Mesman, J., IJzendoorn, M., Behrens, K., Carbonell, O.A., Cárcamo, R., Cohen-Paraira, I. . . . Zreik, G. (2015). Is the ideal mother a sensitive mother? Beliefs about early childhood parenting in mothers across the globe.

Question 1

What is the article about? (Mesman)

Answer 1

The article tests the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal mother are convergent across cultures and that these beliefs overlap considerably with attachment theory’s notion of the sensitive mother. The results showed strong convergence, but with variations in maternal sensibility scores that was accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors.

Question 2

The universality of attachment theory is often divided into two hypotheses about its universality. Which?

Answer 2

1. The universality hypothesis.
2. The normativity hypothesis.

Question 3

What is the universality hypothesis in relation to attachment theory?

Answer 3

That across the world, all infants become attached to one or more specific caregivers.

Question 4

What is the normativity hypotehsis in relation to attachment theory?

Answer 4

That secure attachment is the most common form of attachment across cultures.

Question 5

Maternal beliefs across cultures about the ideal child overlap considerably with ..

Answer 5

the notion of secure-base behavior.

Question 6

Mesman’s study tested three hypotheses. Which?

Answer 6

1. There is strong convergence between maternal descriptions of the ideal mother and attachment theory’s description of the highly sensitive mother across cultural groups, similar to ideal child and the attachment theory’s notion of a securely attached child as described by Posada et al (1995)
2. Convergence between maternal descriptions of the ideal mother and descriptions of the highly sensitive mother are predicted by socio-demographic variables. More specifically, the extent to which mothers describe the ideal mother as a sensitive mother is expected to show positive associations with family income, maternal education, maternal age, and urbanity of the setting, and a negative association with number of children.
3. Convergence between maternal descriptions of the ideal mother and descriptions of the highly sensitive mother is expected to show positive associations with individualism and a horizontal cultural orientation, and a negative association with collectivism, a vertical cultural orientation, and emphasis on religion in parenting.

Question 7

How many participants were in the study, and from how many countries?

Answer 7

751 participants were recruited from 15 different countries.

Question 8

1. There is strong convergence between maternal descriptions of the ideal mother and attachment theory’s description of the highly sensitive mother across cultural groups, similar to ideal child and the attachment theory’s notion of a securely attached child as described by Posada et al (1995)

This is an hypothesis from the study. Was it falsified?

Answer 8

No. Their results show strong convergence between maternal beliefs about the ideal mother and attachment theory’s description of the sensitive mother across groups.

Question 9

2. Convergence between maternal descriptions of the ideal mother and descriptions of the highly sensitive mother are predicted by socio-demographic variables. More specifically, the extent to which mothers describe the ideal mother as a sensitive mother is expected to show positive associations with family income, maternal education, maternal age, and urbanity of the setting, and a negative association with number of children.

This is an hypothesis from the study. Was it falsified?

Answer 9

Not exactly. Cultural group membership significantly predicted variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores, but this effect was substantially accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors. Cultural group membership did remain a significant predictor of variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores above and beyond socio-demographic predictors.