Self-construal and cultural orientation as predictors for development goals : a comparison between Brazilian and German caregivers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate caregivers' developmental goals in Brazil and Germany and to explain inter- and intracultural variations in these goals by taking their respective subjective cultural values into account. The main question was whether caregivers' preferences of developmental goals depend on their perception of prevailing norms in the culture or on their personal value preferences. German and Brazilian kindergarten teachers and mothers of 5-year-old children (N = 128) participated in the study. They were asked to select and rank the developmental goals based on importance out of a given list of goals. Furthermore, the caregivers' self-construal (SCS) and their normative and evaluative cultural orientation (COS) were assessed. Results yielded culture-specific differences for self-construal, cultural orientation, and preferences of developmental goals. The caregivers' perception of prevailing cultural norms was the best predictor for goal preferences.