Interpreting parent-infant interactions: Cross-cultural lessons

All early interventions are based on assumptions about how young children d evelop and learn. Assumptions about the parent-child relationship are centr al to the philosophies and missions of many early intervention programs. Sp ecific characteristics of parent-child interaction may become part of the a ssessment process and also incorporated into intervention approaches. Howev er, the developmental literature on which these characteristics are based i s derived from a culturally restricted sample. Drawing From interviews with six mothers, this article explores the range and coalescence of ideas that mothers from two different cultural backgrounds (white American and Korean ) have about interactions with their 12-month-old babies in two situations important in early intervention: social interactive play and joint play wit h objects. Mothers' ideas about interaction in these situations were highly consistent with ideas on early development and parenting found in other cr oss-cultural studies.