). Patrilocal residence is the
norm after marriage.

The Indo-Caribbean family has its structural roots in patriarchal tra-

ditions articulated in ancient Hindu religious texts (e.g., Ramanaya,
Upanishads, Mahabharata). The edicts in these religious texts es-
pouse a traditional view of husband-wife roles (Kakar, 1991). Psy-
chological constructions about manhood and womanhood are
driven, in part, by the precepts in these texts (see Kakar, 1991). The
personification of certain epics laid out in the ancient texts (e.g., the
devoted son Lord Rama and his heroine wife, Sita) reminds men and
women of what constitutes the “cultural ideal” of relationships be-
tween husband and wife. The Shastras (e.g., Laws of Manu, 200
B.C.-A.D. 200) specify the responsibilities of men and women in
family life along strongly gender-demarcated lines. In essence,
Manu’s edicts support the superiority of men and the subordination
of women (pativrata). In contemporary Indo Caribbean families,
manhood is still defined by male dominance and control over family
members. Men are seen as the heads of their households even when
their wives work outside of the home or earn more than their hus-
bands. Serving as a bridge to the outside world, men may wield sig-
nificant psychological and financial control over family members
(Jayawardena, 1963; Mansingh & Mansingh, 1999; Rauf, 1974; Roop-
narine et al., 1997).

There are strong ties to patrilineal members (e.g., fathers and broth-
ers) and the eldest son is expected to care for his aging parents and
to assume responsibility for sacraments upon their deaths. The sub-
ordination of son to father is still apparent. The duo-focal nature of

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Indo Caribbean communities is clearly visible: women are often
confined to the company of other female kinship members and
men prefer to be with other males. Far from being seamless, social
relationships involve a fair amount of conflict as well as solidarity.
Conflicts between familial members occur frequently and usually
result from disagreements between mothers-in-law and daughters-
in-law, challenges to male authority, irresponsibility and drunken-
ness on the husband’s part, infidelity on the wife’s part, and the
inequitable distribution of resources (Jayawardena, 1963; Roop-
narine et al, 1997).

Undeniably, cultural abstractions of Indo Caribbean family organi-

zation patterns can lead to exaggerations of the “essentialist ideal.”
This notwithstanding, looking for “India” in the Caribbean has
not been totally unproductive. Scholars of the India diaspora
have identified pockets of translocal practices that resemble mar-
riage ceremonies and family socialization practices in parts of In-
dia (see Dabydeen & Samaroo, 1994). These practices continue to
anchor Indo Caribbean family structural arrangements. Nonethe-
less, it is appropriate to ask whether marriage is still the major im-
petus behind the establishment of the Indo Caribbean family.

In contrast to the marriage/marital practices of Indo Caribbean

populations, childbearing and childrearing in African Caribbean
families occur in multiple relationship unions over different
phases of the life cycle. This phenomenon has been recorded in
the Anglophone (Brown et al., 1997) and Francophone Caribbean
(Brunod & Cook-Darzens, 2002). For most families in the Eng-
lish-speaking Caribbean, childbearing begins in nonmarital un-
ions—visiting and common-law—where mate-shifting is preva-
lent (Ramkissoon, 2001; Senior, 1991). About 70% of children in
these families are born in non-legal unions (Powell, 1986) with
roughly half of primiparous births occurring in the teenage years
(Evans & Davies, 1997). These practices may have originated out
of slavery but are influenced by poor economic conditions and

112
low educational attainment today (Brown et al., 1997; see Wyatt,
Durvasula, Guthrie, LeFrance, & Forge, 1999 for insights into the
onset of early sexuality in Jamaica). Accompanying high levels of
non-marital births is the increased likelihood of female-headed
households and non-residential fatherhood. Indeed, in assess-
ments of family structural arrangements in the Caribbean (Massiah,
1982; Powell, 1986; Wilson, & Berkeley-Caines, 2003), data suggest
that 35.5% of families in Antigua, 29.25% in St. Kitts, 45% in St.
Lucia, 37.9% in St. Vincent, 49.2% in Barbados, and 58% in Ja-
maica had fathers residing in the households (Leo-Rhynie, 1997).

Following a life-course developmental process, parenting may first

begin in visiting unions. About 25% of mating relationships are
visiting unions, with different estimates ranging from 19% to 34%
in some Caribbean countries (Brown et al., 1997; Senior, 1991).
After bearing children in visiting relationships, men and women
may enter common-law relationships. The percentage of common-
law relationships varies between 12% and 48% among Jamaican
men (Brown et al., 1997; Ramkissoon, 2001) but is nearer to 20%
across the Caribbean (Senior, 1991). In these relationships, the
couple lives together under the same roof and shares resources.
Men appear to be the major economic provider (64.5% on average)
in these families (see Roopnarine, 2004). However, relationships
with biological and non-biological children and pair-bond stability
in previous and current unions are not well understood. Jealousy
plays a role in the social contacts men and women have with previ-
ous partners and children born in these mating unions
(Flinn,1992).

On the decline in some countries such as Dominica (Quinlan &

Flinn, 2003) and remaining relatively low in Barbados (an average
of 5.4 marriages per 1000 over the last 100 years; Barrow, 2001),
marriage is more probable after progressive mating in non-legal
unions. In their study of paternal involvement in different com-
munities in the Kingston area of Jamaica, Brown et al. (1997) re-
ported that for men under 30, 9.35% of fathers were married,

113
41.3% were in common-law unions, and 44.9% were in visiting
relationships. The reverse was true for men over 50 years of age:
the marriage rate was 54.3%, with only 8.9% in visiting relation-
ships. To some measure, entry into marriage may depend on
greater economic security; for men with greater economic re-
sources, the marriage rate was as high as 62.5% in one sample
(Ramkissoon, 2001). By the time men and women enter a legal
union, it is not unusual for them to have children from several
“babymothers” and “babyfathers.” In the Contributions of Carib-
bean Men to the Family study (Brown et al., 1993), 54.4% of men
had one “babymother,” 37.5% had between two and three
“babymothers,” and 8.1% had four or more “babymothers.”
“Outside children” were also evident among Jamaican men with
better economic standing (Ramkissoon, 2002).

Debates are being waged about whether mate shifting and pair-
bond stability are canalized during early childhood (see Quinlan &
Flinn, 2003). Genealogical data on Dominican families failed to
confirm this hypothesis. There was a slightly gretaer tendency for
women who spent their childhoods in father-present homes to
have father-present children than those who spent their child-
hoods in father-absent homes. Father absence in childhood did
not predict the number of mates with whom men and women had
children (Quinlan & Flinn, 2003). These findings suggest the
need to examine other events in children’s lives that may contrib-
ute to their internal working models of reproductive strategies.

An equally intriguing area that is ripe for exploration is children’s

conceptions of “family(ies).” What do children regard as qualify-
ing a man to be labeled
“a father.” Research conducted by Seltzer (2005) on mental
health problems among Norwegian children in “trial families”
might be of relevance in addressing Caribbean children’s native
theories of “family(ies).” A growing lifestyle trend among Norwe-
gians is co-habiting relationships that often last for short periods
and may produce offspring. Children in these families exhibit dif-

114
ficulties in defining adult-child relationships (e.g., who is the fa-
ther), and it is not unusual for some children to meet their half-
siblings for the first time in school settings. An anecdote from
Seltzer’s (2005) clinical analysis indicates the confusion children
face in negotiating and understanding familial relationships. When
six-year-old Anne was asked about her father, she mentioned that
“she is not sure, but maybe Ole, because he lives with her mother,
her, and her brother (=half-brother).” After some thought, she
adds: “ But he is mostly my brother’s father, but a little bit my fa-
ther too.” When asked, who might be mostly her father, Anne said
“Knut was my father before…. but not any more…because he
used to live with us…before..but not now.” Further questioning
that focused on who feels like a father inside, she replied, “Maybe
Svein, because he lived with us when I was in my mommy’s
tummy. Then she carefully wipes the tears from her eyes, and adds:
And his eyes look like mine.”

Images of Children and the Meaning of Childhood

Why study images of children and the meaning of childhood within
different cultures? Some (e.g., Lamb & Hwang, 1996) have pro-
posed that the manner in which we perceive children and culturally
construct the meaning of childhood often conveys information on
the legal status accorded children, and how we implement and pro-
vide health care, educational, and social services to them. In other
words, ideas about children and childhood present a glimpse into
cultural systems of childrearing and how children are valued in cul-
tural communities. It perhaps comes as no surprise that images of
children introduce levels of abstraction that would be difficult to
reconcile in this paper. I have taken the liberty of conceptualizing
“images” in terms of how children are perceived by adult members
of their communities, customs and rituals that surround children’s
lives, and what is expected of children during their formative years.

Historically, religious texts (e.g., The Vedas, The Torah, The Bible,
The Quran, The Analects), proverbs, myths, and rituals have been
rich repositories of cultural knowledge about how parents ap-

115
proach childrearing, the existence and nature of developmental
stages and milestones (see Aires, Centuries of Childhood), whether
children hold a privileged position in the family and society, the
educational opportunities available to children, and disciplinary
practices (Lamb & Hwang, 1996; Mohammed, 1997; Palacios,
1996; Sander, 1996).

The messages contained in religious texts, proverbs, and myths

have served to:
▪ reinforce traditional family values (e.g., Pativrata or subservient
wife in Hinduism as portrayed in the Shastras; “Male child
even if a thief,” Spanish proverb; “The path to all good mar-
riages follow[s]: the wife follows the husband, Chinese),
▪ sketch notions of inherited traits (e.g., “No eggplant grows on
melon vines,” Japanese proverb), and
▪ devise blueprints for community character and behaviors, and
set moral precedence of what is “good,” “acceptable,” and
“appropriate” behavioral norms for children (e.g., deprived
childhood as synonymous with poor hygiene, disorganized
home environment) (Palacios, 1996).

Anthropologists, sociologists, and historians have long docu-

mented cultural ceremonies in childhood, customary practices and
their expressions and meanings in the everyday lives of children
(e.g., Mead’s descriptions of Samoan Children and LeVine’s ac-
counts of Gusii childhood). In a profound way, the detailed de-
scriptions of children’s everyday experiences have brought to light
cultural scripts that are embedded in early socialization processes in
different cultures (Harkness, 1996). In order to get a better handle
on what childhood means in different societies today, researchers
ask parents about their ideas or beliefs about inherited behavioral
traits (see Palacios, 1992), the value of children (Kagitcibasi, 1996),
at what age children acquire certain intellectual, social, and motor
skills (see Goodnow, Cashmore, Cotton, & Knight, 1984), and
what constitutes “competence” and “good” and “bad” children
(see Crystal & Stevenson, 1995; Dubrow, 1999). Yet others have

116
singled out the developmental niche as crucial in understanding
childhood and childrearing (Super & Harkness, 1997), or focus on
how thought is organized within cultures (see D’Andrade &
Strauss, 1992; Rogoff, 2003), and on how shared knowledge about
parenting increases childhood survival (LeVine, 1974, 2004).

Images of Childhood: Paradoxes

In the Caribbean, it appears that current images of children and
childhood continue to evolve out of diverse religious traditions
(e.g., Islam, Hindu, Christian, Rastafari, and Orisha), superstition
(e.g., Obeah), ancestral culture, sociohistorical experiences, and to a
growing awareness of the rights and needs of children. On the one
hand, several Caribbean countries have implemented laws that fo-
cus on child abuse and neglect, mandatory education, and child
support for children who experience separation or divorce (see
Barrow, 2001, 2003). Such public recognition has fostered a new
level of appreciation of the “place” of children at the societal level
and to a lesser extent at the individual level. On the other hand, it
is difficult to ignore the enduring influence of different religious
beliefs on images of children and definitions of childhood in the
Caribbean. As will be seen, competing ideas of what children mean
to adults and how they should be treated abound.

Orthodox (Sanatan Dharma) and reformist (Arya Samaj) Hindu

families in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago believe that children
are a gift from God (in Hinduism Bhagwan ke Den). For Hindu
children, a soul is acquired at conception (Garbhadana)—one that
is steeped in Karmic laws of merit and demerit. Unlike Muslim
children who are born “pure,” Hindu children may already have
accumulated good or bad deeds at birth depending on past lives. In
Indo Caribbean families, orthodox Hindus frown upon childless-
ness, as children are perceived to bring blessings, cohesion, and
fulfillment to a home. Using local Indo Guyanese parlance, “homes
without children are void of happiness.” Because of their centrality
in the family, it is generally accepted that Indo Caribbean children
should be lavished with attention and nurturance and treated with

117
leniency during the early childhood years. Sons are preferred
over daughters, but this attitude has softened a bit. Parents see
children as economic assets (Nodevemsky, 1983), although it is
not clear whether the obligations of parents toward children ex-
ceed those of children toward parents (Sharma, 1986).

During the first five years of life, it is believed that Hindu chil-
dren are unable to distinguish right from wrong and punishment
should be prohibited. This may partially explain the existence of
a prolonged, indulgent infancy period that lasts way beyond the
toddler years (Kakar, 1991; Roopnarine et al., 1997). As is pre-
sent in other cultures (e.g., Chinese concept of dongshi—the age
of understanding that appears around age 7), Hindu children are
believed to reach the age of reasoning at five. At this time, for-
mal learning is emphasized, and parents begin to actively train
their children toward the acquisition of future goals. Children can
now be punished for behavioral transgressions, even minor indis-
cretions. In Muslim families, the child is encouraged to declare
its faith at four years of age (Bismillah), an event that signifies the
child’s place within the family and cultural community. Quranic
teachings may soon follow through parental guidance at home
and/or attendance at an Islamic school (Imam Hack, personal
communication, 2006; Sander, 1996).

Over time, some of these religious-cultural ideals of children

have gradually been replaced by ritualistic knowledge. I venture
to guess that few Hindu Indo Caribbean parents are formally
aware of the developmental transition to an age of reasoning.
Yet, they do recognize the childhood period as one during which
the child is immature and susceptible to behavioral training from
different members of the cultural community. It would be bene-
ficial to know whether parents believe that the child’s personality
is being formed at this time or it is already in place at birth., im-
mutable if you will.

118
African Caribbean parents, like their Indo Caribbean counterparts,
see children as “precious,” “a joy,” and “a special gift,” and are per-
plexed at the concept of an “unwanted” child (Barrow, 2003). The
value attributed to children is further mirrored in the treatment of
women who cannot bear children; they are often disparaged and
pitied (Sargent & Harris, 1992). Parents believe in the
“vulnerability” of children, who should be fed, kept tidy, and pro-
tected (Barrow, 2003). A question remains as to whether African
Caribbean parents view children as being born in sin, with a disposi-
tion to “bad behavior” (Barrow, 2003) or being “troublesome”(A-
betant) (Dubrow, 1997). African Caribbean parents acknowledge
the utilitarian value of children—“old-age security” (Barrow, 2003;
Brown, 2006). The unshakable pedagogical maxim associated with
Christianity, “to spare the rod is to spoil the child,” is heavily en-
dorsed (Barrow, 2003). The inherent message is that children
should be shaped early — the proverbial “as the twig is bent..”and
“bad seed” or “bad soil.”

Unlike Indo Caribbean families, however, African Caribbean

women seem to favor the birth of daughters over sons. When
posed with the question “Before you were pregnant the first time,
did you want a boy or girl,” 78.7% of Jamaican women in one sam-
ple in the Kingston area indicated a preference for girls, 12.8% for a
boy. The overwhelming preference for daughters stems from a lack
of trust of men and to the difficulty encountered in raising boys
(they are rude, bad) (Sargent & Harris, 1992). Obviously women
weigh the costs and benefits of having sons—a practice that is wit-
nessed in the Mukogodo of Kenya (Cronk, 2000).

Customs in Childhood
In various Caribbean communities, children are exposed to a com-
plex array of rituals, religious practices, carnivals, and local festivals
(e.g., Hosay and Orisha Ebo in Trinidad; Holi and Deepvali in Guy-
ana; Harvest Festival in Barbados; Baptisms in Jamaica). As has
been demonstrated (see, Rogoff, 2003), cultural activities offer chil-
dren opportunities to participate, observe, and learn patterns of be-

119
haviors and pertinent information that they may then use to meet
the structural and social demands of life within their communities.
By involving children in customs and rituals, parents essentially
serve as “cultural transmitters” (Whiting & Edwards, 1988). They
ensure that children are furnished with opportunities to participate
and intensely observe activities that are important to life in the
family and community (Rogoff, 2003). A few commonly ob-
served customs are described below.

Beginning with Indo Caribbean households, pregnancy and birth

trigger a course of religious prayers, sacred offerings, and rituals.
At the birth of a Hindu child, parents may consult a pandit (Hindu
priest), who after reading the child’s astrological chart, selects a
letter that begins the child’s name (namakaran samskar or naming
ceremony). Based on the reading of the chart, the Pandit may
warn parents about impending obstacles in the child’s life and sug-
gest possible pujas (prayers and offerings to specific Gods and
Goddesses) to be carried out so as to prevent mishaps as the child
matures.

After giving birth, mothers are sequestered for nine days after
which the baby is introduced to relatives and friends through a
nine-day celebration. Head shaving (moohl samskar) usually takes
place during the first year of life and among older children upon
the death of a parent. Another samskar, annaprasana, performed
between the seventh and eight month, involves giving the child
solid foods for the first time. In Muslim families, prayers are
whispered in the child’s right ear, sweet substances are given to
the child to symbolize the sweetness of life, and the child’s head is
shaven, all occurring during the newborn period. A naming cere-
mony occurs on the seventh day and boys are circumcised before
age seven.

Folk customs and remedies are sought should Indo Caribbean

children become ill or be perceived to have been affected by an
“evil” or “jealous” individual. Hindu parents may ouchee the child

120
(pass a homemade elixir over the body of child in a clockwise manner
to cast off an evil spirit) if someone casts an “evil eye” or the baby
becomes irritable and/or unsettled due to perceived external super-
natural forces. On occasions, a Hindu priest may be called in to
Jharee the child (pass objects over child’s body for healing purposes)
when it is having difficulty or it is not feeling well. In a similar vein,
Muslim parents may consult an Imam regarding difficult circum-
stances surrounding a young child’s life.

African Caribbean children are immersed in diverse religious rituals

and practices: Orisha, Rastafari, Comfa, and Christianity. Whether it
is a Christian baptism or Orisha celebration of gratitude, children ob-
serve adult modes of worship and practices that are part of their spiri-
tual community (Chevannes, 1998; Houk, 1999). They may witness
rituals that involve spirit possession and ancestor worship. Mindful of
the importance of religious socialization during the early childhood
years, parents draw on religious doctrines and practices to educate
children about moral principles, respect for elders, and ancestral tradi-
tions.

Childhood Responsibilities
On the whole, Caribbean children are expected to assume a variety of
chores early in life. Two sets of responsibilities appear more prevalent
than others: sibling care and household work.

As is the case in many societies (see LeVine et al., 1994; Martini &
Kirkpatrick, 1992; Maynard, 2004 for a description of sibling care in
the Gusii, Marquesan, and Zinacantec Mayan, respectively), African
Caribbean, Indo Caribbean, and Amerindian pre-adolescent children
are pressed into caring for their siblings. A few pertinent questions
raised by researchers (e.g., Maynard, 2004; Weisner, 1993) relate to the
primacy of sibling care over that of other caregivers in the early so-
cialization of children. Do Caribbean children act as co-parents to
children or do they just pitch in to assist parents when childcare de-
mands increase? At what age do Caribbean children begin to assume

121
responsibilities for childcare and how does the quality of care af-
fect the social and cognitive development of their siblings?

While I am not aware of any systematic investigations of sibling

relationships in the Caribbean context, two ethnographic/
interview studies that touch upon sibling caregiving are informa-
tive. The first study was conducted in Dominica and St. Vincent
(Dubrow, 1999).
Essentially, with narrow birth spacing and significant time de-
voted to newborns, mothers are less able to devote time to other
children. They depend on older children, mostly girls, to care for
their younger siblings. As Dubrow (1999) describes, “Older sib-
lings escort, bathe, and dress younger siblings. They help prevent
major mishaps: Even a lackadaisical boy grabs the hand of his
small sister before a truck hurls by them on the village road” (p.
107). Older siblings serve as socialization agents too, in that they
introduce children to play groups and neighbors, and teach them
about specific places in the village (Dubrow, 1999).

In a second study conducted in Kingston, Jamaica, Sargent and

Harris (1992) similarly observed that several girls and boys cared
for their younger siblings in yards and alleys. In one instance,
“Chantelle, age seven, watched her toddler and infant siblings, did
light laundry and some cooking, and ran errands” (p. 526). Flinn
(1992) estimated that among the constellation of individuals who
care for young children in Trinidad, 16.3% of the care interactions
were by siblings. Among Amerindian pre- and early school-aged
children in coastal Guyana, male and female siblings play together.
However, a fair amount of dominance and bullying is evident
among siblings (Sanders, 1973), which is antithetical to the high
levels of cooperation observed in sibling relationships among the
Mayans (Mosier & Rogoff, 2003).

In several Caribbean communities, parents expect their children to

assume responsibility for household and family work. Returning
to the Sargent and Harris (1992) study, Jamaican parents sug-

122
gested that boys and girls should learn to cook and do their laun-
dry. Dominican parents “send their 3-to 4-years olds with older
children to the local shop. During these errands, they learn which
shops to go to, what to buy, how much to pay, and how to greet
the storekeeper” (p. 107). By the time children reach age 5, they
are capable of running errands without supervision. Boys care for
animals, while girls sweep the yards, wash dishes, do the laundry,
assist in processing coconuts, and guide young children (Dubrow,
1999). Roopnarine et al’s (1997) observations of Indo Caribbean
village life in Guyana revealed almost identical responsibilities
given to young children: washing/cleaning, watching younger sib-
lings, and animal care.

Parenting Beliefs, Styles, and Practices

Researchers concerned with the joint or separate effect(s) parents
exert on developmental processes have identified parenting beliefs,
practices, and styles as crucial in understanding childhood develop-
ment. As several researchers have shown that parents’ beliefs or
ethnotheories about childcare, childhood development, and early
education vary a good deal across cultural communities (see
Rogoff, 2003; Roopnarine & Metindogan, 2006; Super & Harkness,
1997), and some have questioned the symmetry in meaning of par-
enting beliefs and practices for child development outcomes across
cultures (see Chao, 1994; Hart et al., in press; Super & Harkness,
1997; LeVine, 2004; Mosier & Rogoff, 2003; Roopnarine, Bynoe,
and Singh, 2004). Similarly, parenting styles, as conceived by
Baumrind (1967), have generated some inconsistent findings across
cultures. I now turn to a consideration of parental beliefs about
childhood development and behavioral expectations of children,
parenting practices, parenting styles, and academic socialization at
home.

Parental Beliefs About Childrearing and Development

Parental beliefs (considered here as cognitions, ideas, or ethno-
theories) provide a template for how individuals structure their
thoughts and actions regarding their investment in the socialization

123
of children (Sigel & McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 2002; Super & Hark-
ness, 1997). Beliefs represent the psycho-cultural schemas that are
behind parents’ attempts to shape the lives of their children
(Goodnow & Collins, 1990). They may be pre-packaged (e.g., co-
sleeping) (Shweder, 1982) or “constructed” as parents revise their
views on childrearing (McGilliCuddy-DeLisi, 1982). Because par-
enting beliefs vary across ethnic and cultural groups and by socio-
economic status, applying a single cultural measure to determine
what constitutes “good” and “bad” parenting and
“developmentally-appropriate” socialization practices is inappropri-
ate. For instance, depending on economic and social circum-
stances, parents frequently prioritize parenting goals (health and
survival, cognitive stimulation) and use cultural childrearing scripts
(e.g., pediatric versus pedagogical) accordingly to achieve them
(LeVine, 1974). For example, in the United States, middle SES par-
ents engage in a process of “concerted cultivation” to coach and
arrange multiple social and intellectual activities for their children
to achieve desired parental goals (Lareau, 2003).

LeVine’s (2004) observations of the Gusii of southwestern Kenya

shed some light on the dichotomy that exists in defining “good
parenting.” By all accounts, Gusii mothers appear insensitive if we
consider their low levels of visual and verbal engagement with in-
fants compared with those of middle-class European American
mothers. Nonetheless, Gusii mothers have high levels of physical
contact with infants, co-sleep with them, and breastfeed on de-
mand—all behaviors that may not be encouraged in some techno-
logically developed societies, yet are accepted as important for the
development of attachments to parents. Furthermore, data on
Basque women showed an association between co-sleeping in the
parental bedroom for several years (up to 4 or 5 years of age) and
stronger egos as adults (Crawford, 1994). All of this raises the pos-
sibility that perhaps we may have been too derisive about parenting
beliefs and practices in Caribbean families.

124
A logical starting point to address beliefs would be to examine
perceptions about maternal and paternal roles and responsibilities
toward children. Previously, I touched on the traditional beliefs
about maternal and paternal roles in Indo Caribbean families—
mother as nurturer and father as economic provider. Basically,
African Caribbean families espouse the same beliefs (see Brown &
Willams, 2006). In rural and urban settings in Guyana, Dominica,
Barbados, and Jamaica, low-income men and women primarily see
the father in the provider role (Brown et al., 1997; Dann, 1986;
Roopnarine et al., 1995). It is safe to assume that these beliefs
would influence parental availability and determine the very nature
and quality of parental involvement with children.

Among the Black Caribs of Belize more traditional gender roles

are seen; men rarely interact with or display nurturance toward
young children (Munroe & Munroe, 1992). A soon-to-be-
published study on Brazilian families (Benetti & Roopnarine, in
press), also showed an association between gendered ideologies
and paternal investment in caring for children in middle child-
hood. More extensive tests of ideological beliefs about gender
roles and investment in children in Caribbean families would cer-
tainly render more clarity on this issue.

Arguably, one of the most studied childrearing constructs in Car-

ibbean parenting is physical punishment. Across Caribbean coun-
tries, parents believe that physical punishment is a part of good
parenting practices and important for childhood training (see
Rohner, Kean, & Cournoyer, 1991). They fully embrace the pro-
nouncement ‘when you love your children, you will punish
them” (Gopaul-McNicol, 1998). In their survey of 10-14 year-old
Barbadian children, Anderson and Payne (1994) found that 40%
of boys and 51% of girls approved of flogging/caning 5-to-7 year-
old children. Barbadian adults echoed these sentiments as well
(Handwerker, 1996). Beating with a stick or belt was common, as
was verbal denigration, and both disciplinary methods occurred in
the home and at school (see Anderson & Payne, 1994; Payne,

125
1989). Handwerker (1996) reported that 41% of boys were
slapped or hit by their fathers and 69% by their mothers, and 26%
of girls were slapped or hit by fathers and 53% by mothers.

It is assumed that the rates and severity of physical punishment in

the Caribbean are dramatically different from those of other coun-
tries. Data from other cultural communities seem to support this
contention. Maternal reports of the use of physical punishment in
Thailand, China, the Philippines, Italy, India, and Kenya revealed
that across these societies mothers used physical punishment less
than once a month, with the highest level occurring in Kenyan
families (Lansford et al., 2005). Other than Rohner et al.’s (1991)
data on families, do we know the frequency and intensity of physi-
cal punishment across ethnic and SES groups in Caribbean coun-
tries? [See Discipline Practices section in Literature Review above for data
from Jamaica]

There is considerable evidence that physical punishment is associ-

ated with psychological difficulties in children (Gershoff, 2002).
Newer data suggest that failure to consider moderating variables
such as “normativeness” and the degree of parental warmth and
nurturance may produce an incomplete picture of the psychologi-
cal consequences of physical discipline on children. Put differ-
ently, children’s perceptions and acceptance of parents’ discipli-
nary messages are important in explaining the consequences of
physical punishment (see Grusec & Goodnow, 1994; Rohner,
1986). A cross-national study of mother-child dyads in China,
India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand showed that per-
ceived normativeness of physical discipline had a moderating ef-
fect on the relationship between physical discipline and childhood
aggression and anxiety, but more frequent use of discipline was
associated with childhood behavioral difficulties in children even
when viewed as normative (Lansford, et al., 2005). This is particu-
larly troubling given claims about the severity and persistence of
physical punishment administered by Caribbean parents.

126
Behavioral expectations of children form another set of beliefs that
tell us about cultural knowledge systems. In the Six Culture Study
(Whiting & Whiting, 1963), parents had very specific ideas of what
was expected of children (proper conduct, respect for elders). Par-
allel expectations of children were noticed in Caribbean families.
African Caribbean and Indo Caribbean parents believe that chil-
dren should be obedient and compliant, and show unilateral re-
spect for adults and proper conduct in their presence (Dubrow,
1999; Wilson et al., 2003). For example, 100% of parents in Anti-
gua, 96% in St. Kitts, 85% in St. Lucia, 94% in St. Vincent, 82% in
Barbados, and 95% in Jamaica thought that children should obey
their parents (Grant, Leo-Rhynie, & Alexander, 1983).

A more recent study (Wilson et al., 2003) conducted in Guyana

indicated that adults chose obedience as the most desirable sociali-
zation orientation (Wilson, et al., 2003), and Dominican parents
described childhood competence in terms of respect for and obedi-
ence to adults, academic competence, proficiency in chores, getting
along with peers, and engaging in activities in the larger community
and school (Dubrow, 1999). Dominicans almost never see their
children as bwen lave (well brought up), and regularly describe chil-
dren’s behaviors in negative terms (A-betant or troublesome, Ka
Raisonne or rude, miserable, lazy/idle). Before three years of age,
A-betant carries less of a negative stigma; it is viewed indulgently
(Dubrow, 1999).

Developmental expectations of Caribbean children can be unrealis-

tic, especially among low-income families. Together, Indo Carib-
bean and African Caribbean parents have a poor understanding of
developmental milestones as parental expectations often do not
match children’s behavioral skills or competencies. Young children
are required to sit still for long periods, be neat and not get into
messy play (Barrow, 2003; Grantham-McGregor et al., 1983; Leo-
Rhynie, 1997). They are expected to get in line with adult routines
and are constantly reminded of skills they should have already mas-
tered. Caribbean parents do not stand alone in their earlier expec-
tations of developmental skills in children or that children should

127
learn skills on their own. Nepalese parents expect their children
to learn societal norms of behaviors on their own without direct
input from adults (Levy, 1996), European American mothers had
earlier expectations of achievement and social skills with peers,
and Japanese mothers had earlier expectations of courtesy, emo-
tional control, and compliance with adults (Hess, Kasigawa,
Azuma, Price, & Dickson, 1980).

That Caribbean mothers did not overwhelmingly acknowledge the

value of play for childhood development is not unexpected. After
all, children engage in quite a bit of play on a daily basis in yards
and neighborhoods with same and cross-age peers. Given the
emphasis on early academic training in the Caribbean, parents may
reason that early childhood is a time during which children learn
fundamental academic skills for early schooling— a plausible
proposition that may bear on how adults structure learning envi-
ronments for young children. Furthermore, beliefs about the
value of play for cognitive development are more defined in some
societies than others. Among East Indian, Thai, and Yucatec Ma-
yan families, play was viewed as secondary to intellectual and so-
cial development in children (Roopnarine et al., 2003). In fact,
when children engaged in play, Mayan parents thought that it sig-
naled children were physically healthy and they did not interfere
with adult activities (Haskins, 2003). Conflicting views about the
merits of play for childhood development are also apparent
among parents in the technologically developed world. Low-
income Latina and middle-income Asian immigrant mothers in
the United States saw play as less likely to foster intellectual and
social growth in children than more academically-laced activities
(Holloway et al., 1995; Parminder & Harkness, 2005). Among a
group of Caribbean immigrant parents in New York City, about
half judged play to be important for both social and cognitive de-
velopment during early childhood—perhaps indicating that insti-
tutional demands (e.g., schools, socially regulated customs) may
lead parents to rework their beliefs about the benefits of play.

128
Parenting styles
Parenting styles refer to “a constellation of attitudes toward the
child that are communicated to the child and that, taken together,
create an emotional climate in which the parent’s behaviors are
expressed” (p. 488, Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Parenting styles
have been explored internationally using Baumrind’s (1967)
framework, The emphasis has been on the consequences of
growing up with parents who are authoritarian, authoritative, in-
different, or indulgent. Such studies have focused on the control
and warmth dimensions of parenting styles (Barber, 1996), the
relationships between behavioral control (maturity demands of
children, monitoring, limit setting), psychological control
(withdrawal of love, guilt induction) and warmth, and their contri-
butions to internalizing (withdrawal, fearfulness, inhibition, anxi-
ety) and externalizing (anger, frustration, aggression) behavioral
problems in children. Although psychological control appears to
have the most deleterious effects on children, researchers believe
that it is the combination of factors (warmth, punitive control)
that may hold the clues to discovering the impact of parenting
styles on childhood outcomes (Aunola & Nurmi, 2005; Darling &
Steinberg, 1993).

Broadly speaking, African Caribbean parents adopt an authoritar-

ian parenting style that is a mixture of punitive control and indul-
gence and protectiveness (Leo-Rhynie, 1997), but variations have
been detected in different countries. An appreciation for this di-
versity can be observed in the parenting behaviors and styles of
higher socio-economic groups. Jamaican mothers engage in more
indulgence and place greater emphasis on autonomy (Morrison,
Ispa, & Milner, 1998), and among Jamaican men (N=230), 53% of
lower-class fathers, 60% of lower-middle-class fathers, and 90%
of middle/upper-middle-class fathers were judged to use an au-
thoritative parenting style, whereas 20% of lower-class fathers,
15% of lower-middle class fathers, and no middle/upper-class
father were perceived to employ an authoritarian parenting style
(Ramkissoon, 2002). Similarly, Barbadian parents in non-manual

129
occupations indicated greater physical involvement and higher
levels of intellectual nurturance, and saw restrictive parenting as
less appealing than those who were unemployed or in manual
jobs.

Because there are no studies on the associations between differ-

ent parenting styles and childhood outcomes in the Caribbean,
findings from other cultural groups can inform research agendas
on the role of parental factors in early behavioral and cognitive
development in Caribbean children. The findings on parenting
styles and their meaning for childhood social and cognitive out-
comes in different cultural settings have been equivocal. In Fin-
nish children, high levels of psychological control with high lev-
els of affection were related to increases in both internalizing and
externalizing behaviors as children transitioned from kindergar-
ten to primary school, while high levels of behavioral control dis-
played with low levels of psychological control were predictive of
decreases in externalizing behaviors (Anuola & Nurmi, 2005).
Among Chinese families, physically coercive and psychologically
controlling parenting predicted aggressive behaviors in children
(Hart et al., in press), and in Caribbean immigrants in the United
States, the fathers’ authoritarian parenting carried the weight of
influence over mothers’ parenting in undermining academic and
social skills in children. More specifically, the authoritarian par-
enting style had negative associations with language skills
(vocabulary, receptive skills). In other studies, the authoritative
parenting style seems to have more favorable outcomes for His-
panic and European Americans than African Americans or
Asians Americans (Steinberg, Dornbusch, & Brown, 1992).

Parental Socialization Practices

A very small body of work (Jayawardena, 1963; Rauf, 1974;
Roopnarine et al., 1997; Wilson, 1989) suggests that Indo Carib-
bean parents seem to engage in collectivistic childrearing tenden-
cies (e.g., India, Indonesia, Thailand, see Gielen & Roopnarine,

130
2004; Roopnarine & Gielen, 2005) with a focus on interpersonal
harmony, interdependence, and respect for elders. Indo Carib-
bean women are the primary caregivers and nurturers of children
well into adolescence (Roopnarine et al., 1997, 2005). Early parent-
child practices are relaxed and indulgent. Mothers tend to follow
the child’s inclinations. Parents co-sleep with young children and
there are few formal feeding and sleeping routines. Children are
massaged routinely starting soon after birth.

Indo Caribbean families believe in physical punishment. An over-

whelming majority of recent Indo-Caribbean immigrant mothers
and fathers with preschool-aged children living in the United States
embraced the use of harsh discipline in childrearing (Roopnarine,
1999). In this context they use shame, social threats (e.g., “the
strange woman down the street will come and get you”), and nega-
tive comments/denigration (e.g., “you are a wicked child.”) in their
attempts to foster the development of desirable behaviors in chil-
dren. Because the Indo Caribbean family has remained
“functionally extended,” social boundaries are permeable. Foster-
age and informal adoptions are encouraged and practiced. As noted
already, social relationships are hierarchically arranged and younger
members are required to show respect for older members of the
family. Kinship terms such as aaji (paternal grandmother), aaja
(paternal grandfather), and cha cha (paternal uncle) are used to de-
marcate affinal relationships and to maintain social order within
families.

Within a rigid gender-differentiated social system, mothers serve as

the social liaison between children and their fathers and other adult
members of society. Women have close emotional ties to children,
but that closeness does not necessarily carry with it a greater invest-
ment in the socialization of daughters. What it does mean is that
mothers invest a good deal of time monitoring their daughters’ ac-
tivities more closely than they do their sons’. Hindu cultural beliefs
which encourage a greater investment in sons was previously
noted. Familial members give boys more social latitude than they

131
do girls (Roopnarine et al., 1997). Assessments of paternal involve-
ment show that Indo Caribbean fathers are involved in caring for
young children (Wilson, 1989), but data in this area are quite sparse.

For African Caribbean women, motherhood is a central feature of

womanhood. Women are the primary caregivers to children, and
have been described as “fathering children” (Clarke, 1957). Their
strong commitment to the maternal role is seen in child-centered
infant handling routines that include massage, stretching, and motor
exercises (Hopkins & Weistra, 1988), in their relaxed responses to
the fretfulness and crying in children, in their close physical contact
with infants (Landman, Grantham-McGregor, & Desai, 1983), and
in prolonged breastfeeding practices (Quinlan, Quinlan, & Flinn,
2003). Because of conjugal family arrangements, child-shifting, fos-
terage, and migration, multiple caregivers raise children. Other care-
givers such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, and siblings contribute to
childrearing—in what has been labeled as a culture of “emotional
expansiveness” (Brodber, 1975). Multiple caregiving is prevalent in
diverse cultural communities (e.g. Efe) where other female caregiv-
ers nurse children, there are high rates of infant transfer, and inter-
actions are positive (Tronick, Morelli, & Winn, 1987). A study of
Trinidadian families (Flinn, 1992) found that 17.6% of care interac-
tions were by grandparents. Levels of father involvement among
African Caribbean men have been recorded and are summarized by
Brown and Williams (2006).

Child-shifting may be a vestige of slavery but is practiced widely

across the Caribbean. It occurs when the parent enters a new ro-
mantic relationship, migrates to find a better standard of living, or
struggles to meet the child’s social and economic needs (see Brown
et al., 1997; Russell-Brown, Norville & Griffith, 1997). Between
15% and 33% of children are shifted, and some are raised by neither
their mother nor father (Dann, 1987; Roberts & Sinclair, 1978; Rus-
sell-Brown, et al., 1997). The possible consequences of child-
shifting are discussed in a later section.

132
Physical punishment and verbal denigration are used to curb unde-
sirable behaviors (see review by Brown & Williams, 2006). Praise or
rewards are sporadic and public displays of affection are rare in Af-
rican Caribbean families. In one survey, about 23.6% of children
received praise for doing something that pleased the parent (Leo-
Rhynie, 1997), and 74.6% of adults stated that they did not observe
affection displayed between their parents when they were growing
up (Wyatt et al., 1999). However, Handwerker (1996) determined
that 58% of boys and 57% of girls were hugged and touched by
their mothers regularly or “all the time”. Far fewer boys (24%) and
girls (33%) were hugged and touched by their fathers regularly or
frequently. Findings from related work (Payne & Furnham, 1992)
carried out on parenting in Barbados lend support to the gender of
parent disparity in levels of nurturance offered to children. It
should be mentioned that affection is displayed in different forms.
Forty-eight percent of professional adults (from Jamaica, Trinidad
and Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Kitts-Nevis, and
St. Lucia) in Gopaul-McNicol’s (1998) survey indicated that affec-
tion was delivered through nonphysical means: sacrificing one’s own
needs for one’s children, educating children despite economic hard-
ship, and using nicknames.

There is an entrenched socio-cultural system whereby boys and girls

are provided with gender-segregated opportunities to engage in dif-
ferent activities in the home and community. In a number of Island
communities, girls are given chores that are confined to the home,
whereas boys are permitted to get involved in activities away from
home. Furthermore, parents may furnish their children with sex-
typed toys, reward play with “gender similar” toys and punish cross-
gender toy preferences and play (e.g., “Boys do that” and “Girls
don’t do that”) (Leo-Rhynie, 1995, 1997). In short, children are so-
cialized within a milieu of gender bifurcation.

Beyond Parenting Styles-Academic Socialization at Home

Following the work of Grolnick and Slowiaczek (1994), academic
socialization is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct com-

133
posed of parents’ interactions in children’s learning activities at
home (e.g., supervision of homework, practicing what was
learned in school, etc.) and parent-school contact initiated by par-
ents (e.g., volunteering at school, attending parent-teacher meet-
ings, monitoring school activities). Both of these constructs have
been linked to school readiness (Epstein, 1996; Hill, 2001) and
higher levels of school achievement (see Epstein, 1996; Kohl,
Lengua, & McMahon, 2000; Snyder, 2000). But what constitutes
parental involvement in academic activities varies by ethnicity
and socio-economic background, level of parental education,
family structure, school characteristics and practices, teacher
practices, and age of child (Feuerstein, 2000; Grolnick, Benjet,
Kurowski, & Apostoleris, 1997; Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 1999).
Academic socialization is a family affair among Caribbean immi-
grants in the United States. Caribbean immigrant mothers re-
ported that they spent 8.21 hours, their spouses 4.40 hours,
grandparents 1.83 hours, and other relatives (uncles, aunts, cous-
ins, and other kinship members) 2.18 hours per week on aca-
demic activities such as reading, counting, printing and drawing,
and reciting the alphabet with their pre-kindergarten and kinder-
garten age children. Profiles of children’s activities at home indi-
cated that they spent considerable amounts of time in literacy-
type activities and in playing. Parent-school contacts that in-
volved meeting with the child’s teacher about schoolwork and
school performance and behavioral/discipline problems were
reasonably good. Mothers had higher levels of parent-school
contacts and academic socialization at home than fathers did.
Fathers’ levels of school contacts were associated with children’s
language skills and fathers’ levels of academic socialization at
home were positively related to children’s social behaviors
(Roopnarine et al., 2006).

Beyond these meager findings, these processes need to be teased

out in relation to Caribbean children. The Profiles Project in Ja-
maica has begun the task of isolating factors (socio-economic
status, parental education, parental stress, reading books, and

134
early childhood experience) that contribute to successful school
outcomes. Again, the quality of parenting is a major player.

Childhood Mental Health

The mental health of children in the Caribbean is beginning to re-
ceive more attention. The bulk of the studies has been on adoles-
cent children with very little attention paid to the etiology of be-
havioral difficulties in younger children. The prevalence of child-
hood disorders in Caribbean countries is a matter of speculation.
Some researchers have used scales developed in the United States
and validated in other cultures (e.g., CBCL) to assess child behavior
problems in some Caribbean countries (Achenbach, 2004). The
validity of instruments used to assess childhood disorders will not
be entertained here. A broad discussion of cross-cultural equiva-
lence appears later on.

The findings of a large-scale survey (Halcon et al., 2003a, 2003b) of

the health and well being of children (78.5% Black of African heri-
tage) across nine countries (Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, British
Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Lu-
cia) offer a glimpse at the overall state of the mental health of older
Caribbean children. Roughly 83% of children between 12 and 18
years saw themselves as happy, 80.3% reported being in excellent
or good health, and 65.9% declared that they had not had sexual
intercourse. By contrast, 15% of respondents experienced emo-
tional distress, 12% reported having attempted suicide, 15.9%
stated that they were physically abused, and 9.9% said they were
sexually abused (Halcon et al., 2003a, 2003b). Among Jamaican
eleventh and twelfth graders, 78.5% had witnessed violence in their
communities, 60.8% in their schools, and 44.7% in their homes
(Haniff, 1998; Soyibo & Lee, 1999).

Disorders during the early childhood years are likely to be the out-
comes of maltreatment, abandonment, malnutrition, poor parent-
ing skills, inter-parental conflict, family and community violence,
instability in living arrangements due to child-shifting and mate-
shifting or divorce, employment and underemployment, and the

135
effects of paternal presence and absence on children’s social and
intellectual development. In view of the severity of the conse-
quences of domestic violence, inter-adult conflicts, harsh parental
treatment, and divorce in other cultural groups, we may perhaps
assume that psychopathological outcomes—antisocial behaviors,
depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality
disorder, substance abuse, relationship and parenting problems
and so on-- are likely for Caribbean children as well (Amato, 2000;
Amato & Sobolewski, 2001, 2004; Baumrind, Larzelere, & Cowan,
2002; Cummings, Goeke-Morey, & Raymond, 2004; Gershoff,
2002; Holden & Barker, 2004).

During early childhood, African Caribbean boys run a greater risk

of being abandoned than girls. More boys (61.4%) than girls
(38.6%) are abandoned at early ages (Brodber, 1968; Sargent &
Harris, 1992). This may be attributed to behavioral characteristics
of children, such as being rude, to economic conditions, and/or to
the personal attributes of parents and their ideological beliefs
about gender (Sargent & Harris, 1992). Although the data mostly
reflect rates of physical punishment, several authors have sug-
gested that severe physical punishment has negative consequences
on the psychosocial development of Caribbean children and
serves to undermine parent-child communication (see Smith &
Mosby, 2003).

Other threats to children’s well being are prolonged separations

from parents due to mate-shifting, child-shifting, and migration.
Lengthy separations can cause difficulties in attachment relation-
ships for children (Bowlby, 1969). Not only do children confront
losses to primary attachment figures, they have to cope with es-
tablishing attachment bonds to new caregivers that may then be
severed upon re-unification with biological parents (see Arnold,
1997; Sharpe, 1993, 1997). The mental health implications of the
disruptive separation-attachment formation experiences of Carib-
bean children are only now being studied. Jamaican children who
experienced migration loss had increased depressive and suicidal

136
thoughts, negative perceptions of self, and poor school perform-
ance (Pottinger, 2005). Chances are, in the absence of mental
health services in most of the Caribbean, these children mourn
silently in the face of their attachment difficulties.

The data on paternal instability raise some disturbing possibilities

for children. Paternal instability during childhood increases the
likelihood that children will experience malnutrition, develop-
mental delays, or abuse, display passive dependency, experience
early weaning from breast feeding, and be abandoned (see Allen,
1985; Quinlan et al., 2003; Sargent & Harris, 1992; Sharpe, 1997).
And children who live with stepfathers, half-siblings, or single
parents without kinship support have higher cortisol levels
(indicator of stress) than children who live in two-parent house-
holds. Overall, the two-parent households offered children more
stable caregiving environments, and had less conflict and more
affectionate interactions than the other living arrangements
(Flinn & England, 1995). In the same vein, Guyanese men in
simple nuclear households had higher levels of involvement with
their children than men in non-nuclear households, and irrespec-
tive of socioeconomic status, those who had affectionate rela-
tionships with their fathers were more involved with their chil-
dren (Wilson and Kposowa, 1994).

Theoretical Frameworks and Methodological Concerns

In the spirit of “many mentalities, one mind” (Shweder et al.,
1998), there are several frameworks that can be used to guide
research on the constellation of cultural factors that influence the
course of childhood development in the Caribbean. Having as
their main purpose the goal of codifying the cultural elements of
human development, they may be viewed on a continuum of
models or implicit theory substitutes for more substantiated
theories. Because they are discussed in great detail by their origi-
nators elsewhere, they are just listed here. These frameworks in-
clude, but are not limited to:
• psychocultural models (network of relationships, the im-

137
 mediate environment, political and social institutions, beliefs
and values, and so on) (Whiting & Whiting, 1975),
•the developmental niche (customs, settings, and parental
psychology) (Super & Harkness, 1997) and microniche
models (Weisner, 1998),
•bio-ecological model (delineating nested systems and
subsystems that influence the lives of children and fami-
lies) (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris,
1998),
• biosocial perspective (mating, parenting, and relationship
effort) (Draper & Harpending, 1982: Hewlett, 1992; Mar-
lowe, 1999),
•continuous contact and care model (feeding routines,
holding patterns and caregiver transfers, co-sleeping),
parenting model of hierarchical goals (LeVine, 1974),
•reproduction of culture (Carsaro, 1992),
•socio-cultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978) and cultural-
historical activity theory (Cole, 1996),
•ecocultural model (Ogbu, 1983),
•segmented assimilation (Portes & Zhou, 1993), and
•creolization (Smith, 1962).

Collectively, the utility of these frameworks in formulating research

questions is demonstrated in wide-ranging research projects con-
ducted in different parts of the world. Take for example the bioso-
cial perspective--the mating and parenting effort hypothesis has
been tested among the Hadza of Tanzania (Marlowe, 1999), the
Australian aboriginal community (Burbank & Chisholm, 1992),
Trinidadians (Flinn, 1992), and Dominicans (Quinlan & Flinn,
2003). By far, the psycho-cultural model and its offspring
(developmental niche and microniche) have been employed more
widely than other models to examine processes of childhood so-
cialization in several cultures around the world (see The Six Culture
Study, Whiting & Whiting, 1975; Children of Different Worlds,

138
Whiting & Edwards, 1988), and to assess parental beliefs about
caregiving and early childhood education in cultural groups in the
United States, Europe, and Africa. Likewise, the bio-ecological
model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998) has guided research all
over the world. In the area of early learning and schooling, the cul-
tural-historical (Vygotsky, 1978) or cultural-historical activity theory,
as Cole (1996, 2003) preferentially refers to his own reconceptuali-
zation, has been instrumental in unfolding cultural processes in liter-
acy and schooling.

There is an obvious need for researchers to incorporate contextual

and culturally sensitive frameworks when investigating childhood
development in Caribbean families. In our quest for unique theo-
retical frameworks and measurement strategies, all too often the
English-speaking Caribbean is treated as a homogeneous entity. A
general practice has been to ignore inter-country similarities/
differences in childrearing. When focusing on generalizability across
Caribbean groups and between Caribbean and other cultural groups,
the examination of cultural generality should be understood within
the framework of measurement equivalence. Cross-cultural studies
on socialization can be faulted for not sufficiently establishing mini-
mum standards of cultural equivalence. It is necessary to take into
account several theoretical and methodological considerations when
implementing investigations of cross-country generalizability.

Four aspects of measurement equivalence shed light on the prob-

lem:
(1) Conceptual equivalence proposes that the definition and mean-
ing of the various aspects of socialization should be understood
within the frame of the specific country/culture. Definitions for so-
cialization, for example, cannot be assumed to be similar across the
Caribbean or ethnic groups. African Caribbean parenting behaviors
may have different meanings (in practice and in terms of childhood
outcomes) than those of Indo Caribbean socialization behaviors.
(2) Operational equivalence proposes that children in different

139
countries/cultures respond to the same item similarly. Hence, in-
struments or observational methods should be similar in content
(e.g., meaning of terms) and also have similar response scales. It is
in this domain that the limitations of cross-country similarities in
childrearing are most evident. Many questionnaires and instru-
ments are applied across the Caribbean without assessment of
their validity and reliability in different countries. Care should be
taken with using specific country phrases and words or speech
patterns, and meanings should also be incorporated within meas-
urement of the construct. Literacy levels of families, cultural mo-
res and practices, place of administration, and methods used
(interview, questionnaire, observation) are all integral to assuring
operational equivalence.
(3) Scalar specificity refers to item equivalence across cultural
communities. Conceptual and operational equivalence do not as-
sure equivalence at the item level. The factor structure and
strength of factor loadings ensure item equivalence. Affirmation
of equivalence at the item level allows for meaningful interpreta-
tion of similarities or differences of the construct at the scale level.
(4) Functional specificity is a measure of correlates of the con-
structs across countries (e.g., correlations among parenting styles
and children’s academic performance). Even though the nature
and strength of relationships may be quite comparable, they do
not necessarily imply a Caribbean-wide pattern. The meaning of
relationships should be interpreted from the perspective of the
cultural lens of each country (Krishnakumar, Buehler, & Barber,
2004; Van De Vijver, & Leung, 1997).

The Research Agenda on Caribbean Children

In concluding I offer some suggestions for research on childrear-
ing and childhood development in Caribbean families. These
questions can be answered by using diverse methodologies.

1. How do parenting styles, practices, and beliefs interrelate to

influence children’s cognitive and social skills during the early
childhood years? Do relationships vary across SES, ethnic/
cultural, or parent and child gender?

140
2. What are parents’ beliefs or ideas about when common devel-
opmental constructs (e.g., when can children count to from 1
to10, tie their shoes, read simple words and sentences, etc.)
emerge in children? Do these ideas or beliefs differ by SES,
gender of parent and child, or ethnicity? What are parents’ ex-
pectations of their children at different ages by varying demo-
graphic characteristics?
3. How do children define the meaning of “family,” “father,” and
“mother”? How do these meanings influence childhood devel-
opment?
4. How do child characteristics (temperament, willingness to be
socialized) influence parenting and subsequently child out-
comes?
5. How are patterns of extensive caregiving related to quality of
attachment relationships to mothers, fathers, and other caregiv-
ers within and between ethnic and SES groups?
6. How do transnational parenting and serial migration influence
parent-child attachment and child outcomes?
7. What are the linguistic patterns, narrative styles, and academic
activities that parents/caregivers engage in with children? How
do they shape school readiness?
8. What are the cognitive and social dynamics of sibling relation-
ships?

As can be deduced, we have much work ahead of us. More energy

should be directed at teasing out intra- and intercultural processes in
childrearing and how they affect/influence social and academic out-
comes in the diverse groups of families in different Caribbean com-
munities. Armed with such data, our policy and intervention efforts
will be more efficacious.

141
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