Psychology and Culture
Lynn's parenting of her son takes an authoritarian approach to child-rearing. In her culture, parental authority is rarely questioned. Not only would she find support in her family, but she would also find support for her parenting decisions in the community and in the Cambodian interpretation of the Buddhist religion. One of the parenting practices that is acceptable in her culture is the use of physical punishment for children. Children are expected to be obedient in her culture and to listen, without argument, when a parent gives instructions. This obedience is part of the authoritarian approach to parenting. In addition, it is clear that she expects the child to conform to her standards. Despite the fact that the child was having a difficult day, she decided to go to the mall, which is reflective of the attitude that children should be obedient.
I think that this question is too broad to answer succinctly. There is a very wide variety in approaches to child rearing in the United States. Some parents in the United States take a very permissive approach, not...
Other parents are very hands-on with corrective behavior, using discipline without using physical punishment. Some parents use a combination of different disciplinary tactics, including physical punishment. Finally, some parents use primarily physical punishment as a disciplinary tactic for their children. Moreover, these different childrearing approaches and parenting values are evidence of a greater cultural divide. The less educated and less affluent people are, the more likely they are to believe that physical punishment is appropriate. Moreover, people who self-identify as conservative are more likely to take an ownership approach to parenting, suggesting that parents should have the freedom to raise their children as they see fit, including using physical punishment that may be considered abusive by many. As a result, Lynn's values of childrearing are absolutely consistent with some parenting values found in the Unites States, while at complete odds with other values.
3. In my opinion, it is absolutely appropriate to…
